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People Who Lost The Roommate Lottery In College Share Their Horror Stories
Interview With Expert
Dishes piled high in the sink. Drunken visitors stumbling in at three in the morning. Valuable items mysteriously vanishing, despite your roommate swearing that she’s never seen them. Oh the joys of sharing a living space!
College is a transformative time for many people, and students are expected to deepen their understanding of themselves and the world, in addition to what they’re learning in the classroom. But it’s also the first time many people move away from home, and apparently, lots of students could use a lesson on how to coexist peacefully.
Redditors have recently been sharing their “roommate from hell” stories, so we’ve gathered some of the most shocking ones below. Keep reading to also find conversations with the Reddit user who started this thread, Kylie McConville, Editor-in-Chief of Apartment Therapy, and Mary Dell Harrington, co-founder of Grown and Flown. And be sure to upvote the stories that sound like your nightmare!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Had a roommate who got diagnosed with colon cancer part way through the year. It was a roller coaster of emotions as his treatment progressed throughout the school year. I supported him as much as I could and couldn't believe he chose to stay enrolled and on campus through it all.
At the end of the school year he broke the news to me, his cancer was terminal and he didn't have much time left. We said goodbye as we left for the summer, me thinking it was the last time I'd probably ever see him.
The next year he was around campus again. Turns out he made it all up. Never had cancer.
To learn more about terrible roommates, we reached out to Reddit user One_n_0nly_throwaway, who started this thread and was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda.
"The reason why I started the conversation in the first place was because I was hoping that I could get some hype being one of those popular Reddit posts," the author shared. "I've always seen people get their question popularized on different platforms and what not and was hoping that I could join in on that craze. And so I had chosen a topic that might be relatable to people."
RELATED:
#2
The Young Republican prodigy, double majoring in Math and Business. He came from a household where maids would clean up after them. He expected his three college roommates to double as maids.
Thankfully, the OP says they've never had a terrible roommate of their own. "However, I've had friends who have had their own nightmare roommate from hell. I've had friends who've had either racist or homophobic roommates that they had to leave or force the campus to get their roommate to be somewhere else," they revealed.
"Others were pretty much people who thought they were the best of friends, but once living together, they realized that they didn't have the chemistry that they thought they had. And so one of them had to move to a different dorm. And even some of them have felt that they were better off just having a dorm to themselves rather than living with someone," One_n_0nly_throwaway continued.
The author believes it's not necessarily hard to find a good roommate, but isn't exactly easy either. "It's more so that people go into dorms not knowing what to expect, especially when it is with someone who they may have not met before," they explained.
"And other times, it could be friends who have never lived together and are not aware of some of their other friend's habits, because they may have only seen them at school and never had a sleepover or something," One_n_0nly_throwaway continued. "Thus, they are oblivious to how their friend is behind closed doors. On top of that, many of them, regardless if they are friends or not, are living in a space that is not their home anymore. So it's a new playing field for how they are going to take care of themselves without having their parents' help."
#4
My now-husband had a roommate he would always complain about and to my chagrin, I thought, surely it can't be *that* bad. We were long distance, so I never met the guy.
Over winter break (so, while my husband was gone) the guy kidnapped his girlfriend and locked her in their closet for several days.
#5
This was my buddy's roommate. He would get drunk every night and would be very belligerent.
He would wake up my friend at 3am with a knife and say s**t like "you know I could've [ended] you right now?"
That guy ended up getting help and has been a total saint since.
As far as the replies to their post, the OP shared that some of the comments were funny, while others were relatable. "And it's also interesting reading people's stories about how weird their roommates were," they added. "Like there is this one comment where apparently this girl had a roommate that liked to [touch herself] under the blankets, and apparently the girl had walked in one time on that. And from then on, the roommate would face her side of the room when she did it."
"And then there's others where you hear about people living with others that have never been taught human decency. Like changing or cleaning their clothes, having food on the floor," the author continued, noting that they have an ex friend who did something similar. "It was so gross."
