Author Topic: Bad roommate stories  (Read 14271 times)

marielle

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Bad roommate stories
« on: August 17, 2017, 02:27:49 PM »
It would be nice to know I'm not alone with bad roommate stories! Feel free to rant, vent, or otherwise share details of some of your annoying or weird roommates. Details of my story below, feel free to skip reading and post your own.


Aside from the usual messy or loud roommates, I think my current live-in landlord takes the cake. The amount of stress caused is unsurmounted. Fortunately I will be moving out in three weeks.

Examples in order of occurence:
- Only allowed 25% of the fridge and pantry because of future tenants. The best part? I've been here two months and no one ever moved in or even came to look at the place as far as I know. He didn't even create more parking for new tenants yet. My reasonable request to work out the space with tenants later was ignored.

- Threats to throw food away if it takes up more than 25% despite all the empty space.

- Gave no heads up that the countertops and kitchen sink were being removed. Meal prep Sunday was fun that week.

- Constant requests to clean up after cooking, put stuff away, etc, even though I've never left a mess and only will take an hour or two break max to eat or something. And no, none of this stuff was ever in his way during my short breaks.

- Repeatedly asking to unplug the toaster oven and other appliances to save pennies even though he abuses the AC and leaves lights on.

- His mail or rent checks can only be left on a specific area of the counter. Mail to me or other things can only be left on "my" side of the counter.

- Tried to revoke my kitchen appliance and w/d use as punishment for not cleaning up after his kitten that made a mess out of my toilet paper. Apparently I'm responsible for securing things from the cats despite this never being discussed.

- Moving my food and belongings nearly daily. Moving my clean dishes after drying even though they've been there less than a day. And no, not to a cabinet where they belong, but to the dining table further from the kitchen. I think by now he's literally touched every single thing I own that isn't in my room. During his post-renovation cleanup, all of my stuff in the shed or common areas was collected and moved to a spare bedroom (because we mutually agreed on a move-out date by then...but it was still over a month away).

- Going in my room and taking pictures including of my laundry hamper and closet. In the past, opening my door on two separate occasions when me or my boyfriend were sleeping (to look for one of his cats).

- Telling me I have to put all my litterboxes in my room. Which leaves 1 litterbox for 4 cats...yeah I'm not following this rule and taking a chance of a cat peeing on the floor. Gross. He claims to be an "extremely clean person" and cleans everything else like a madman but scoops the litterbox only twice a week.

- Said I have to put the original door knob back, which has no lock at all like for a closet. He has a key to the current doorknob so this is just pettiness to annoy me.

- Putting the thermostat to 70 in the summer and saying I can't change it even when he's not home or out of town for days. Not that big a deal but he only did this out of spite and was fine with it set much higher for weeks. Did I mention he claims to be an environmentalist and even drives a Prius? House is 2400 sqft!!

- Leaving for a week without telling me. Pretty sure no one else has come in so I suppose this leaves me responsible for his cats? With one litterbox as he requested?! I think the trip was unplanned since it was immediately after the illegal appliance argument, and he originally was only going to leave for 2-3 days to see the eclipse. I should probably be thanking him for this one though. It's been so peaceful.

Most of the above rules were out of spite for me disagreeing about the initial food storage issues and for saying that restricting appliance use is illegal. Immediately after I said it was illegal he said I have 30 days to remove my cats. Of course this forced me to move out earlier than we mutually agreed, because only a jerk gives up their pets for that reason. I also found his new Craigslist post which proved the original reason for my moving out was a lie (he said it was because of his custody case).

TL;DR
I'm apparently a child in this household.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2017, 03:34:31 PM by marielle »

Sibley

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2017, 02:58:00 PM »
Marielle, I think your roommate/landlord has some issues. Hope you've found somewhere MUCH better.

Letj

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2017, 06:21:19 PM »
Sounds like you're dealing with a mentally unstable individual. Run for the hills. I don't know how much experience you interacting closely with people but these are not normal behavior.

Free Spirit

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2017, 06:36:24 PM »
Holy YIKES Batman! I have nothing else to offer except my sympathies. So sorry you've had to deal with that, good thing you are out of there soon!

marielle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2017, 06:37:33 PM »
Sounds like you're dealing with a mentally unstable individual. Run for the hills. I don't know how much experience you interacting closely with people but these are not normal behavior.

Yeah, I'm getting out fast. Not going to just give him what he wants and that's for me to move out in a day but still pay utilities and rent for a whole month. I have to wait for a friend's lease to end anyway.

