Roommate nightmare stories

[cypher1]

Been seeing a few threads on the subject of renting and neighbors, and was curious to hear your stories of bad roommates/neighbor experiences in the past. Here's a couple from myself and friends.

I admit I lived in my parents basement till I was 28 (saving for house). Towards the last few years there, my brother (4 years younger) moved back in, to another room in the basement. Every Sat and Sun morning I'd wake up to him throwing up in the bathroom right next to my room from partying the night before. Besides him being also extremely messy in surrounding, that was the worst I've had to personally experience.

My current roommate had previously lived with a bunch of his friends for a few years. He was the only one who did dishes, and got so fed up, he decided to only do his, letting the others pile up. Took them 7 days, and all the counter tops stack with dirty dishes to get a hint. An added note, they kept a bird in a cage on the same counter, which chirped a screeching sound every 5 minutes like smoke alarm, and cage was so messy, all the droppings piled onto the counter/dishes.

Another friend used to live with a guy who looked exactly like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons. Mr. Burns had a little portable stove in his room to cook. Only problem was he'd set the scalding hot pots/pans on the bare carpet, which left burnt marks all over the floor. He'd keep doing this like it was no big deal, without thinking of using pads. His favorite experience was living with his brother. His brother would come home late at night drunk, and hungry. So he'd throw in a frozen pizza, and pass out. Friend would wake to smoke alarm, and smoke everwhere in the apartment since it was still in the oven. He said his brother did that at least 3 times.

I'm sure all of you have worse or more entertaining stories, and these ones stuck out the most for me.

[frugalgirl]

While I was in grad school, I had to go out of town for 3 weeks to another university to use their equipment to do some laboratory experiments. During this time frame, my roommate moved out as she was transferring to another university. When I returned, I found pots and pans full of leftover food in the refrigerator, and candle wax on a piece of furniture and on the carpet - she had had a party before she left. I cannot tell you how disgusting it was to find metal pots and pans filled with food that was weeks old in my fridge. However, the most disturbing thing I found was my bed unmade with her boyfriend's underwear entwined in my sheets!

[gambler2075]

When I lived in one of the many beach towns in southern california, I had some crazy roommates... let's see... I lived in a 4BR, and had probably about 10 different roommates over the course of a couple of years. Here are some of the things they did

1) Brought about 10 of their French friends over for a massive pot smoking fest... when asked to take it outside, they went out to the front doorstep, but kept the door open so they could still converse with the people inside. Of course the wind was blowing in from the front door

2) One day I came home to find about 20 freshly harvested palm fronds and 10 different signs decorating the apartment. Apparently there was a massive steal-fest where they decided to 'decorate' the living room

3) I came home really late one night (3am) to find the front window plywood covered, broken glass all over. Apparently one of the fraternity brothers I lived with (I was not in a fraternity) decided to have half of his 'brothers' come over and practice their songs they were serenading the sorority girls with. They got drunk, and one accidentally threw another through the front window.

4) The next day, our realtor comes by to give us our eviction notice. apparently they decided to hammer this plywood in to cover the window at 1am on a weeknight. The upstairs neighbors were not pleased. I managed to get out of this eviction by taking him around to all the neighbors and apologizing in person.

5) I came home to find the red brick we had paving the back porch to be missing a big circle, with blackened ash inside. Apparently they decided to make their own firepit in the back porch (this is in the middle of suburbia) and the bonfire they made had flames big enough to reach the second story windows, and the upstairs neighbor called the fire department, thinking the whole apartment was on fire.

Ah, the good 'ol days...




g

[universalremodeling]

Originally Posted by gambler2075

When I lived in one of the many beach towns in southern california, I had some crazy roommates... let's see... I lived in a 4BR, and had probably about 10 different roommates over the course of a couple of years. Here are some of the things they did

1) Brought about 10 of their French friends over for a massive pot smoking fest... when asked to take it outside, they went out to the front doorstep, but kept the door open so they could still converse with the people inside. Of course the wind was blowing in from the front door

2) One day I came home to find about 20 freshly harvested palm fronds and 10 different signs decorating the apartment. Apparently there was a massive steal-fest where they decided to 'decorate' the living room

3) I came home really late one night (3am) to find the front window plywood covered, broken glass all over. Apparently one of the fraternity brothers I lived with (I was not in a fraternity) decided to have half of his 'brothers' come over and practice their songs they were serenading the sorority girls with. They got drunk, and one accidentally threw another through the front window.

