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21 Wild And Horrible Roommate Stories That Are Too Relatable
Living with a roommate can lead to unpredictable experiences, even if you have lived with them for years. From the classic thermostat war to hygiene surprises, you can never guess how or when a situation might go south with someone you're sharing a house with.
Common issues include: inconsiderate behavior like throwing away what seems to be expired food, using your personal stuff or a lack of cleanliness, which can lead to frustration.
Sometimes, however, bad roommates can escalate arguments to unprecedented developments and these 21 wild roommate stories highlight the chaos that can ensue when you're stuck with an unpleasant house companion.
If you're about to share your space with someone new, these experiences serve as valuable lessons.
Live with my college dorm RA
"I'm in a suite with my RA and I've had some issues agreeing with her on the thermostat. It was only last week when it was below freezing outside and she set it to 66 F. She claims it gets hot in her room so she needs it at a cooling temperature, but it's been getting irritating as I'm often in a WINTER COAT in my own room. My surfaces are cold to the touch as well. All of this to accommodate her needs for it to be cold. If it was just a regular suitemate, I'd have an easier time getting this resolved but even just trying to come to a compromise isn't enough as she does not seem to listen to me. Am I overreacting for wanting to talk to the community director about this? We have tried coming to an agreement on having the heat on and she can just open her window, but she did not try at all to do that and turned the thermostat back down without asking. What should I do?"
(Source: Reddit)
My roommates are bragging abt preventing food waste by buying items through ToGoodToGo, only for those items to sit in the fridge for over a week…
(Source: Reddit)
My roommate decided to put a bowl of half-cooked rice with taco seasoning on top of my meal prep and I didn't notice.
(Source: Reddit)
My flatmate has started his new morning routine at 4 a.m. and it’s waking me up way too early
"My flatmate wakes up at 4 a.m., has breakfast, uses the bathroom for an hour running water and flushing the toilet multiple times, then goes to the gym. Comes back at 6 a.m. showers, flushes the toilet another 3 times lol I’m not entirely sure how he’s doing this and making so much noise but it seems like the most ludicrous morning routine. He doesn’t start work til 9 a.m… I’ve spoken to him about trying to do things more quietly but I don’t think he knows how to. He’s very clumsy so I hear him dropping shampoo bottles and what sounds like him slipping around and banging things. Help! Give me some advice on what to do?"
(Source: Reddit)
Am I the bad guy?
"So long story short, my roommates don’t want to clean up after themselves. I texted them and said we should have a cleaning schedule but only one replied and said she will clean Friday but never has. The other roommate completely ignored the text. Like it’s not that hard to clean up after yourself when you cook. Also, she is so lazy when taking out the trash and puts it beside the front door when the garbage bin is right by our building. They are so loud too, they know I have 8 a.m. classes every day and proceed to cook, have the TV on full blast and talk and laugh loudly at THREE IN THE MORNING. At this point, it’s back to human decency to act quiet when you know I’m sleeping. Some people were raised poorly and I can’t do it anymore."
(Source: Reddit)
Loud music at night
"My housemate is inconsiderate. At least twice in the last week, he has had a house party with his friends coming over, playing loud music and talking so loudly that even though my room door is closed I could hear it through the room."
(Source: Reddit)
Am I wrong for taking money from my roommate?
"So roommate & I moved in around October 2023. She asked me for $150 to help her cover the first’s month rent but I was only able to give her $105. But it’s okay because she said she’d pay me back. Fast forward to September/November, My bf & I helped her bail her bf out of jail on the night of his birthday because he got pulled over for speeding with no insurance. I got hit with a vet bill at the end of November so I was short some money for the holidays so I ended up asking my roommate for the money back because she owed $235 at this point. She told me she thought “it wasn’t expected” to be paid back. Long story short, she sent $127 over the holiday break. End of December rolls around & we’re in a new year & now my boyfriend’s ball joint messes up. He drove us to a different state and so I figured I could help him. Asked roomie for the rest of the money & she pretty much confronted me. Over the years of us being friends, I usually ended up covering things because she didn’t have the money. I drove us around and I carried the load."
(Source: Reddit)
Not always wanting to have a conversation, am I the bad guy
"Sometimes I really just need to be nonverbal when I’m in the house. And it’s not that I don’t mind conversation but every chance I get, it’s my roommate talking about her weight and how big she’s gotten. I think she’s happy with it as she is curvy and it looks great but she does it in a way where she’s fishing for compliments and it’s getting a bit exhausting. It’s already uncomfortable for me to talk about anyone’s appearance, especially weight but being forced to have this conversation whenever I’m in a common space is a bit annoying. I really just want to not talk not think not do anything. Am I wrong?"