As far as the food storage issue, supposedly his mother and possibly others warned him to not preemptively give more space hence the 25% rules. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

life_travel

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2017, 10:25:57 PM »
As a landlord with past roommates just wanted to play devil's advocate and to say that once you give more space ( even temporary ) it's VERY hard to take it back :)

Nudelkopf

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2017, 11:52:56 PM »
1) I had a housemate once who had her own fridge, and it stopped working.... took her 2 weeks to work out it wasn't working & why her food stunk.

2) Another housemate used to drip period blood on the toulet seat & not clean it up.

But at least no one died with a felafel in his hand ;)
« Last Edit: August 17, 2017, 11:54:54 PM by Nudelkopf »

nora

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2017, 03:20:22 AM »
One of the worst meals cooked in our house by a roommate was a big plate of white rice with a small spoon of canned fruit salad and a sprinkling of alfalfa sprouts on the top. Also, the rice had black flecks in it because he used a dirty pot.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2017, 03:40:34 AM »
I can top all of these - once had a new German flatmate move into a big house with 8 other existing flatmates. We all had photos on the fridge and he asked if could a pic of his gf there. Of course! The more the merrier. The next morning I find a pic of his gf on the fridge.

Naked.
Laying on the floor.
With her legs spread.

AND A BUNCH OF DAFFODILS STUFFED WHERE THE SUN DON"T SHINE.

I'm not even kidding.

SnackDog

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2017, 04:31:30 AM »
When I was in college I had a roommate who was a dying alcoholic, which was tough to watch up close.  He moved out, then died.  I got a replacement via online ad and he turned out to be a sex addict, which was not much more fun to observe up close. There was a different car in the driveway every night when I returned home!

FindingFI

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2017, 06:27:49 AM »
I lived with a couple friends in college and we had a subletter for the summer while one of my roommates was away at an internship.  We met him in advance and he seemed odd, but we thought it might just be that he was nervous. Well this guy turned about to be a creep.  He spent a lot of time hitting on us despite repetitive, clear refusal of his advances. And he insisted in trying to "protect" us (from what I have no idea considering we lived in a small town that posed no real danger) by going around and locking doors all the time when we were home. 

Well one day I had been home all day and unlocked all the doors because I don't carry my keys with me everywhere, and he leaves for the day.  I went to take a phone call on the small deck/balcony (we lived on the 2nd floor) and closed the door behind me.  At some point he must have gone around and relocked all the doors, because I was trapped out there.  No one else was coming home for hours and jumping down was definitely going to break a bone, not to mention I still couldn't get inside anyway.  I ended up having to break in through a window thanks to his "protection".

marielle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #11 on: August 18, 2017, 06:39:23 AM »
As a landlord with past roommates just wanted to play devil's advocate and to say that once you give more space ( even temporary ) it's VERY hard to take it back :)

Fair enough, I would have not minded at all if he asked nicely, and not threatened to throw my food away when I haven't done anything (I was not even taking up too much space yet). Not to mention constantly relocating my food without warning instead of just asking me to move it. Though every request I get from him is a demand like, "I need you to do this." or " I expect you to do this." etc. You know, catch more flies with honey and all. Though I'm sure you have to be pretty stern if a roommate consistently is being annoying.


I can top all of these - once had a new German flatmate move into a big house with 8 other existing flatmates. We all had photos on the fridge and he asked if could a pic of his gf there. Of course! The more the merrier. The next morning I find a pic of his gf on the fridge.

Naked.
Laying on the floor.
With her legs spread.

AND A BUNCH OF DAFFODILS STUFFED WHERE THE SUN DON"T SHINE.

I'm not even kidding.

But...why.

I also want to know how this is the worst issue you had while living with 8 people. Jesus. I did have a roommate situation once with about 6 people, but I wasn't officially staying there just visiting many nights, same with two other girlfriends. It never got too crazy but the house was a pretty good mess most of the time.

I'm starting to think it's better to live with immature college kids, at least they aren't old enough to have developed and brewed some serious mental problems yet. I almost moved in with another married couple a month ago but thankfully the red flags showed early. Such as them saying their 5 year old lives with her grandma because she "chooses" to? While they're pregnant with another child? Wtf.

When I was in college I had a roommate who was a dying alcoholic, which was tough to watch up close.  He moved out, then died.  I got a replacement via online ad and he turned out to be a sex addict, which was not much more fun to observe up close. There was a different car in the driveway every night when I returned home!

Ugh...to both of those. I would have been super uncomfortable at all times. At least in my situation, I think he's the one that's more uncomfortable because he has a problem/OCD and every little thing bothers him.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2017, 06:45:02 AM by marielle »

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #12 on: August 18, 2017, 07:09:41 AM »
Wow sounds like your landlord has got some serious issues, hope your rent is cheap!

