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This Thread Has People Sharing Stories About Lunatic Roommates, And Here Are 30 Of The Most Nightmarish Ones
It’s no secret that living with a roommate can be both a blessing and a curse. When you think about it, always having somebody to talk to, borrowing snacks with zero intention of returning them, and secretly using their shampoo definitely fall into the first category. But sometimes, co-living can be far from ideal when you move in with folks who are impossible to live with.
Hit TV shows like Friends may have convinced us that sharing a tight space with someone can lead to life-long meaningful friendships. Unfortunately, that's rarely the case, and one thread on Ask Reddit illustrates it perfectly. A few days ago, Redditor 00Dylan reached out to people online to hear about their nightmarish roommates from hell and wondered how they earned this title.
The thread quickly flooded with hundreds of responses, and each story is more unbelievable than the previous one. Continue scrolling to find out about the characters people have had the "pleasure" to live under one roof with and keep reading for our interview with Dr. Jesse Matthews, a licensed clinical psychologist, about the importance of communicating our concerns with our housemates.
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#1
She kicked my cat so hard she almost killed her. We’d been friends since we were 15. F**k you, Samantha.
ETA: This happened 30 years ago and I’ll never get over it. I was 21 and poor so saving her was a huge deal financially; the vet is a f*****g saint. I’m so thankful she survived the ordeal. She was a trooper. She lived to be 19.
After Samantha moved out a mutual acquaintance told me it was sad I let a friendship go over money. F**k you, unique-named-person, too!
Edit: I wasn’t there to see it. Another roommate was.
Lisa Hewes 2 years ago
Wow. Anyone harms my cats, I will no longer be in charge of my own body. That's a warning.
RELATED:
#2
We already weren’t getting along, but never escalated beyond minor spats. That is until he put nail polish remover into my facial moisturizer. He denied it when I confronted him of course, I was even accused by my other roommates of putting it there myself.
Obviously I moved out like 2 weeks later, bc the landlord refused to let me put a lock on my bedroom door. My new place was furnished, and I moved out ASAP, so it took me a couple extra days after I moved to get all my furniture out, including my bed. When I arrived to get my bed, there were fresh bodily fluids on my sheets and pillow case. That’s right, the m**********r jacked his putrid d**k off onto my pillow.
Morgan wherever you are, I hope you’re f*****g miserable.
Edit: I love you all so much, you’re all invited to the F**k Morgan club
#3
Yelled at me for reading my own books because it messed up the decor. Books were sorted by color and not subject and reading them made them look not as new.
Yeah.
My own books.
Dr. Jesse Matthews explained that arguments are frequently the result of a lack of communication. "Essentially, one or more people has an issue with the other but doesn’t talk about it, and so it continues and festers in their own mind, until it becomes a bigger problem and blows up into an argument, either when someone can no longer contain it or when it is triggered," he told Bored Panda.
This can turn into a real issue because it creates resentment toward others, which makes it a bigger problem for us. Moreover, it can develop into uncomfortable or unhealthy dynamics, which can be a problem for all involved, Dr. Matthews added. So to avoid adding fuel to the fire, communicating early, often, and tactfully is key. The psychologist told us that this means verbalizing issues as early as possible, rather than keeping our feelings bottled up inside.
"If you don’t communicate, then the other person cannot know that it’s a problem for you, and so they will likely just continue. The tactful part is choosing your battles and not bringing up or complaining about every little thing that bothers you, but being selective and approaching the things that are of more importance," he suggested.
#4
Said I was using my mom’s [passing away] (which had happened 1 week prior) to gain sympathy. This was because I had asked her to watch my dog while I went to my mom’s funeral.
#5
I had gotten a friend of mine from college - one of my best friends at the time - a job at my company that would get him out of Arizona and a really toxic family life. He moved into my apartment in DC for a month or two with my girlfriend and me while he saved some cash after moving.
The first night he stole her anxiety medication to go to sleep - like, 8 of them, and then it turned out he’d developed a massive drinking problem that he kept moderately hidden until I noticed the smell of booze on his breath in the morning car to work. He also passed out at the office at least once.
Eventually, he became completely non functioning. He stole booze, money, pills, and started locking himself in his room and just never interacting with anyone. Eventually, as it had been three months and he never paid rent, I had to kick him out. He was fired the next day, and ended up wasting all the money he’d saved on booze and then wound up in a shelter for a bit. He then took a bus to Seattle and lived on someone’s couch for two years.
