Roommate situations can be hit or miss. You might end up finding your best friend or you might make an enemy for life – and honestly, there’s no way to tell before you all move in.
They can also be tenuous. Like, if you add someone or lose someone, the whole situation can just fall to pieces.
In OP’s case it was adding someone to the mix.
So after college I ended up living with two friends from school in a family owned house near the school, one of them brought in one of her coworkers, Ashley, to stay for three months while she finished out a contract.
There was a lease agreement for the main two friends, they knew my cousin and knew he was was the LL and everything had been fine for over a year before Ashley came along. Ashley signed an agreement with him as well for the three months.
We did agree not to share the family connection with Ashley though, in case she was a problem and tried to use it against us, or as an excuse to be a slob/not pay.
Things seemed ok at first, but then she freaked out about some soap.
Ashley seemed okay for the first couple days, mostly settling in and getting used to the house and how it ran.
I had offered to make a roast dinner for everyone and was in the process of cooking it when Ashley noticed me use her bottle of Palmolive on accident and asked me why I’d used hers instead of my own (it was sitting right next to mine and a little more empty.) Weird.
But I apologized for the mistake, took a rubber band from the junk drawer and put it on the neck of my bottle so it wouldn’t happen again and assumed that was that.
And as if that wasn’t enough, she was on about salt and pepper.
That was not that.
Ashley then informed the roommates that she’d seen me using her salt and pepper on the table on a couple occasions (the cardboard dollar store sets for picnics), and asked them if I always took all their stuff without asking and if I was always this way. They said no, and Ashley said they were clearly just too spineless to speak up for themselves.
She turned to me and said “I won’t put up with this sort of nonsense. I don’t want anyone else using anything of mine just because it’s sitting out. I will not be having this conversation again. Do not touch anything of mine. Or else.”
That’s when OP decided to call her on it.
[I can feel my pulse in my teeth]
“I understand completely, Ashley. I’m really sorry if you feel that way, but I think your way is the best way forward, no more using one another’s things. At all. Right?”
“Right.”
“Right. Well, the kettle, coffee makers, toaster, and microwave are all mine. Ditto for all the pots and pans, flatware, and plates in these cupboards and drawers.
The big TV in the main room and the consoles are mine as well. All the bedding on your bed is also mine, I’ll thank you to put it in the wash immediately.” I think she thought I was joking. I was not.
I was going to tell her “no roast beef or Yorkshire pudding for you!” but she opted not to join us for the welcome dinner on her own.
The next morning as soon as she was gone to work I rearranged my things in the kitchen, put everything of mine into the walk in pantry and put a locking knob on it. I took the remotes and controllers for my big TV and kept them locked in my room.
I took the bedding and lamps of mine out of her room. Extra receiver for satellite? Nope, just the three we already have and it’s my account anyhow. WiFi password? Sorry, that’s mine as well.
She did not last very long in the new situation.
Ashley complained bitterly. She insisted it was illegal for me to deprive her of the microwave, internet, and tv in her lease. Nope!
That thing just said that a fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer, and dryer were available for use. (Oh and BTW the laundry drying rack is mine as well, and stop using my detergent pellets.)
It was a rough two months. Ashley ended up leaving early to move in with a BF, she made a big theatrical threat on her way out that she was talking to the LL and was going to get us all kicked out.
It was then that I informed her he was family. She looked like a balloon full of raspberry jam at that revelation, and we never saw her again.
(Roommates were fine with the kitchen and tv stuff, they had keys to the pantry and their own TVs in their rooms.)
Hopefully everyone was happy again after she left.
Does Reddit think she was too harsh? Let’s find out!
The top comment wonders if she’ll learn to not be so petty.
Hopefully she’ll figure out how to pick her battles.
She should have just enjoyed her dinner.
And apparently she never even apologized.
Yeah, no one needs a roommate like this in their life.
Unless you’re really, really hard up.
If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.