I used to rent a room in a place with a live in Landlady, she was a bit of a character! She was about 50 but acted like a bratty teenager most of the time. She didn't work but lived off of the rental income from two rooms (good for her being FIRE at least), she spent most of her time lounging around in a very short dressing gown watching awful daytime TV. She was also in love with her best friend, despite him being very openly gay. He was always getting her into ridiculous schemes, when I moved out (lasted a year!) they were getting knockoffs of some sort of doll similar to Barbie made in China to then repaint and sell as 'vintage' for loads of money. She was spray painting them to look older using some horrible solvent spray paint... in the lounge.

Fun times!

ketchup

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #13 on: August 18, 2017, 08:36:42 AM »
Sounds like your landlord really needs to just live by himself... Wow.

For a while I had a non-roommate "friend"-of-roommate that would just show up at our then-house, eat our food, sit on our couch, watch our Netflix account, and be generally unpleasant and complain about things.  And use our shower at inconvenient times (NEVER asking first) and mess up our bathroom.  It was a big house with a very open floorplan, which worked against us, because I and my actual roommates felt trapped in our bedrooms.  We'd hide food from her.  It was stupid.  And she'd just drop off her dog before work 99% of the time without asking.  Said dog shed an unbelievable amount of hair, was badly/not trained, and ruined two couches in a row (she of course did not clean up or replace the couches for us).

That lasted a little too long (few weeks) before it devolved into a shouting match and then she left for good and that shit ended.  Dumb dumb dumb.

Apparently she's been kicked out of at least 4-5 living arrangements in the past couple years, with basically the same issues we saw, but worse.  She's moved "back in" with her parents about six times total now I think.  She's a domestic disaster.

marielle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #14 on: August 18, 2017, 08:44:35 AM »
Sounds like your landlord really needs to just live by himself... Wow.

For a while I had a non-roommate "friend"-of-roommate that would just show up at our then-house, eat our food, sit on our couch, watch our Netflix account, and be generally unpleasant and complain about things.  And use our shower at inconvenient times (NEVER asking first) and mess up our bathroom.  It was a big house with a very open floorplan, which worked against us, because I and my actual roommates felt trapped in our bedrooms.  We'd hide food from her.  It was stupid.  And she'd just drop off her dog before work 99% of the time without asking.  Said dog shed an unbelievable amount of hair, was badly/not trained, and ruined two couches in a row (she of course did not clean up or replace the couches for us).

That lasted a little too long (few weeks) before it devolved into a shouting match and then she left for good and that shit ended.  Dumb dumb dumb.

Apparently she's been kicked out of at least 4-5 living arrangements in the past couple years, with basically the same issues we saw, but worse.  She's moved "back in" with her parents about six times total now I think.  She's a domestic disaster.

God, I wonder what my landlord would do if someone like this moved in. My friend had someone similar, he would constantly show up unannounced. Take naps and leave, etc. It went on for months. I think she's suing him now or something.

Luckily for my landlord I'm clean and respectful...until I get unreasonable requests or rules that is. The funny part is he actually told me a month ago that I'm easy to live with and that he's kicked his own brother out before. He's also lived with roommates 9 different times in the past and had way worse issues than I've given him. And the icing on the cake is that he said my money isn't needed but simply "wanted"...Right. I know he has a trust fund despite having no job, but no one would go through all this hassle for no reason.

10dollarsatatime

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #15 on: August 18, 2017, 09:08:25 AM »
1. Absolute clean freak.  Would thoroughly bleach the apartment every Saturday, to the point where the fumes made my eyes burn when I would come home hours later.  Would throw out dishes (literally throw them away) if she thought they had been in the fridge too long... like, more than two days.

2. Absolutely the opposite.  Did not know how to clean.  I taught her how to load a dishwasher... she'd run it with one place setting.  Never cleaned up after herself.  Got to the point where I kept all of my things in one cupboard, would cook, clean up, and put away only my things because I couldn't take it anymore.  Once left for a week and a half over Christmas.  She and her boyfriend had take out the night I left.  Trash/leftovers still on the counter when I came home.  Same roommate who was too damn lazy to open/close garage door.  My room was near the garage, so in the winter my room would be freezing.  I always closed it when I came home.  Kept asking her to do the same.  Must have gotten to be too much work opening because one night she parked so that her trunk was under the door.  I closed it anyway, to an inch above her trunk.  Left a note on the community whiteboard reminding her that if the pipes froze due to an open garage, we were liable.  Came home to a long rant calling me a bitch, etc., etc.  She called and tried to tell me a past tenant had randomly come in and left a note on the whiteboard.  Bullshit.  However, she never parked in the garage again.  So... solved that problem?


