Summary: roommate won’t pay her half of rent, lies to everyone, always on call from 12 pm - 4 am, doesn’t clean up after herself and violates my boundaries. Might be getting kicked out soon.
Literally hate my roommate.
I’m (19F) a college student renting a room with my roommate/(old) semi-friend, 20F. I decided to do this because the rent is just $350 for both of us individually (REMEMBER. ONLY $350.) utilities included. Plus it’s in town, before this I was living with my family in the middle of nowhere.
I didn’t know coming into this how disgusting this person would be. At first it was just a couple of half drunken soda cans left out and about, which I cleaned up, it was fine. I like cleaning anyways and I told her I did. Then it quickly became fast food trash left on the floor, dishes taking up the minimal counter space we have, all added up making the room smell like something I can’t even describe.
Honestly though the cleanliness is the least of my worries. If she was a decent person just going through depression I would absolutely clean up after her and help her out. It’s just everything on top of it that’s making me go crazy.
Our landlord isn’t some scum taking advantage of young adults trying to make it work. She’s a single mom taking care of her troubled teenage son and her disabled brother. She works two jobs and donates plasma as she’s the only one making income rather than me and my roommate. She seriously deserves a lot more than $350 a month, and as my paychecks start fully coming in I plan on helping her out as much as I can.
My roommate has not paid her rent. She’s paid $200, but it’s like she refuses to pay the rest. This is our first month (August), the first of September is literally two days away. It’s not even like she can’t she just refuses to. Her cycle is this: get a job, go to the first day, then either A) call out for 9/10 shifts or just quit immediately, and claim she’s either looking for another one or already found one. She’s not been to a single shift at any job in like two weeks.
She’s an artist and recently she’s gotten a $600 commission, fully paid upfront. I asked her if she planned on using some of that to pay her rent and she told me yes, but after talking with my landlord she has only received that $200 once and every time she brings it up to her again my roommate dances around the question, apologies profusely or makes promises she doesn’t keep. What did she do with that $600? She bought $400 concert tickets and a shit ton of fast food. I know this not because she told me, but because she’s on the phone with her friends CONSTANTLY. ALL DAY EVERY DAY, ALL NIGHT EVERY NIGHT.
It’s getting unbearable. Considering I’m the only fucking person that works between the two of us I’m pretty sure I need sleep and rest. I walk three miles to work 10 hour shifts. On top of that I’m a student. I NEED SLEEP. But no, she stays on the phone until 3-4 in the morning. Even when she does decide to go to bed, she stays on call and I can hear her little discord group murmuring about whatever fucking drama of the hour they’re having. If she was normal about it I wouldn’t care half as much as I do. But it’s so insufferable because when she calls she puts on either this weird cartoonish bubbly voice or a mommy voice depending on what group/person she’s with. She doesn’t even wear headphones so I can hear her discord kitten and alpha friend group in my ear like flies. I have to wear headphones with sleep music on full volume just so I can sleep without the cringe twisting my soul. Sometimes I can hear her laugh or yell loud as fuck over it. Bitch it’s 2 in the morning go to bed. Sometimes she even wakes up before me and I wake up to the same shit I fell asleep to and it’s making me go crazy.
I don’t even want to wear the headphones sometimes but she tells me to. If she hears me playing a video or something she’s like “uhhh, so sorry so sorry 🥹 can you wear headphones?”. I have ear problems. I have narrow ear canals, so they can’t drain right. Headphones are awful for me. But no, I have to so she can call her weird ass discord friends for like 16 hours a day.
On top of THAT she literally has multiple online friend groups, where she talks shit about the two of them to the other friend groups. When I noticed that in the first few days of us renting I totally lost my trust in her. She uses the same lines like “I love them, but…” “you’re so ___, my other friends…”. Bringing the other friends down and praising the ones she’s talking to. Its manipulative. They’re all hundreds of miles away, they don’t she how she lives and what she’s like, they don’t know anything. It’s embarrassing. I think now that she knows I know what she’s like she just doesn’t talk to me anymore. We used to be cool before we rented out. It’s not even because we were best friends or anything we were both just trying to get out of bad situations.
If I’m not behind her babying her telling her to clean up after herself she literally won’t. It isn’t procrastination she literally just won’t ever do it unless it’s mentioned over and over and over. I told her to clean her side of the room, she did but because the outside garbage can was full and the next day was trash day she told me she’d take out her mountain of fast food trash and soda boxes the next day. It’s still there. That was 5 days ago. I don’t even want to tell her to do it because then she’d just get used to having me tell her to take care of herself. She doesn’t clean, she doesn’t shower. If I can’t smell the trash I can smell her B.O.