(Source: Reddit)
Roommates won’t let me sleep?
"I (21f) room with two other females around the same age. the two other roommates get along better than I do because they have more things in common and are extroverts (meanwhile I’m an introvert). my roommates stay up talking and laughing LOUDLY (the walls are paper thin so I can hear everything) and I can’t sleep because of that. I can only sleep when they all fall asleep, which is usually around 1-2 AM nowadays. what irks me is that one of the roommates wakes up earlier and makes a lot of noise in the kitchen at around 8-9 AM. She bangs pots loudly as if she’s trying to wake us up. Well, today she admitted that she did it on purpose to wake us up and I got hella annoyed. she doesn’t let me sleep early and then proceeds to wake me up early by either banging pots or laughing loudly. I’m a person who needs proper sleep to function, I don’t run well on just 6 hours of sleep. and keep in mind, some nights I tell them I’m going to sleep but they proceed to laugh loudly. it’s getting on my nerves and I would like any opinions on this situation."
(Source: Reddit)
My roommate’s laziness is starting to feel disrespectful
"I live with one roommate (26M), and while he’s not a bad person, his laziness around the apartment is driving me crazy. He doesn’t clean up after himself--dishes pile up for days, trash bags overflow, and I can’t remember the last time he vacuumed the living room.
I’ve tried addressing it politely, like, “Hey, can we both pitch in to keep the place clean?” He’ll agree in the moment, but nothing changes. He even has the audacity to make little jokes like, “Oh, I know I’m the messy one!” as if acknowledging it makes it okay.
What’s worse is that I’ve started resenting him for it, and I don’t want to let it ruin our friendship. I’ve considered setting up a cleaning schedule, but I worry it’ll feel too “strict” and create tension. Moving out isn’t really an option right now, especially since I lucked into this affordable place by a lucky sportsbet win on Stake.
For anyone who’s dealt with a lazy roommate, how did you handle it without making things awkward? I just want to feel like we’re both contributing without it turning into a fight."
(Source: Reddit)
House got raided by the GBI due to roommate’s illegal activity
"So I have been living with my bf since August of last year. His roommate has been living with him for two years. The roommate is a quiet person. There have been issues with his cleanliness so he was an ok roommate. Wel,l today the house got searched by the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) due to the roommate’s illegal activity on the internet. It was really bad stuff. I do not want to go into detail because idk if the topic will be allowed and I don’t trigger anyone. My bf feels like this is his fault because he felt like he should have did more research but there is no criminal background on the roommate. The roommate was someone down on his luck and my bf was just trying to help him. I am still in shock and processing everything. It drags being put in handcuffs and being treated like I done something bad but I understand why the officers did that. The whole ordeal feels unreal because you see this stuff on TV and never would think this would happen to you."
(Source: Reddit)
Does my housemate's boyfriend stays over too much?
"My housemate started seeing this guy from work around a month ago. At first, it wasn’t too bad but then recently he’s been staying over 5-7 nights a week. Her boyfriend also will hang around even when she’s not there, for example, she went to a doctor's appointment last week and ran errands for around 4 hours and he just lingered around the apartment until she was home, he lets himself in after work when she’s asleep, and he’ll hang around even when she’s at work. She’s also started referring to things in her room as ‘ours’ when talking about her partner. ‘Our bedside table,’ and ‘our bed,’ which I think is strange.
Am I being over dramatic? We live in a girl's apartment, there’s 3 girls and no one else has their partners over half as much."
(Source: Reddit)
Landlord shut off water, heat and wifi. Yelling at me! I’m afraid.
"I’ve been renting a room since June and the owner seemed okay at first. In the last few months, he’s been accusing me of weird stuff. I was cooking in the kitchen and he stood there telling me I’m “weaponizing the kitchen.” I went to wash my clothes and his sheets were in the washer. I put them in the dryer on gentle and he came to my door and said, “While you’re living here, please stop using the dryer to mess with my stuff!” He’s getting scarier and crazier every day. He’s shut the heat down to 62 degrees and I went to shower earlier to warm up and he SHUT OFF THE WATER while I was in the shower.
UPDATE: I am just moving everything out as much as I can do myself. He has no valid Vacate notice, but I’m still trying to get out this week. I’m still freaked out and now he’s locked the garage (I have my stuff in there) and maybe left for the night. I’ll rent a truck and move stuff to my storage unit. This is ongoing."
(Source: Reddit)