MrMoogle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #16 on: August 18, 2017, 10:08:27 AM »
Ugh...to both of those. I would have been super uncomfortable at all times. At least in my situation, I think he's the one that's more uncomfortable because he has a problem/OCD and every little thing bothers him.

If he really is OCD, you could treat his stuff like he treats yours.  Start touching every thing he has to make a point its not acceptable for him to touch your stuff.

Overall my roommates have been pretty good.  I had one who would turn the AC down to 68 during the summer and heat to 78 during the winter.  Drove me crazy.

marielle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #17 on: August 18, 2017, 10:31:42 AM »
Ugh...to both of those. I would have been super uncomfortable at all times. At least in my situation, I think he's the one that's more uncomfortable because he has a problem/OCD and every little thing bothers him.
If he really is OCD, you could treat his stuff like he treats yours.  Start touching every thing he has to make a point its not acceptable for him to touch your stuff.

Undiagnosed, but now I'm pretty convinced it's true. I've already started doing this. I'm not going to put everything back perfectly any more. I also got bored while in the kitchen and moved everything around and made it crooked. Immature? Maybe. But what he's doing by putting my belongings next to my bedroom door constantly is incredibly immature and petty. So I moved some stuff he left on the counter to his door as well (dirty stuff from reno, definitely doesn't belong in the kitchen).

stoaX

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #18 on: August 18, 2017, 11:13:22 AM »
Wow - what stories!  I am grateful that all the roommates I had in my life were relatively normal compared to what I'm reading here. 

GuitarStv

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #19 on: August 18, 2017, 12:39:04 PM »
I shared a house with a girl who claimed to be afraid of water . . . and didn't shower or do dishes for two months straight before we kicked her out.

ketchup

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #20 on: August 18, 2017, 02:32:08 PM »
I shared a house with a girl who claimed to be afraid of water . . . and didn't shower or do dishes for two months straight before we kicked her out.
Wow, holy shit!  You couldn't make this stuff up.  Did she also die of dehydration?

GuitarStv

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #21 on: August 18, 2017, 02:44:02 PM »
To her credit, I never actually saw a drop of water ever pass her lips.  She was big on fruit juices though.

K-ice

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #22 on: August 18, 2017, 02:50:58 PM »
Roommate was a nice guy. But his GF treated the place like her own & even stayed there & brought friends over the 2 weeks he was away. She still "lived" in the burbs with her parents.

I was so looking forward to time alone in the place. I'm non confrontational so didn't say anything but found my own place within 2 months.

ketchup

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #23 on: August 18, 2017, 03:01:40 PM »
To her credit, I never actually saw a drop of water ever pass her lips.  She was big on fruit juices though.
Oh, well fruit juice doesn't have water in it, everyone knows that.

NoraLenderbee

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #24 on: August 18, 2017, 03:13:36 PM »
5-person house. One woman was a kleptomaniac and a hoarder. She had been there the longest. We each had our own bedroom. She had a second room, which she did not pay extra for, and which was filled top to bottom with her stuff. Fabric, clothes, furniture, stuff she'd stolen from work. No one ever mentioned it. Everyone seemed to be afraid of her. I was the newest and didn't want to start trouble.

In the bathroom (shared by 4 of us), every single drawer and cabinet was filled with her stuff. And not just usual bathroom stuff like makeup and soap. Early one morning just after I moved in, I was looking for an aspirin (hadn't bought my own yet). The drawers were filled with pill bottles. Empty ones. Prescribed to her brother, herself, other people. All empty.

When she moved out, she took every single thing that she had ever bought or brought in. OK, that's normal, but it turned out she owned EVERYTHING. All the mugs. All the plates. The kitchen table. The pots and pans. Chairs. Spoons. We literally didn't have dishes to eat out of. To this day, i don't know whether it was all actually hers.

Another roommate had a revolving door on her bedroom. I'm fine with people enjoying their sex lives, but it really got old waking up to a strange guy in the bathroom every day. There was one guy she had married so he could get a green card. He didn't live with us, but he came over and used our shower whenever he felt like it.

She had a cat that she was supposed to keep in her bedroom only. (her bedroom had a window so the cat could get in and out.) Every day, that cat was out in the hall sunning itself. It also had fleas, which never bothered her but bit the crap out of me. Gosh, Sasha never goes out, where could those fleas have come from?