We finally mended our friendship last year - it had been about 8 - and then he fell back into booze and drugs and I had to drive two hours to where he lives in Northern Arizona to take him to rehab. After dropping him off at rehab, I watched him take a phone call and then leave without going inside. He is early 30s and has an enlarged liver and heart issues from all the abuse, and so I’m pretty much under the assumption he’s going to [pass away] and there’s not much more I can do.
Edit: To all those saying “f**k alcoholics,” like, ok whatever. I still love this person like a brother and my heart aches for him knowing he wants but can’t find a way out of the rabbit hole.
Tiffany Marie 2 years ago (edited)
I'm 3 years sober. He's probably had a lot of abuse & a traumatic childhood. Lots of CPTSD tied to it. - Therapy and trying to get through all that and taking it all one day at a time. Ultimately the pain sucks but we have to help ourselves. .. somehow in someway. I know this too well. It's hard but it's possible to heal.
#6
Despite me being a high risk individual and me begging him to be careful, he refused to get vaccinated and caught the coronavirus at a party and then gave it to me.
Sadly, sometimes it feels almost impossible to roll out our tongues to talk about things that are bothering us. Dr. Matthews said that many of us have been taught to be polite and considerate. Because living with others involves a fair share of chores and agreed-upon rules, we may feel it’s impolite to complain when our housemate’s behaviors don’t live up to our standards.
"We often learn that it’s good to be agreeable as well, so we may fear seeming disagreeable. And of course, we want people to like us, so we may believe that complaining might cause our roommates not to like us as much."
#7
I had a roommate that would s**t in the shower and put it through the small holes of the drain. He never got it all. It was obviously disgusting.
#8
When I was in college, my roommate was out of this world, she would ask my Parents to pay her side of the rent, bills, she would eat my groceries, take my car, her boyfriend basically lived with us. I finally had to kick her out. She even tried to have sex with me at one point. She knew I was a lesbian, so I guess she wanted to try things out with me? But I said NO WAY.
#9
He sold my guinea pigs to a pet store because he didn't like them. Yes, he knew about them when we moved in together. He was one of those "if it's not a dog I hate it" kind of people.
Another reason we may refrain from voicing our criticisms could be something called "self gaslighting". "Essentially denying our own feelings and telling ourselves that something isn’t an issue or that we are wrong for being bothered by it." Beyond these reasons, conflict avoidance is often to blame, Dr. Matthews told us. "We may fear any type of conflict and the discomfort that we expect from having difficult conversations, so much so that we believe we can’t voice any complaint or issue, or even ask a question."
#10
I had roommates there were 7th Day Adventists and would eat my food. They said they were not allowed to eat pork so I started buying only lunch meats that obviously contained pork but they still ate in anyway.
#11
Camera in the bathroom
#12
Not super terrible but we went to a party, he got drunk super quick and saw some people he didn't want to be around and walked home. About an hour later me and my other roommate headed home too. When we pulled into the driveway we saw lights on in the living room, which quickly went off. When we got inside we saw a massive person sized hole in the hallway wall into the bathroom. Our roommate was pretending to sleep and when we asked him what the f**k happened he said someone "broke in" didn't try to steal anything but just busted a hole in our wall (from inside of the bathroom into the hall I should add), then slipped out the still locked back door (they didn't see him laying on the couch at all either apparently).
Edit: Dude was a compulsive liar. My favorite lie was that he had his whole head tattooed to look like a skull but it faded so no one can tell anymore.
Cold Contagious 2 years ago
Should have made him call the police about the supposed break in, to call him on his shît.
However, staying silent often leads to internal problems like general discomfort or unhappiness, as well as anxiety, anger, or resentment. "Many people who don’t communicate directly often learn to communicate their feelings indirectly, such as through passive aggression." For example, if they are being kept up at night by noise, "they may start slamming cabinet doors and banging dishes around in the early morning hours."
"Behaviors such as these are meant to send a message or to get back at the offending person, but in a way that feels easier to the person — in part because they can deny that any message was intended if called out on it," Dr. Matthews said and added this clearly can lead to further issues with roommates.
#13
He was technically my boyfriend. But he was staying with me so he was also my roommate. Anyway, caught him cheating and promptly kicked him out. Since he didn't have key to the apartment, I left my place unlocked while I was at work so that he could get his s**t out. Which, he didn't do. I ended up dropping his s**t off st his mom's house.
What he did do instead was steal my pet snake. I don't know what he did to him. Like if he just let him go outside, if he took him with him. I know he's not in my apartment. It's really not that big of a place and I tore it up every single day for nearly a month straight trying to find him. He had escaped once before when his old enclosure broke but I found him within a few hours. The enclosure I had for him after that incident was escape proof. And there's absolutely no trace of him anywhere. I have two cats, both of which would have tore him to pieces had they had the chance. But again, there's no sign of anything. He was just gone.