#6
Roommate as a freshman was very clearly super duper sheltered his whole life and had no clue how to function independently. I and the guys on my floor noticed after about a week that he started to smell. A couple of us approached him as gently as possible to ask if he had deodorant. He quickly said yes...then whipped out the still unopened free sample of soap that was in the welcome packs the RA had prepared. So that showed that not only did he not know what deodorant was, he also didn't know what soap was. We kind of took him under our collective wings and started to teach him general life skills like that. He was making lots of progress. Then one night I woke up and he was sitting next to my bed staring at me. I asked what he was doing and he said every night he just liked to sit and watch me sleep. That was the end of that. I requested a new roommate pretty damn fast.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 3 months ago
Watching you sleep? According to Twilight that is very romantic.
"Sounds like I'm the proof that everyone has their own stories, whether it's from a friend or their own roommate," the author added. "Not everyone is meant to dorm together, and not everyone is meant to have a roommate. Sometimes it's better for people to be on their own, and other times, you just have to find that right person who you click with and don't mind living with."
#7
Stayed with this one guy in my dorm who was super friendly, but never left his room the whole year. We shared a five bedroom apartment and everyone had their own room.
Our unit developed a mouse problem, and my roommates noticed a bunch of their dishes went missing. Turns out my roommate had a hoarding problem and was the source of our mouse infestation. When summer came and we had to move out, we saw inside his room for the first time - piles up to the ceiling of trash, garbage, used mouse traps, and dirty dishes.
#8
She stole my towel and got s**t or blood on it, idk and I don't wanna know, then denied it when the towel was literally in front of us.
She ate our food.
She lied about the most random and stupid things.
Was literally caught in the act of eating one of our snacks and said "I'm just eating an apple." It was a pretzel.
Oh, and she lied about having ovarian cancer for years And took people's donations for treatment.
#9
I once woke up at 2am and saw a ghostly figure sitting in my computer chair and heard the sounds of rushing water. Initially thought I was hallucinating, but turns out my roommate was stone drunk, mistook my chair for a toilet and pissed all over my floor and belongings. I confronted him about it and he denied everything, maybe didn't even remember.
PeepPeep the duck 3 months ago (edited)
A chef I worked with did this at a party we had, I was in bed and I got woken up by being thrown out of my bed and he just unzips his pants a pees on my bed 😂 then passes out. I called him chef pee pee for years after 😂 dead set doesn’t remember ever doing it
To learn more about the struggles that come along with living with roommates, we reached out to Kylie McConville, Editor-in-Chief of Apartment Therapy, which launched Dorm Therapy last year.
"Finding a college roommate is hard and overwhelming, especially when you're entering your first semester and trying to make new friends and get familiar in a completely new place. But we know the best way to get to know the person you're living with is to make a dedicated effort to spend time together and ask questions that'll help you get to know them (and vice versa)," Kylie shared.
#10
Competitive LoL player, would stay up til 4 AM yelling into his headset and playing on the world’s loudest controller. I asked him multiple times to keep it down, and he’d immediately go back to yelling.
#11
Not roommate but more of a floormate. Had this one gal that was really friendly with everyone on the floor (boys & girls). She was always in someone's room hanging out and would eventually go to someone else's room to hang out. Did this routinely every day after classes.
Welp...turned out she was the resident closet junkie and would go to everyone's room being really friendly, to steal all their s**t. Watches, jewelry, wallets, laptop....anything worth money. Everyone found out after a mid-term party when she was out in the parking completely blasted on whatever she was taking. She got arrested and expelled and when it came time to clear out her room, that's when everyone's stolen s**t starting popping up.
#12
Everyone else wins. my first one wouldn't wash dishes, let it pile up. she would cheat on her fiancee, and would made "mmm" noises when she ate
anyways I had enough so I told her fiancee. he gave me two months rent, and paid for breaking lease. pretty good profit.
Donna Peluda 3 months ago
I had a flatmate that didn't know you had to rinse the dishes after soaping them up. Everything tasted weird until I realised. She wasn't very convinced about it either. Didn't stay long.
We also asked Kylie what the most important things to discuss with a potential roommate are.