I was working from home in those days. One day she called from work to ask me to feed the cat. Then she called back to ask me to wake up her boyfriend-of-the-day.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #25 on: August 18, 2017, 03:46:40 PM »


I also want to know how this is the worst issue you had while living with 8 people. Jesus. I did have a roommate situation once with about 6 people, but I wasn't officially staying there just visiting many nights, same with two other girlfriends. It never got too crazy but the house was a pretty good mess most of the time.


There were the usual flatmate squabbles, but we were all students of about the same age so it was relatively peaceful. We shopped for food together, so that probably saved us from most issues. We'd each take responsibility for the cooking for a week (but you could swap your nights) and menu plan, and then we'd all shop. I think it worked out cheaper that way. Any treat things we bought individually we'd just keep in our rooms. There were three bathrooms, and we sort of only used 'our' bathroom each, so that was only shared and cleaned amongst a few people - and there were different states of acceptable cleanliness in each, let me tell you! The 'boy's' bathroom was a bit feral.

MMMaybe

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #26 on: August 18, 2017, 08:00:41 PM »
Most of my flatmates were ok actually. The only two odd ones were actually in the same flat share. The one guy literally never washed his bedding (and rarely himself) the whole time I lived there. He also had frequent overnight guests in his bed. So nasty!

*TMI* The other one had some odd toilet habits. She obviously had some digestive issues as her poop would not flush. So she would squeeze some toilet cleaner on top of it and leave it there.

partgypsy

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #27 on: August 18, 2017, 08:58:01 PM »
Wow, those sound bad. To tell the truth, the worse "roommate" situation was living with my older brother growing up. Drinking, freak outs, causing my parents grief, stealing or destroying my and sibs belongings, going into our room to steal money. Playing his drums or his hardcore music, always as loud as possible, all hours of day. I was an introverted shy kid. Couple times I walked down in our basement which he had  basically taken over to find strangers literally hiding and living there. 2nd worse roommate situation was with my sister. Love her, can't live with her. After that any other roommate situation was a cake walk.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2017, 09:04:41 PM by partgypsy »

RobFIRE

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #28 on: August 20, 2017, 03:37:09 AM »
A former housemate of mine was a guy who seemed to like to walk around the house naked. So he waited until he thought everybody else was out for a while then did his thing. Except he was also nearly deaf, had hearing aids for conversation but wouldn't pick up background sounds, so when he *thought* everyone was out wasn't quite the same as everybody actually being out (we didn't formally confirm to each other our work schedules and a couple of my housemates were shift workers). To be fair we only caught him doing that a handful of times over several years, so it was entertaining overall. Had it been a more regular issue it might have been a different story.

When I was looking for places to rent in houseshares I quickly realized that live-in landlord was a no-no. A lot of the adverts for those kind of arrangements said things like "suit a quiet person/Monday-Friday only preferred" etc., so clearly it was a family/couple with a spare room or a person who'd bought a house thinking they would rent the rooms and get their mortgage paid for them, where they wanted your money but never wanted to see you, hear you, or even see any evidence of you. When sharing I wanted to ensure that everybody was an equal.

When in a houseshare and we were advertising for a new housemate half of the people we spoke to were clearly hopeless for one reason or another. For example a guy with multiple large pet lizards. People who were shocked to hear that to move in you had to pay a month's deposit and a month's rent up front and found the thought of having that much money at one time a unimaginable concept. Or the occasional nice naive person who had only lived with parents before and was sad to hear that the household of independent adults working different schedules didn't have sit down meals together every day/surprised that they would have to be on the cleaning rota.

Of course you then have the practical issues of people's different schedules and attitudes. If I go to sleep at 11 pm because I'm working the next morning, whereas housemates aren't working until the afternoon so are playing music etc. until 3 am, is there a clear right and wrong...you have decent cookware and don't use metal utensils on them to look after them, your housemates think it's just a pan, cheap to replace if it gets scratched/who cares...

At a certain point, was late 20s for me, you realize that houseshares work well for a time but then you want your own place on your own terms.

Taran Wanderer

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #29 on: August 20, 2017, 05:32:23 PM »
Back when I had roommates, I was lucky to have good ones. But one was almost too good. I'm a neat freak, but this guy took the cake. We would rearrange the pens on his desk to see what would happen, and a few hours later, they would all be lined up in echelon again. We split the bills, and he would write the check for his share within minutes. This was annoying, because the last person to put in their check had to put on the stamp. Every workday morning, you could set your watch by him. Shower, bedroom door closed, thump de-thump de-thunp down the stairs, coffee, whisk-whisk-whisk around the yogurt container with the spoon, out the door and off to work.  Every day, the same thing, over and over and over...

Then, one day, all this happens, and then something new.  "THEY STOLED MY SEATS!!!"  He had gotten out to his car and his front seats had been stolen out of the car. In the street. In rampant suburbia. I don't what was funnier, the disruption to his routine or the fact that he said "stoled".