The s**tty thing is, I didn't notice until a few days after the fact. If you know snakes, they spend a lot of time hiding. So, during those few days between me kicking him out and me realizing he was gone, I figure my snake was curled up inside his little cave. But then feeding day came, and i flipped up the cave and saw he wasn't there. Frantically searched the whole enclosure, and he was nowhere.
So yeah, he did something to my snake.
#14
To name a few things:
- Would have the loudest sex one could have with their partner. Loud enough that I got at least 3 unique complaints from neighbors
- Physically threatened me on multiple occasions
- Cooked disgusting meals and covered the kitchen in food scraps and generally did nothing to clean
- Her dog would poop on the floor pretty much every day, sometimes more than once (and took no effort to train away the behavior)
- Invited herself to my neighbor's party when I was there, even though she wasn't invited - proceeded to make an a*s of herself
- Would make constant targeted comments about me smoking weed, even though we're in a legal state
- Destroyed 3 cars in her 8 month stay (all in unique ways!)
- Threatened s**cide to make me feel like her behavior was somehow my fault
These are just what I can remember at the moment...
#15
Used my body bar soap to wash her bum and hands after pooping (normal here to use water and soap to clean yourself after pooping). Found out when I found a speck of poop on my soap.
If you want to become better at communicating your thoughts with your roommates, the best way to do this is to kindly yet directly express the issue using "I" statements. Dr. Matthews advised talking about how certain situations affect us and what we would like instead. "Using "I" statements we can keep things to how we feel and how we are being affected, instead of having the other person feel blamed and helping them to become less defensive," he added.
#16
One of my first flatmates in London was weirdly into me.
One time I took a friend home cause she was too drunk to take the tube by herself. My flatmate saw us getting home, asked me if she was my girlfriend and I said yes hoping he'd leave me alone after this... big mistake.
He asked if he could sleep with us in my bed (my friend was passed out at this point), said he "wouldn't do anything, just wanted some human contact".
Creepy as hell, moved out shortly after that.
#17
I once had a roommate who kept cranking the temperature way up, I'm talking like 28 degrees Celsius or 85 Fahrenheit. The landlord kept coming over to turn it way down as he was paying the bill. This meant we had the landlord coming over basically every day for a month. Finally he turned the temperature to a very generous 22 Celsius set up a lock box to cover the thermostat. My roommate came home, got wasted, took a hammer and smashed the box to pieces and turned the temperature up to 28 degrees again.
This by itself was just mainly amusing but he he also was stealing my stuff, borrowing money without paying it back, and hosting late night dance parties to Nelly Furtado music. He claimed he had never used a vacuum in his life and didn't know how.
One time he put a frozen pizza in the oven together with the cardboard. I smelled burning and raced downstairs to remove smouldering paper from the oven before it caught fire and burnt our house down. I asked him what he was thinking and he said 'that's the way we do it in Spain.' No shame, no apology.
#18
He would always leave his dog for too long and she would s**t on the floor. It was an old dog and im sure at one point it wasn't an issue.
The problem was this guy didn't even try to do anything to fix the issue. I'd get home from work every day and walk into a house that punched me in the face with s**t smell when I opened the door.
We talked to him about it over and over again and he'd just blow it off. What did he finally do when he got fed up with us complaining? He put the dog down.
We just wanted him to maybe come walk her while on break at work. His job was 5 minutes down the road. I can still feel the tension in the room when we found out she was gone.
Unfortunately, many people seem to struggle with this. "A great way to start communicating and to keep it flowing is to have regular meetings, similar to how some couples or families do. Set aside a regular time, say 15-30 minutes, each week and give everyone an opportunity to contribute. Check in about how things are going with everyone, set and talk about house rules, and provide updates on things like bills for rent or utilities," the psychologist suggested.
#19
She had the landlord return the security deposit in her name, even though I'd paid it in full. It was $1800. When I asked the landlord for the deposit back, he said he already gave it to her and I had to work it out with her. I was 19 and didn't know any better. Needless to say, she never paid me back. Still bitter 20 years later. I worked full time in college and her parents paid her way. $1800 was a lot of money back then.
#20
Thought it would be a good prank to put chicken feet in my bed while I was away for a weekend
#21
One of many great stories: he took a s**t on his bedroom floor to protest me spraying febreeze in the bathroom, quoting "your s**t stinks too".
If you’re planning to live with someone, think about potential issues beforehand. "If you are a neat freak and your friend is messy, this might prove to be difficult for you, and it could be a challenge to your relationship. If you are already living with someone, try to discuss and set house rules that everyone can agree on as soon as possible."