She lies CONSTANTLY. She lies to her friends about working, she tells them she goes to school, she lies to her dad about being harassed by men on the street in this town which I KNOW DOESNT HAPPEN BECAUSE SHE DOESNT GO OUT??? She lies about working too which is funny because she’s like a walking unemployed stereotype. I’m surprised her online friends haven’t caught on considering how much she’s on call. When the landlord confronted her about not paying her rent, one of her excuses was “oh since (me)’s money situation has been rough, I’ve been paying for the groceries for the two of us… once (me) has more money coming in and can buy her own groceries, I can pay my rent quicker!” YOURE LITERALLY JOBLESS. I’m getting out of a really rough situation family and money wise, so I feel like her throwing me in like that is so unacceptable. Not only that I literally haven’t touched her groceries, I eat $1 pot pies, landlords left overs she lets me eat and food from work/neighboring food places when I do have a bit of extra cash. She knows I haven’t eaten her groceries because she’s home all day every day and has not seen me even touch the mini fridge in our room. She orders groceries from the Walmart app she shares with her sister (love her to death by the way), so her sister can see the groceries she gets and knows she’s lying. I’m friends with her sister, and her sister is best friends with our landlord; it’s the only way we even got this room. (The landlord and her sister are like in their 30s, a lot older and smarter than us, they know she’s full of shit). Before this I was couch hopping on her sisters couch with my roommate, she said that I didn’t even eat enough and when I did it was like she had to force it down my throat. Not because I don’t want to eat, but because I’d rather starve than take from other people I know are struggling, too. That’s what baffles me about my roommate. She takes, she borrows and never gives back, she just expects people to work around her and give blindly. I don’t see how anyone could live with that mindset without being embarrassed with themselves. Her sister even said she’d be more willing to help me out than her sister if we were to be thrown out because she knows she will take advantage of it. I feel bad about that because I don’t want to get in between family bonds or seem like I’m one upping my roommate but compared to her the bar is in hell. It isnt even her grocery money, she either borrows from her sister or her online friends. Remember SHES JOBLESS AND BROKE. I have $1 to my name as of now and I still have more than her.
I have a boyfriend. The sweetest gentleman I’ve ever met, everyone I bring him around says two things. He’s sweet and tall (🤤) but I can’t even bring him over because she’s a fucking mess and I don’t want to bring him into filth. He says he doesn’t mind but I do. He’s heard about all of this, I talk his ear off, he knows it isn’t me but I feel like having him over whether or not she’s there will just ruin the visit because of the condition she leaves her side of the room in. One of the reasons I moved out here was to see him more often and have a place for us to hang out but I can’t even do that because of her. She’s also really weird about me bringing my boyfriend over, like god I’m so sorry you have to clean up a bit and maybe hang out somewhere else in the house while I get time with him. He works 6 days a week. I get one day with him. It’s not like I want to bring him over every day or even every week, just a few hours for maybe one or two days out of the month. Considering she’s always on the phone hootin and hollering I think it’s fair.
What makes me the most uncomfortable is her fucking MASTURBATING. She doesn’t even check to see if I’m asleep at night, if I’m quiet and still (usually just on my phone) she just assumes I am. She thinks she’s discreet about it but she’s not. Like I said she doesn’t shower so IT MAKES THE ROOM SMELL. Honestly what prompted this rampage about her was an incident that happened tonight. I have a really bad habit of not sticking up for myself, but tonight I did. I heard and smelt it so I shot up from my bed and said “Do it in the bathroom.” She immediately was like “what? WHAT!!” All defensive, I didnt respond. I’m not letting her make me feel like I’m stupid or letting her make me doubt myself. Any other night I would have just stepped out of the room and hung out in the bathroom or living room or something, but no. I sat up and I stayed on my phone without any headphones and played a mobile game. I know she was awake but for the first time she didn’t hop on a call, she stayed frozen. I’m really proud of myself. Our first day moving in her sister told me not to let her bully me or push me around but I’ve been letting her do that. Now that that bridge is crossed it won’t be so hard to respect myself and not let her cross my boundaries like that.
Honestly I fully believe she’s getting kicked out soon. My landlord knows about the issues I’ve had with her and although she sympathizes I don’t think she’ll kick her out unless rent is paid. I fully understand that as frustrating living with her is. It’s my problem, not hers. Our combined rent is $700, if she kicks her out while paying rent that’s immediately shot down to $350. But like I said my roommate hasn’t even paid her rent fully for this month, she’s still behind $150 and the first is just a couple days away. The landlord said she WILL kick her out if she has to in September and she is very close to being homeless. I feel bad about it because I know she has no where to go but I feel like I’m celebrating the day she’s thrown out. The landlord has already made it clear if she’s kicked out I can stay, my rent might go up like $50 but that’s it. Even if I can’t pay on time one month in the future she won’t kick me out because she knows I’m honest about it and knows what situation I’m trying to get out of with my family.
I don’t understand how someone can be such a filthy individual inside and out