(Yes, it was funny. We were gainfully employed, he was appropriately insured, and his car had been broken into multiple times in the past. Of course, in the past, they just took his spare change, not his front seats...)
« Last Edit: August 20, 2017, 05:34:19 PM by Taran Wanderer »

marielle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #30 on: August 22, 2017, 08:12:40 AM »
Just when I thought it couldn't escalate any further, it does. My landlord went in my room, without any kind of notice, to look for my litter box scooper. He claims this was an emergency because he's allergic to litter and is a multiple organ transplant recipient (his daughter was getting ready to scoop at that moment). I can literally think of 20 scenarios without even trying that did not involve entry into my room. Plus, who chooses to own cats when they have an issue with litter (especially if it's an "emergency" which it's not because he's scooped before multiple times)? Not to even mention all the non-dusty or alternative cat litter types...
Oh yeah, and the scooper wasn't even in my room but in my bathroom.

Also, him opening the door when my boyfriend was sleeping to look for his cat was also an "emergency". Even though there were no further attempts to get a response other than knock once...
« Last Edit: August 22, 2017, 08:14:17 AM by marielle »

ketchup

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #31 on: August 22, 2017, 08:18:00 AM »
Just when I thought it couldn't escalate any further, it does. My landlord went in my room, without any kind of notice, to look for my litter box scooper. He claims this was an emergency because he's allergic to litter and is a multiple organ transplant recipient (his daughter was getting ready to scoop at that moment). I can literally think of 20 scenarios without even trying that did not involve entry into my room. Plus, who chooses to own cats when they have an issue with litter (especially if it's an "emergency" which it's not because he's scooped before multiple times)? Not to even mention all the non-dusty or alternative cat litter types...
Oh yeah, and the scooper wasn't even in my room but in my bathroom.

Also, him opening the door when my boyfriend was sleeping to look for his cat was also an "emergency". Even though there were no further attempts to get a response other than knock once...
"Emergency," eh?


marielle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #32 on: August 22, 2017, 08:37:21 AM »
Just when I thought it couldn't escalate any further, it does. My landlord went in my room, without any kind of notice, to look for my litter box scooper. He claims this was an emergency because he's allergic to litter and is a multiple organ transplant recipient (his daughter was getting ready to scoop at that moment). I can literally think of 20 scenarios without even trying that did not involve entry into my room. Plus, who chooses to own cats when they have an issue with litter (especially if it's an "emergency" which it's not because he's scooped before multiple times)? Not to even mention all the non-dusty or alternative cat litter types...
Oh yeah, and the scooper wasn't even in my room but in my bathroom.

Also, him opening the door when my boyfriend was sleeping to look for his cat was also an "emergency". Even though there were no further attempts to get a response other than knock once...
"Emergency," eh?



I legitimately did not expect him to say this. Maybe one day this will be funny looking back.

He also said that there has been no continuous invasion of privacy after I said I have had my privacy invaded and to stop doing it. I...just...what? How does someone get to decide if my privacy was invaded or not!?

GuitarStv

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #33 on: August 22, 2017, 10:08:18 AM »
Just when I thought it couldn't escalate any further, it does. My landlord went in my room, without any kind of notice, to look for my litter box scooper. He claims this was an emergency because he's allergic to litter and is a multiple organ transplant recipient (his daughter was getting ready to scoop at that moment). I can literally think of 20 scenarios without even trying that did not involve entry into my room. Plus, who chooses to own cats when they have an issue with litter (especially if it's an "emergency" which it's not because he's scooped before multiple times)? Not to even mention all the non-dusty or alternative cat litter types...
Oh yeah, and the scooper wasn't even in my room but in my bathroom.

Also, him opening the door when my boyfriend was sleeping to look for his cat was also an "emergency". Even though there were no further attempts to get a response other than knock once...
"Emergency," eh?



I legitimately did not expect him to say this. Maybe one day this will be funny looking back.

He also said that there has been no continuous invasion of privacy after I said I have had my privacy invaded and to stop doing it. I...just...what? How does someone get to decide if my privacy was invaded or not!?

Install a sliding deadbolt, hook/eyelet, or security chain.  That's way over the line on the part of the landlord.

marielle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #34 on: August 22, 2017, 10:27:30 AM »
Install a sliding deadbolt, hook/eyelet, or security chain.  That's way over the line on the part of the landlord.

