Living with roommates is rarely easy — that’s part of why it’s typically done only out of necessity. But some roomies seem to try their hardest to be the most nightmarish people to live with possible.
In the case of one Redditor, her roommate seems entirely oblivious not only to how unreasonable her demands are but also to how annoying she is to live with.
The roommate demands the homeowners not use the shower or toilet after 10 p.m.
Now, with all due respect, the fact that this is even a question someone felt the need to write into Reddit for advice on is absurd on its face. This is the kind of demand you flatly refuse to dignify with any response besides that GIF of Bugs Bunny saying “NO.”
Alternatively, by taking hour-long showers followed by 15 consecutive toilet flushes every night promptly at 10 p.m. until the person moves out. But that’s just me, a certified Bad Person™.
Anyway! The situation the Redditor described in her post is a complicated one. She’s moved home due to medical debt, and she and her parents have taken in a housemate, presumably because they all need the money.
The problem is the roommate is so sensitive to noise that she’s “asked us to manage our shower schedules around that.” And it is causing major problems.
The homeowners work late and have had to resort to ’30-second showers’ at night.
With six people living in the house, the roommate’s demands are a tall order, and they’ve been quite disruptive.
“My dad, who owns our house, comes home from work at the hospital at 12 a.m. or later sometimes,” which means to shower after his shifts, he takes 30-second showers “with the water pressure on basically a tiny drizzle” to not upset the roommate.
“This rule she’s trying to impose on all of us feels extremely frustrating and inconvenient,” the Redditor wrote. And the roommate’s demands don’t stop here — in another post, she detailed how the roommate insists they don’t use the living room after 10 p.m. either.
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She has allowed use of the house after 10 p.m. if they clear it with her first, however. But then she goes and sleeps outside in a tent or a van, which “makes us all feel sort of guilty and uncomfortable.”
The roommate herself, however, is very noisy until all hours of the night.
This story is already ridiculous, and this roommate’s audacity is at a 15 out of 10, but it actually gets worse. “The frustrating part is that she showers whenever she wants to, sometimes as late as 12:30 a.m.,” the woman wrote.
She’s also very noisy in general. She uses her electric toothbrush in the hallways, constantly opens and closes doors loudly, and often talks loudly on the phone after midnight.
“I basically told her that I can’t guarantee that I can meet this request and sometimes I’ll need to take care of my hygiene needs past 10 p.m.,” the woman recalled. This is far more polite than anyone should ever be about such an absurd situation.
Her parents are ‘spineless’ and refuse to confront the roommate despite owning the house.
As horrendous as this roommate is — and she is absolutely a monster, we can probably all agree on that — is she really the problem? Or are the Redditor’s parents? As she put it in her post, “I put up with her because my parents hate confrontation and want to keep the peace.”
But being a conflict-avoidant people-pleaser is the easiest way to get taken advantage of and walked all over, and it seems pretty clear that’s what’s happening here.
Several people understandably told the Redditor to just let the woman go sleep outside in her tent if she’s going to be this ridiculous — which is perfectly reasonable and, at this point, probably preferable!
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“Unfortunately my parents are extremely spineless,” the woman responded. “I’ve told them so many times to stop putting up with this BS.”
Which brings us to the real lesson here: People treat you the way you tell them to treat you — or, perhaps more accurately, the way you permit them to treat you.
Some people are just truly terrible people who victimize others, sure. But far more, they are like this woman — selfish, entitled, and willing to take every inch other people give them and run with it. No amount of politely acquiescing is going to satisfy her though, and for her part, the Redditor wrote that she’s stopped abiding by the rules, come what may.
Here’s hoping her parents get on board soon, too — or better yet, learn to stick up for themselves and kick the woman out of the house they own so she can go live by herself.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.