"When you're agreeing to live with someone, be honest with them and with yourself on your living habits and most importantly, your deal breakers. Are you someone who values cleanliness and organization? If so, you should share that with your roommate and find ways to compromise on what will make you both comfortable and happy," she told Bored Panda. "Open communication and respecting each other's boundaries will prevent anyone from feeling like their needs aren't being met.
#13
Pot luck roommate my freshman year.
Brought up a fact from the news about Oprah being influential and wealthy. My roommate refused to believe me then genuinely said, “black people don’t have a place in our society.”
I immediately walked out the door, to the students affairs office, and requested a change. Moved out two days later.
#14
I could do a 1 man show about this guy. I have so much material but am pressed for time. Maybe I will come back to add to it.
He was out of his mind most of the time. He’d be up at 3am pressing buttons on the microwave for minutes on end. Opening and closing cabinet doors loudly. He passed out in the bathtub with the water running and flooded the on campus dorm TWICE.
I walked in on him passed out fully nude on the toilet. I closed the door, knocked and he jumped up and hit his face on the door and bonked his head on the tub and bled across the bathroom.
He left a pizza on the common room table for a week. It started to smell so I covered it with an entire container of Morton’s salt. Like a pound of salt. Not long after he got drunk and ate it. ALL of it. His face was so swollen and red that night from all the salt.
Eventually by the second time him passing out in the tub I told the RD that he was going to [end] himself. I meant by accident. I think they took it as he was suicidal because half a dozen cops came to our room the next day.
He then started threatening them and demanding their names and badge numbers. “My dad is a lawyer you can’t make me go to the hospital!”
“Get out of my way I have to go to class!”
“What time is your class?”
“It’s at 9:30!”
“Well, it’s 3 pm so you don’t need to worry about it.”
Once they told him he was going to be arrested he turned very nice and apologetic.
They took him on a voluntary hold eventually. The next day his mom saw me randomly on campus and recognized me. She hugged me and told me I saved his life because he was mixing alcohol and opiates. His liver was failing.
He moved out the next week.
That’s just a fraction of the s**t he did. HE WAS THE WORST!
Family's_disappointment 3 months ago
So he's one of those kids huh?? Whose parents are good but they're not.....
#15
Oh my god.
David.
David was such an insane, insane freak of nature while being so horrific and annoying but doubly adorable and kinda of laughable. Like, he was so naive and stupid that he reminded me of a puppy.
I need to go to sleep so I’ll tell 3 things
A.) David was a drummer. Not a rock drummer, or folk drummer. A marching line drummer. David practiced “free styling” the drums, outside, facing the central acoustic space of our entire apartment complex while playing EDM remixes to Justin Bieber songs.
B.) A lot of college dorms are in lower income areas because Slumlords know they can prey on financially illiterate college kids. One morning, I (on the second floor balcony) was smoking a blunt when I noticed a homeless [addict] rummaging through the bushes downstairs. He looked up and saw me and kept trying to talk to me / convince me to let him upstairs to smoke with me. Instead, I tied a second blunt to a lighter and dropped it to him saying I had to leave soon. Weeks later David texts me and says he wants me to meet someone. I walk into our living room and see him with the homeless dude and 8+ of his friends. They were going to “throw a party” in our apartment.
3.) David was getting kicked out? Or not paying rent? I imagine kicked out for not paying rent. All I know is other people were coming by to look at the apartment / his room and he didn’t want to leave. I only discovered this information when I caught him taking stuff out of our trashcan and COVERING THE LIVING ROOM IN IT to “make us look like slobs”. David then tried convincing me to “play music really loudly” and “smoke weed inside” so nobody would move in.
I did none of those things.
The guy who came to see the apartment was Chris. Ended up moving in. He was super sweet and I adored him. I hope he is okay, and I wish I never lost contact.
F**k you David.
And if you're having a difficult time with your current roommate, Kylie says it's important to know that you're not alone. "You can absolutely try to find common ground with your roommates with your shared interests. Do you both love crafting? Watching movies? Doing an activity together — like taking on a fun dorm room makeover (we have tons of dorm room layout tips on Dorm Therapy!) — is a great way to build connection and have fun together! It's an easy way to spend the afternoon together and create a beautiful shared space!"