This would require drilling into the door, so I would not get my security deposit back. Plus, it's his house so I can't lock him out legally (in case of an ACTUAL emergency that is).

dycker1978

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #35 on: August 22, 2017, 10:59:30 AM »
These are amazing/horrible.  When is the move out Mariille? Hopefully soon

Bicycle_B

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #36 on: August 22, 2017, 11:27:30 AM »
@Marielle, glad you're leaving soon.  Going into your room is intrusive and not acceptable.

It seems to me that your rental agreement should have something stating which areas (like your bedroom) are "yours" - and that the landlord entering those is invasion of privacy. 

I bet if you email him a message that any further invasion of your leased private space will be reported to the police as Peeping Tom activity, that you will consider it a sex crime and will contact the police to prosecute as such, the nutball will back off fast.  Also consider contacting your local renter advocacy group (tenant advocate and tenant's rights are good search terms too), and asking their advice.  In my town, a tenant can ask the landlord to a "mediation" session to iron out tricky/conflicted issues... if you have something similar, it may rattle him and make him back off, just to receive the request that he attend.  If he does attend, there's a good chance the mediator will agree with your expected lines of behavior and provide third party documentation that he should stay the hell out of your room!

PS.  Not offering legal advice here, just offering ideas that look relevant from the perspective of an outsider.  Format is directive as an aid to visualizing the ideas.  Research your own situation and decide.  Not sure if you want to bother with any of this for 2 or 3 weeks, but best of luck.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2017, 12:18:15 PM by Bicycle_B »

GuitarStv

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #37 on: August 22, 2017, 04:23:08 PM »
Install a sliding deadbolt, hook/eyelet, or security chain.  That's way over the line on the part of the landlord.

This would require drilling into the door, so I would not get my security deposit back. Plus, it's his house so I can't lock him out legally (in case of an ACTUAL emergency that is).

I meant on your room door.  A landlord should never be able to just walk in to a tenants room.

Carless

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #38 on: August 23, 2017, 06:58:48 AM »
some options; consider travel locks or some sort of bar dropped behind heavy furniture to block the door. This will only keep him out when you're in the room, but it's better than nothing.

marielle

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #39 on: August 23, 2017, 07:15:27 AM »
I'll be moving out in 2.5 weeks...

My boyfriend and I actually talked to him last night, we agreed on some house rules but the crazy is definitely still present. He actually threatened to call the police to kick out my boyfriend because he sent a long text telling him not to go in our room, move our stuff, etc. He did call the county but never went through with it. Either way my boyfriend was given a key to the house and permission to stay so I'm pretty sure he can't have done anything. My landlord said something like, "I have the right to do it but I'm choosing not to." after he got off the phone with the county. Not sure what he told them on the phone but from everything I read online a landlord can't do that unless the tenant's guest does something illegal or against the lease. Guests are specifically allowed in the lease.

I can't believe we had to explain how much of a big deal it is to open the door to someone's bedroom when they're sleeping (and he still tried to explain/justify it). Either way, he said he won't go in or open the door without permission going forward, but we'll see. Also I explained that it's not necessary to constantly text about chores/requests just because something hasn't been put away for one hour. Hopefully we get some peace until move out. If I just get left alone for the most part for the next two weeks I'll be happy.

katstache92

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #40 on: August 23, 2017, 07:30:03 AM »
So many roommates to choose from...  I had 25 in 5 years due to college dorms and internship apartments.

1. Watched TV 24/7... even when sleeping.  If I turned the TV off or down because I was trying to sleep she would wake up at 2am and turn it back on/up.  This was in a college dorm room.  TV show of choice: Spongebob.

2. I moved to a new apartment to get away from underage drinking and drugs.  A week later the old apartment was busted.

3. Before I moved from old apartment people had been eating my food.  So I labeled things like hot pockets since there were a lot of them in the freezer.  Watched a roommate open and eat one of mine right in front of me.

3. Dorm room, roommate frequently had guys over, would leave her and their clothes spread all over my desk which happened to be next to the bunk beds.  Also, didn't matter if I was in the room sleeping in the bunk bed when she came back with someone at the end of the night.

4. Was physically threatened by a roommate with a hot straightening iron when I asked her nicely to clean up her hair out of the tub which I had painstakingly cleaned the night before since we had an inspection (intern program requirement) that day.

GuitarStv

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #41 on: August 23, 2017, 11:38:32 AM »
3. Before I moved from old apartment people had been eating my food.  So I labeled things like hot pockets since there were a lot of them in the freezer.  Watched a roommate open and eat one of mine right in front of me.

When I was living in dorms at university I had a large bottle of mouthwash that I kept in a bathroom shared with five other guys.  I noticed that the level of the mouthwash kept dropping day after day.  We had a dorm meeting after a couple weeks of this where I informed my room-mates that I'd noticed someone was using the mouthwash . . . and that's why I had peed in the bottle four days back.  Never found out who was doing it, but they stopped.