#22
He came home completely drunk.
Opened the fridge.
Yelled at us for eating something of his (which he already ate earlier today).
Pulled his pants down.
Pissed into the fridge.
Was trying to pull his pants back.
Failed, fell on the floor.
Fell asleep on the floor. Snoring.
That was not the first time. We each had a small fridge to keep out stuff away from him.
We each had a separate contract, so couldn't legally throw him out.
#23
Door was always closed, but a month after he moved in, there was a terrible stink when I walked by. One day I heard the distinctive sound of a meowing cat. There was a well-communicated no pet policy here. I opened the door and the most skittish and terrified cat I have ever witnessed bolted out and hit under the living-room couch. There was cat s**t everywhere. Even on the bed.
#24
There’s really too much to put in one post but I’ll try. He started running a business in my house (which I approved of but would soon regret), he would have random people coming into the house during the pandemic not wearing masks and they would break dishes, be really loud while i was sleeping, just generally not courteous. We had an extra room which I had set up for a third roommate to come stay with us, he didn’t like that idea so he started letting some heroin addicts start living in it without asking me and knowing a friend was moving in soon from out of state. At some point he stopped taking his meds and went full on psychopath, he removed the handle from his door and made it to where you could only get in with a key, inside his room he ripped the ac vent from the ceiling and put a metal plate over it. Broke the window and installed his own ac unit. It got to the point where we couldn’t even have a civil conversation without someone starting a fight. Once the out of town friend moved in he started staying away for weeks at a time, he intentionally left a garbage bag full of meat under his bed for about 3 weeks and we started noticing fruit flies everywhere and it eventually got so bad we had to force our way into his room to figure out what the issue was. Those are just some of the highlights, there were lots of other things he did. Wherever he is, I hope he gets what he deserves.
Rachknits 2 years ago (edited)
The 'business ' kinda sounds like he was dealing. It also sounds like he had serious mental health issues which would be really hard for you to live with but also needs to be addressed with some understanding of that. It’s cool not want to have to live with that, you're only roommates but he sounds as though he needed more support than he was given
It’s important to understand that our tendency to avoid conflicts will translate to our work, romantic relationships, and even dealing with children in the future, Dr. Matthews stressed. "This is not just a roommate problem, but you will come across issues like this throughout your life."
"It won’t be necessary to become a master of difficult conversations, but in order to get your needs met, to improve your relationships, and to be happier, there are some important skills to learn. And getting used to dealing with situations, rather than avoiding them, will increase your comfort level and decrease any anxiety you may have," he concluded.
#25
Ooooofff this is a good one!!! My roommate from hell stole my 12k car, 4K computer, 12 pairs of shoes, my special edition gow ps4, $1,500 in rent and asked me what my favorite 4 numbers were so he could steal my card and try making several withdrawal attempts. Oh and he crashed my 2012 bmw… smh.
#26
Wrecked my collection of Japanese kitchen knives. Ate the lunch I had prepared for my child for school. Prepped and entire Costco pack of chicken breasts that I had purchased and claimed them all as hers. Left a bottle of hair dye on the floor after dying her hair and ruined the hardwood and carpet. The list goes on and on.
She was a classmate of my wife’s who was down on her luck and we let rent a room off of us for a few months to help her out.
At the end of 4 months she packed her stuff up and said that she didn’t think she owed us anything as she is a single woman and we were a family of three. She did not pay a single bill or for any groceries for the entire 4 months she stayed at our place.
I hope she is doing well.
Sofie Carmine 2 years ago
What....if someone had wrecked my collection of Japanese kitchen knives, ate my kids lunch, plus all that other s**t, boy....
#27
Man I thought my college roommate hang drying his wet, no detergent "washed" clothes in our room and making the room a gas chamber of disgusting locker room smell was bad.
Yall got some crazies
#28
She stole my underwear, wore them, then reported me to our boarding school for having personal "inappropriate" underwear when I confronted her for stealing them. She got in trouble for theft, but I still got in trouble for having clothes outside the dress code even though I threw them out after I saw them in her dirty laundry hamper.
Jo Johannsen 2 years ago
Excuse me, the school dress code covered underwear?? That is absolutely outrageous!