#16
At Uni I lived with two girls from out of town. They were heavily into their Class A, but weren't interested in cleaning, tidying, or being decent room mates to anyone else in our house.
One of them had a seriously powerful Yamaha amplifier mated to a pair of 350W tallboy active cabinet speakers. Pricy setup.
Queue the obnoxiously over-loud music blasting through the house most nights of the week, while they would get crazy high and essentially rave out with s****y trance music all night.
One day when I had the morning off uni, she went out and had left her door open.
I seized the chance - went in, took the metal case off her amp, and removed the glass fuse. Reassembled, put everything back as it was, and left.
Peace and quiet for the rest of the term. She couldn't figure out what had happened to it, but I played dumb and said she must've blown the amp. Unsurprisingly, both her and the idiot room mate she came with both failed the first term and left.
#17
Had a roommate that was an absolute slob. Clogged the toilet one day and we (other roommates and I) hounded him to take care of it. He let it sit for a couple months and refused to fix it. Finally we called our landlord and he pulled out coffee filters. Dude was wiping his a*s with coffee filters and flushing them, or at least trying to. Was the worst smelling bathroom ever.
Mäandertal 3 months ago
So you're telling me you just lived with a clogged toilet for a couple of month when the non-slobs were in the majority? Um ok
#18
Had a roommate that played Happy by Pharrell on repeat the year it came out. I'm talking back to back on a loop. It was insane he just would not stop, even by my pleading. It didn't stop until every other roommate got fed up enough as well.
Lost Penny 3 months ago (edited)
Should've started playing Baby Shark every time he turned it on.
We were also lucky enough to get in touch with Mary Dell Harrington for this piece. Mary Dell is co-founder of Grown and Flown, the largest site and community for parents of high school and college students, so we were interested in hearing her thoughts on why it's so difficult to find a great roommate in college.
"It’s surprising if roommates don’t have conflicts," she told Bored Panda. "We hear from parents in our community quite often who say their first-year college students are having trouble with their roommates, especially early in the fall semester."
"If students attend a college where roommates can choose each other, they might have prioritized an 'Instagram view' of their future roommate or common interests or majors. What’s more important for compatibility are lifestyle habits (sleep needs, importance of keeping the space organized and clean, noise or quiet while studying, having friends or romantic partners in the room)," the expert noted.
#19
My roomie left period panties crotch up on the floor. Every month. And would just have clothes EVERYWHERE.
#20
She had a baby over summer break (did not tell us she was pregnant), babies were not allowed in the dorms so the baby lived off campus with her mom. But she would bring the baby to stay in the dorms if we annoyed her. Asked her to clean the bathrooms = infant in the dorm room crying all night. Asked her to stop eating our groceries = she brought the baby to the dorm for finals week. Didn’t sleep and did terribly on my exams and two different job interviews.
#21
Well when we moved into the apartment style dorm in the fall, he'd been there all summer doing summer classes. His food in the fridge and pantry were literally rotting. He wasn't there to help, so my friend and I spent a while just getting the cleaning done ourselves. Now when I say rotting, I mean with actual maggots and whatnot. Just nasty stuff. It wasn't our job, but we were gonna have to live there, so we scrubbed it all with bleach and made damn sure the place was f*****g clean. Later that day he came back and cussed us out for us having thrown away all his food. That was just the first day. It didn't get any better the whole semester, after which he moved off campus.
"Further, students may begin college with a hope of becoming close friends with their roommates; it can be very disappointing if that doesn’t happen," Mary Dell continued. "Two strangers are asked to live in one small room and amicably deal with inevitable clashes that arise from sharing and negotiating use of that space."
"While it’s easy to agree on when to turn off lights and loud music, it’s uncomfortable to address conflicts around hygiene, intimate relationships in the room, abusing the college's policies around drinking and drug use," she noted. "These last three things are the things that the many, many parents of college students tell us that their teens are having conflicts with. If there are problems - big issues - that roommates don’t address early on, the living situation can become even more tense, and problems can snowball."