4) The next day, our realtor comes by to give us our eviction notice. apparently they decided to hammer this plywood in to cover the window at 1am on a weeknight. The upstairs neighbors were not pleased. I managed to get out of this eviction by taking him around to all the neighbors and apologizing in person.

5) I came home to find the red brick we had paving the back porch to be missing a big circle, with blackened ash inside. Apparently they decided to make their own firepit in the back porch (this is in the middle of suburbia) and the bonfire they made had flames big enough to reach the second story windows, and the upstairs neighbor called the fire department, thinking the whole apartment was on fire.

Ah, the good 'ol days...




g

woah!,,,this is so disgusting...I would rather live in an apartment by my own..

[nip42]

I had a bad roomate one time fat, lazy, and just a slob all around. Worst idea ever

[flippinterp]

My landlord horror stories are far worse than my roommate horror stories. But I've lived with an interesting cast of characters over the years.

The worst was the pot smoking 30something who seemingly had no ambition in life other than smoke as much as humanly possible. He would always smoke in the bathroom, especially on rainy days... and of course, this was right next to my bedroom. Often, this habit left him with the munchies, and he'd be too stoned and "forget" to do the dishes. After he moved out, his replacement was just as bad (in a different way). He'd bring friends over to party and cook at 1 am during the week, setting off the smoke detector a couple time late at night. He'd also "borrow" food/condiments and leave them sitting out on the counter until someone else discovered it and put it away. Not a huge deal with things like mustard and ketchup, but mayonnaise and milk can get pretty gross.

[cypher1]

LOL these are some interesting stories. Too bad there's no category on this forum for renting/landlord advice.

[FrugalFroggie]

My college roommate truly believed that everyone was out to get her. When she went to class, she would take our phone with her in her backpack so that if I came home and played the messages, I wouldn't hear hers. She also labeled EVERYTHING (she labeled bottles of hairspray, deodorant, brushes,etc.)! Needless to say, one semester was all it took for me to get out of there.

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by flippinterp

My landlord horror stories are far worse than my roommate horror stories.

I was thinking the same thing. I don't have (nor have heard) many roommate stories. Nothing beyond just the slightly annoying variety. But every landlord I know seems to have some pretty horrific stories, in comparison.

When I rented, it was always with older people. (Living alone wasn't much option in the city I lived in - but was easier to find mature people who wanted roommates since housing was so expensive). I probably didn't care for any of my roommates, but for the first one I subleased from, but I didn't see them much so not too much to share. They were always clean, respectful, and paid their share of bills on time.

Oh yeah - the roommate I probably liked the least, moved in with her boyfriend early on, and kept the room for her parents' sake. This woman was in her 40s. I always thought, "You have got to be kidding me!" An extra $500/month not to shame your parents? For YEARS? But I think this contributed to my okay roommate experience. She took over the main lease when the good roommate left, and she was just never really around. I rented a room for about 5 years and had about 5 roommates in that time.

[GIJANE]

I have 4 roommates. They don't clean after themselves, but throw a fit when you don't do something their way. One brought a dog with fleas into the house and let it live in the bathroom. Her boyfriend stays over every night and he doesn't even pay rent. The real problem is he owns the house. The rest are slobs!

If only it was less money to get a 1/1 in a nice area.

[charley_alford]

I had a room-mate who left broken glass in the sink on a regular basis. Also he was trying to get into a Mariachi band and used to practice singing (not that it did him any good) after he got home, which was usually 3.00 am when I was fast asleep.

[khosta]

One of my very best friends got me this cool Popcorn bowl when i was in college! Like one of those you see at Wlliams-Sonoma. And I had this roomate (who is still my friend today) who took my very pretty popcorn bowl and made a gravity bong out of it in the garage.... I am not a smoker so I was very upset when I saw that and we got in a huge fight. She used to smoke all of the time and in the house and I would freak out and tell her to go outside at least... she started going outside - but days I wasnt home she would have smoke fests in the house.... I dont know why she never thought i could smell it when I got home!! I felt like her mother always yelling at her!!