#29
I have two actually,
My freshman year of college I was in an off campus apartment with four other girls three of the girls were great but the fourth one was this holier than thou religious girl who tried to shove her beliefs down everyone's throats, she would also time each of us in the shower and had this little excel spreadsheet that she would record all the times in, would turn off the heat during snowstorms because she didn't want to pay a high gas bill, go absolutely bats**t nuts if we used the dishwasher because she didn't want to pay the water bill (even though we only paid gas/power landlord paid everything else) so she would stand over us and watch us handwash the dishes. When we tried talking to her about it she told her bishop that we attacked her so he called us all into his office to ask us about it. She left after the first semester to serve a mission but didn't finish it and as far as I know now she's married but that's the extent of it.
The second one was a long time friend, the two of us moved into a place together with another childhood friend and at first everything was great until I missed ONE SINGLE GRAIN of rice while cleaning up after dinner once and she lost her mind. After that she was super passive aggressive with me, would throw out the groceries I just bought calming they were "moldy" so I eventually just kept food at my parents house. When rona cause everyone to work from home and I still had to physically go into work because I was an essential worker she would play music all night long, start laundry (which was right next to My room) in the middle of the night. We all had our own separate dish sets from living in previous apartments she would use mine and then yell at me for leaving them in the sink. (I eventually took all my dishes, pots, pans, silverware etc and kept it all in my room since I wasn't eating there anyways) one time I got off of work pretty late and was taking a shower because it has been a long, hard, and gross day and her and her boyfriend pounded and the door suddenly, scaring me and laughed when they thought I fell. The day she moved out her, her mom, and her fiance (who she had only been dating for two weeks) stood outside my bedroom door, pounding on it, screaming at me, and just in general trapping me in my room. I called my dad and he came and said if they didn't leave he was calling the cops. They finally left and I haven't heard from her since. But through the snooping of friends I've found out that she's an antivaxxer now.
#30
Boiled her diva cup in the kitchen, at 6am on a Sunday morning, waking the whole house to the putrid smells of boiling off, stale, blood.
Followed buy occupying the whole kitchen for 6 hours to meal prep for a whole week. She was confused why everyone was grossed out at the smell, and oblivious to the massive entitlement on the second offense. She got angry when I strolled in around 10am to make some breakfast. On a f*****g weekend.
What do you think ?
Bi-Polar Express 2 years ago
Worst roommate was the one who sold my rolltop desk. My dad had restored it for me. Gone.
Raccoon panda 2 years ago
Worst roommate shares a body with me. To put it very, very lightly, if I clean up a mess, then black out, I guarantee the mess will return. Otherwise she’s really sweet. Her parents screwed her up to the point that it’s nothing short of a miracle we’re not either in a padded room or on the street. And for a smart woman, the fact they never taught any of us life skills, never had grace for our imperfections, we’re generally neglectful, nor did any emotional investment is really reflected by her lack of self-care. It’s sad, watching her be like this, struggling between hopeful and hopeless, when I’m trying to do the tangible stuff to get out of this rut physically. At least she’s doing the emotional work, and now some physical work, to keep depression at bay. F this.
Jessica Bertram 2 years ago
hang in there, lovely human. you are trying, and you are doing the work. be gentle with yourself on this journey. Sending you hugs and hope from 44 years of perspective and stops and starts. Forward, never straight, and that is ok. We are here for you. 🥰❤🤗
Load More Replies...
John Baker 2 years ago
I had a roommate who stole (and scrapped) all the copper pipe in my house while I was at work, and "replaced" it with rubber hose. Needless to say, he was told in no uncertain terms to pack his sh!it and get the hell out.
Bi-Polar Express 2 years ago
Worst roommate was the one who sold my rolltop desk. My dad had restored it for me. Gone.
Raccoon panda 2 years ago
Worst roommate shares a body with me. To put it very, very lightly, if I clean up a mess, then black out, I guarantee the mess will return. Otherwise she’s really sweet. Her parents screwed her up to the point that it’s nothing short of a miracle we’re not either in a padded room or on the street. And for a smart woman, the fact they never taught any of us life skills, never had grace for our imperfections, we’re generally neglectful, nor did any emotional investment is really reflected by her lack of self-care. It’s sad, watching her be like this, struggling between hopeful and hopeless, when I’m trying to do the tangible stuff to get out of this rut physically. At least she’s doing the emotional work, and now some physical work, to keep depression at bay. F this.
Jessica Bertram 2 years ago
hang in there, lovely human. you are trying, and you are doing the work. be gentle with yourself on this journey. Sending you hugs and hope from 44 years of perspective and stops and starts. Forward, never straight, and that is ok. We are here for you. 🥰❤🤗
Load More Replies... John Baker 2 years ago
I had a roommate who stole (and scrapped) all the copper pipe in my house while I was at work, and "replaced" it with rubber hose. Needless to say, he was told in no uncertain terms to pack his sh!it and get the hell out.
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