#22
Senior year. I took 20+ units a semester to graduate a year early and avoid another year of loans. No time for dorm roommate BS. Charming roommates smoked a month's worth of speed in a week and spent the next several days strung out, shrieking, caterwauling, yelling at each other, ditching class and terrorizing the kitten they adopted without my consent (who I then had to take care of because it was terrified and kept s******g everywhere). One night, a couple of them burned a foot-wide hole in the carpet in their room while smoking speed. I reported them to housing so I wouldn't be charged for any damage at the end of the year. When they came down, they started whining about weird clicking noises on their phones (landlines; it was the 90s) and were paranoid they were being tapped. Maybe they were. At least they stuck to pot, and beer the rest of the time. They were pissed that the cat liked me better than them.
#23
My sophomore year roommate started a "compost" in an uncovered bucket in the kitchen. It wasn't really compost, though; it had no dirt, no mulch, NOTHING. She was just letting her food rot in the kitchen.
She essentially drove all of us out of the apartment, and when we moved out, the vacuum broke, so the carpet wasn't as pristine as we had hoped. So then she texted us to chew us out for leaving the apartment "dirty."
10 years later and I still get phantom smells of the compost.
Bat cat in a hat 3 months ago
Proper compost doesn't smell bad at all, more like wet earth. There's a lot of restrictions on what can and can't go in a compost bin/pile!
#24
Not a roommate, but a floormates. This person was absolutely brilliant, like doing grad research at one of the largest research universities in the world during their freshman year brilliant. The thing is… they had no concept of hygiene. Would not shower for months on end. It was nauseating.
When it comes to the most important topics to discuss with a potential roommate, Mary Dell says, "Sleeping hours and lights out agreement, study habits and what each roommate's expectations/needs are, noise (including music and friends in the room), cleaning and any shared responsibilities, socializing in the room (including with intimate partners), and what is okay to share (mini-fridge, printer, etc.)"
#25
One of my best friends from high school was my freshman dorm roommate. Turned out he was a slob and would stay up til 2am watching TV or listening to music when I had 8am classes. Terrible roommate, but as soon as I moved out mid-year to my own room, we got along great again.
Nikole 3 months ago
My freshman year roommate was a girl I was friendly with in high school (we both liked The Simpsons, so…). TERRIBLE IDEA. She was weird, a complete neat freak, and was just so stuffy. After about half of freshman year was over, my friends in the dorm helped me move my things to another friends room (her roommate had just left because she discovered she was like 6 months pregnant). I think we just told the administration that I’m living there now, and that was that.
#26
Freshman dorm mate. We lived together in a 20 x 10 space with bunk beds.
We were both introverted and hung out outside the room regularly first semester, but second semester I started hanging out with other friends and she didn't like that. Whenever I would be back to the room 'late' (like 10pm) she would be pissed at me and talk about how I wasn't her friend anymore. When I said I'd been hanging out with so-and-so she'd give me silent treatment. At one point she freaked out so bad she mentioned [self-harm] and I had to get the RA involved.
She also never left the room except for class or food, so I never had a moment to myself, and when I did come back to the room she was usually pissed at me for something. She also let so many dishes pile up, I saw mold in cups and bowls regularly.
She wanted to move into apartment-style dorm sophomore year and tried to convince me to go in on one with her. I said I wanted to live in a different building and that set her off crying and another round of silent anger. But I was glad to move building and get away from her.
#27
Me. I was the roommate from hell.
No, but seriously I had a roommate straight up punch me in the face because I told everyone any dishes in the sink I will wash and put in the dishwasher. I was never taught about cast iron skillets so it was in the sink for like two days and I thought I was being nice washing it for him. He physically assaulted me.
The expert also shared some advice for anyone who's struggling with their current roommate. "Minimize the time you spend in your dorm room: It’s crucial to make connections with other people and organizations on campus regardless of how well you get along with your roommate, especially during the first few weeks of college," Mary Dell shared. "Find quiet places to study other than the dorm room."