Letj

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #42 on: August 23, 2017, 04:41:25 PM »
3. Before I moved from old apartment people had been eating my food.  So I labeled things like hot pockets since there were a lot of them in the freezer.  Watched a roommate open and eat one of mine right in front of me.

When I was living in dorms at university I had a large bottle of mouthwash that I kept in a bathroom shared with five other guys.  I noticed that the level of the mouthwash kept dropping day after day.  We had a dorm meeting after a couple weeks of this where I informed my room-mates that I'd noticed someone was using the mouthwash . . . and that's why I had peed in the bottle four days back.  Never found out who was doing it, but they stopped.

Lol. You left out the best part of the story. Did you really pee in the mouthwash?

GuitarStv

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #43 on: August 23, 2017, 05:17:17 PM »
3. Before I moved from old apartment people had been eating my food.  So I labeled things like hot pockets since there were a lot of them in the freezer.  Watched a roommate open and eat one of mine right in front of me.

When I was living in dorms at university I had a large bottle of mouthwash that I kept in a bathroom shared with five other guys.  I noticed that the level of the mouthwash kept dropping day after day.  We had a dorm meeting after a couple weeks of this where I informed my room-mates that I'd noticed someone was using the mouthwash . . . and that's why I had peed in the bottle four days back.  Never found out who was doing it, but they stopped.

Lol. You left out the best part of the story. Did you really pee in the mouthwash?

:D

Dragonswan

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #44 on: August 24, 2017, 07:30:38 AM »
So it's a myth that Canadians are so nice they never get mad?

RetiredAt63

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #45 on: August 24, 2017, 08:11:29 AM »
So it's a myth that Canadians are so nice they never get mad?

Yup.  Nice =/= doormat.  We are polite, too.  Polite =/= doormat.

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #46 on: November 05, 2018, 11:42:12 PM »
Hi. My roommate just told me that SpongeBob was a square. As would any other reasonable human being, I was astonished, and  frankly at a loss for words. "Spongebob", I explained, on the verge of a breakdown, "is a RECTANGLE". That is when it happened. The young woman I had been living with for well over a year replied, "Well... his pants are square", AS IF IT WAS THE SAME THING. My mind was taken down a dark path, picturing the utter wasteland Earth would become if it suddenly became acceptable to simply attribute the quality of our pants to ourselves. People would be divided by their designated jean type; boot cuts are the farmers, skinny jeans the elite, jeggings peasants, treated as utter scum. Now, I don't think I can sleep next to this woman who sees the world in this way; the woman who will denigrate humanity to the essence of a denim garment worn on our limbs.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2018, 11:43:59 PM by sadboi203 »

Zikoris

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #47 on: November 05, 2018, 11:57:27 PM »
Hi. My roommate just told me that SpongeBob was a square. As would any other reasonable human being, I was astonished, and  frankly at a loss for words. "Spongebob", I explained, on the verge of a breakdown, "is a RECTANGLE". That is when it happened. The young woman I had been living with for well over a year replied, "Well... his pants are square", AS IF IT WAS THE SAME THING. My mind was taken down a dark path, picturing the utter wasteland Earth would become if it suddenly became acceptable to simply attribute the quality of our pants to ourselves. People would be divided by their designated jean type; boot cuts are the farmers, skinny jeans the elite, jeggings peasants, treated as utter scum. Now, I don't think I can sleep next to this woman who sees the world in this way; the woman who will denigrate humanity to the essence of a denim garment worn on our limbs.

Spongebob is whatever shape he wants to be at any given moment, given whole whole sponge thing. Like my avatar. Or Texas.


BookLoverL

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #48 on: November 07, 2018, 03:11:02 AM »
Wow, some of these are really bad!

I never had anything that bad, though there was one guy in my last year of uni who didn't seem to understand the point of a shower curtain. He would leave the shower curtain on the outside of the bath, so that instead of all the water running into the bath and going down the drain, it would drip onto the bathroom floor and make a giant puddle. He also used almost all of my bottle of washing up liquid (I wasn't using much of it myself at the time as I was only cooking at home about twice a week). I hid the replacement bottle after that...

GuitarStv

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Re: Bad roommate stories
« Reply #49 on: November 07, 2018, 07:07:34 AM »
He also used almost all of my bottle of washing up liquid (I wasn't using much of it myself at the time as I was only cooking at home about twice a week). I hid the replacement bottle after that...

There are alternate solutions to deal with this sort of behaviour . . .


:P