[Frugal]

In college, I was forced out of my dorm apt. by two female Korean roommates who literally cooked so much kimchi on Saturday mornings, it made me ill. I could not even stay in the place. Then, they started hiding in the bathroom to smoke, even though it was strictly forbidden indoors, and they knew I was an asthmatic. It was a nightmare. I could not invite anyone over, because the smell of the kimchi and some eel-type fish they kept cooking permeated the small little apartment. The university didn't make them move, even though they were violating the rules, but I had to leave for my own health due to the smoke.

Then, I had the people above me who partied till 3 am each WEEKNIGHT until I had to move out to maintain my 4.0. Living OFF campus was generally a better experience!

Would never do college over again!!!

[Pansori]

Originally Posted by Frugal

In college, I was forced out of my dorm apt. by two female Korean roommates who literally cooked so much kimchi on Saturday mornings, it made me ill. I could not even stay in the place. Then, they started hiding in the bathroom to smoke, even though it was strictly forbidden indoors, and they knew I was an asthmatic. It was a nightmare.

Hmm, Frugal, I think you may be mistaken. I am part Korean, and you don't cook Kimchi. I never even heard of that. How does one cook kimchi? :P There is no cooking involved when making kimchi, although I will admit kimchi does have a very distinguishing odor. I'm curious why didn't they do like the rest of the Koreans in the world and make one big batch to last the whole year? I have three different kinds of kimchi in my refrigerator right now, and it will probably last be the next two years.

[cypher1]

Originally Posted by Pansori

Hmm, Frugal, I think you may be mistaken. I am part Korean, and you don't cook Kimchi. I never even heard of that. How does one cook kimchi? :P There is no cooking involved when making kimchi, although I will admit kimchi does have a very distinguishing odor. I'm curious why didn't they do like the rest of the Koreans in the world and make one big batch to last the whole year? I have three different kinds of kimchi in my refrigerator right now, and it will probably last be the next two years.

Being korean adopted myself (although no food expert), I do question what Frugal's roommates were cooking. Since a lot of the korean food spices have a very similar taste/smell like kimchi. Otherwise I don't blame her for the bad experience, and smoking doesn't help either, asthma or not. Good story though. I also can't stand the smell of curry, but don't mind eating. When I first bought my house, it reeked of that curry smell. The indian couple must have had a party to celebrate the selling, and it took me over 2 weeks to get that smell out.

[Pansori]

I figured maybe the girls were making kimchi stew, or something. TBH I equate the smell of kimchi with yummy goodness and childhood memories. I do understand, though, I never pack kimchi for my lunch at work, it would just be too offensive for people.

I don't have any decent nightmare room mate stories, just one who snored terribly.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I missed this. Sigh I had a bunch of interesting roommates as well.

1. Ended up going to a mental institution my first semester in college. I moved out because she was freaky, nuff said. I couldn't sleep with her watching me from the next bed, I worried she was going to stab me.

2. Another roommate had a boyfriend and lived mostly with him. She was cool until cops showed up looking for her because she wrapped her car around a pole drunk driving then took off and they stole money from his company he was working for, i think nordstrom. She dropped out of college.

3. A different roomie, her BF broke up with her over email, then she threw his tv through our window because she was drunk. She was pretty normal otherwise.

4. Roomie I loved to party with. Had tons of fun, until she got pregnant, left, and got married.

5. Next roomie was depressed, her rent checks bounced, never cleaned (mold grew on stuff) or took a bath. Turns out she was a lesbian but didn't come out till much later. Her parents came and took her home to rehabilitate. I caught up with her on facebook and she's doing well now.

6. Next roomie, had mucho pyschotic boyfriends. One broke in and trashed our apartment. Another came screaming in the middle of the night at our door, called the cops. She was nice, but the drama.

That was the last, and ever since I had my own place and I lived with my DH. I had enough roommates to last a lifetime. I have to add I did worry with a few that people were doing stuff in my bed, but what could I do? I wasn't home. Yuck, trust me I used to wash my sheets like crazy.