"Try to resolve conflicts with the roommate on your own. Focus on significant issues and learn to compromise, be flexible and adapt. If there are still big conflicts, enlist the advice and help of the RA," she added.
#28
I dated a girl that had a roommate from China, that had horrifically bad teeth, and no sense of space or humor.
I went over one time and she was screaming at her bc she had divided the sink in two, and you could only use your side, but the water from her side got the other side wet.
She really needed professional help.
#29
Mine wasn’t in college but shortly after, I bought a house and my buddy at the time needed a place to stay. After dropping a bunch of money on this house I thought it would be a good way to make some money back. Plus he was a nice guy. It was a small 1,000 Square foot house. The first month was good but after that it was downhill. He never paid me rent/utilities again after that, He came home one night hammered one night and ran into my garage door completely knocking it off the rails and bending the shaft the spring is on. He told me he would fix it. He never did.. his girlfriend who I didn’t even know would come over when I was at work and eat my food I bought and leave the dishes and the food she didnt eat in his room so there was rotting food/drinks all over his room. He invited his 2 sisters and Mom over to stay with us for a week without asking me. Which was just 3 more mouths for me to feed, they pretty much took over my house I was confined to my room. After 4 days I finally told them they had to go. His sister put a hole in my drywall, the house was FILTHY! I spent 2 days cleaning while he disappeared only to come back at like midnight. The final straw was coming home and walking in smelling something burning, I ran upstairs and noticed it was coming from his room, I walked in on him smoking pills off aluminum foil. After I evicted him, he asked if he could come back and get his stuff he’d just leave that night. I told him yes to get this nightmare over with, but he was only to take his clothes, TV and Xbox. That was all he came with that was all he needed to take, everything else was mine. I came back he had taken my change jar I had in my room that had probably $300 in it (he was the only one who knew where it was) some collectible action figures I had. He took a lot of my clothes straight out of my closet, My new Bowflex I had just bought 8 months before. and to top it off he took my bed! My whole a*s bed out of my room. I had to spend about $3,000 to fix the problems he caused at my house. Tried to get ahold of him and he blocked me on everything. Haven’t seen or spoken to him since.
#30
We were friends in high school, with her being a year above me. When she suggested we be roommates my freshman year, I figured it was better than rooming with a stranger.
Turns out she saw me as her BEST friend and became very jealous + possessive when I started making new friends on campus. She demanded a "best friend day" (day where I spent it all with her and only her) when I got into a relationship to prove that I wasn't abandoning her.
On top of that she was extremely sheltered and babied. She would only wash her hair once a week, so that her mom could visit and straighten it for her (no one else could do it right apparently). Which, okay, yes some people just wash their hair once a week... but I'm pretty sure this girl only showered her whole body once a week as well, based on, erm, smells. She claimed she showered everyday, just when I wasn't there.
That roommate situation lasted a year before I couldn't anymore lol.
What do you think ?
Anne Roberts 3 months ago
How does someone get to college age and have no idea how to take care of their basic needs?
Mez77 3 months ago (edited)
My roommate would come in, cook 6 boxes of mac & cheese, and eat while playing WOW until he couldn't eat anymore....then later I found he would just put whatever was left under his desk, which was in the living room area I discovered this while looking for the rancid smell and found multiple pots with the moldy and rotten remains... He got pissed off at me for asking him not to do this anymore and the clean up, and wash the dishes once he was done.... Didn't change so moved out the next month....and he was pissed at me for that too... didn't care, Im not going to live in filth.
Anne Roberts 3 months ago
How does someone get to college age and have no idea how to take care of their basic needs?
Mez77 3 months ago (edited)
My roommate would come in, cook 6 boxes of mac & cheese, and eat while playing WOW until he couldn't eat anymore....then later I found he would just put whatever was left under his desk, which was in the living room area I discovered this while looking for the rancid smell and found multiple pots with the moldy and rotten remains... He got pissed off at me for asking him not to do this anymore and the clean up, and wash the dishes once he was done.... Didn't change so moved out the next month....and he was pissed at me for that too... didn't care, Im not going to live in filth.
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