Living with other people is a great way to keep costs down, have a sense of community, and have some random person just take your stuff without permission. So if you end up living with some less-than-trustworthy folks, it’s best to have some contingency plans in mind.

One woman shared her simple but effective method of ensuring that her thieving roommate never steals her food again. After being made fun of for being a “pushover,” she got revenge and shared her tale with the internet. Readers loved her strategy and shared some similar stories in the comments section.

Having a roommate laugh in your face after you confront them about stealing your food is a pretty dire situation

Image credits: Mike Jones (not the actual photo)

So one woman concocted a brilliant bit of revenge that would ensure her products would remain untouched

Image credits: Pavel Danilyuk (not the actual photo)

Image source: shadow_lily

Living with others has its pros and cons

Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)

The benefits of a roommate or even roommates are pretty obvious. You can split costs, allowing one to live in a larger, more central area without breaking the bank. At this point in time, between 30% and 50% of people in major US cities actually live with roommates, based on a 2016 census.

Given that this data is nearly a decade old at the moment and housing remains hard-to-get, it’s likely that this statistic has gotten even higher. For example, perhaps surprising no one, Los Angeles is at the top of the list, with roughly 45% of respondents stating that they have at least one roommate. Riverside, also in California is a close second.

Regardless, it allows people who want or need to save the chance to live in better accommodations. The per-person cost of a shared living room, kitchen, and perhaps even bathroom all do keep the expenses down. However, stories like this are a clear example of the “tragedy of the commons,” as certain people simply can’t help but be selfish and entitled towards the folks they live with.

A person’s roommates have a surprisingly large effect on them

Image credits: SHVETS production (not the actual photo)

This highlights a common issue with roommates. While people might have different lifestyles and standards, it’s not exactly normal to expect a roommate to straight up steal your items. Interestingly, studies have shown that we do adopt the habits of our roommates over time. For example, if you have a roommate who binges on snacks, drinks, and meals, you are more likely to do the same.

There are similar findings about everything from grades to general happiness. Regarding the former, a roommate without any qualms about playing video games for multiple hours every day will have a direct, negative effect on others’ grades. One study found that this could be up to as much as a .02 reduction in a GPA.

Regarding happiness, while it’s pretty obvious that being able to afford to live by yourself tends to be better, having happy, positive roommates does come with some advantages. One study suggests that being around cheerful people will improve your mood, while downers will actively make you feel worse. Of course, thieves and liars are generally even worse in most regards, something that doesn’t require scientific inquiry to figure out.

Some people end up learning their lesson the hard way

As with most horrible people, OP’s roommate most likely acts the way she does because she has never faced real consequences for her actions. It’s precisely because she sees OP as a “pushover” that she steals her products. While some might argue that this is sort of how the world works anyway, it’s surprisingly short-sighted to slight someone who literally lives in the same home as you.

Hopefully, OP’s actions were a sufficient lesson for this person to reconsider both her proclivities and her beliefs. At the very least, she got a much-needed humbling. As the many stories given by readers (which can be found below) show, some people do need to face some consequences or they will just keep acting the way they do.

Readers enjoyed the bit of petty revenge and shared some similar stories

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