Tenants Have Enough Of Roommate’s Cleaning, Regret It After Asking To Leave Their Things Alone

Truly great roommates who match your character are a bit like winning the lottery—the chances of you getting this lucky are quite slim. Unfortunately, not everyone is so blessed! They sometimes have to live with people who have a very different philosophy about cleanliness. That’s a nice way of saying that some roommates feel like they’ve moved in with you straight from hell.

In a viral post on ‘Petty Revenge,’ user u/Ok_Presentation6442 regaled the internet with a story about how she got back at her former college roommates. They had huge issues with picking up after themselves and got frustrated when the author tidied their things. So, they demanded that she leave their stuff where she found it… only to regret it almost immediately.

Scroll down for a primer on dealing with messy, entitled roommates and to read the internet’s reactions. Meanwhile, Bored Panda has reached out to the author for comment, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her.

It’s infuriating when you’re the only one who cleans up at home because your roommates are too lazy to pick up after themselves

College female student wearing gloves cleaning a bathroom mirror, showing college students picking up after themselves.

Image credits: Cristina Radulescu / unsplash (not the actual photo)

One woman entertained the internet with a story of revenge against her incredibly messy college roommates. Here’s how everything unfolded

Text excerpt from a story about college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty.

Text excerpt from a college student sharing stories about petty revenge involving their only female roommate.

Text excerpt describing one female roommate doing most of the cleaning in a shared house with college students.

Text about college students cleaning common spaces after their only female roommate starts being petty.

Messy college students' shoes scattered on the floor and inside a drawer, illustrating roommates finally picking up after themselves.

Image credits: A. C. / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Text of a college student explaining roommate irritation over misplaced belongings and the impact of their only female roommate getting petty.

Text excerpt describing a college house situation where one roommate had a girlfriend living like a squatter.

Text excerpt about college students being friendly and helpful to their only female roommate before she gets petty.

Text excerpt describing a female roommate who uses the tiny bathroom twice a day without paying rent or utilities.

College students cleaning up cluttered bathroom after only female roommate starts enforcing cleanliness rules.

College students bathroom with towels hanging and sunlight coming through window showing tidy shared space.

Image credits: Martin Jaroš / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Text showing a college student’s frustration about roommates not picking up after themselves until their only female roommate gets petty.

Text excerpt showing a roommate quote about leaving belongings where found, highlighting college student roommate dynamics.

Text showing a petty college female roommate spraying Scrubbing Bubbles on bathroom products instead of moving them while cleaning.

Text excerpt showing a petty act involving an expensive shampoo bar by a college student's female roommate.

Text message conversation explaining how a laptop cord caused a trip and broke the roommate’s laptop in a shared living room.

College student vacuuming bedroom carpet, wearing pink hoodie and striped socks, showing tidy roommate behavior.

Image credits: Oleg Ivanov / unsplash (not the actual photo)

Text about college students and their messy roommates, highlighting conflicts with their only female roommate getting petty.

Text showing a college student explaining how they vacuumed the house after their only female roommate got petty.

College students cleaning up a messy room after their only female roommate gets petty and demands order.

Text excerpt describing college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty.

Text about college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty and enforces rules.

Image credits: Ok_Presentation6442

If you want to avoid clashing with your roommates, you have to set out some very clear expectations and boundaries right away

College students cleaning and eating together in a kitchen, encouraged by their only female roommate being petty.

Image credits: A. C. / unsplash (not the actual photo)

To be clear, everyone has their little character quirks and habits. While some might find them endearing, they might annoy others. And no matter the person, there’s bound to be at least a little bit of friction when you live with them for a long time.

Finding someone to live with who ‘perfectly’ matches all or most of your values, character features, habits, and lifestyle is pretty rare. So, looking for someone who is ‘good enough’ is much more practical than holding out for that mythical ‘perfect’ roommate.

That means having some basic, common-sense guidelines for things like cleanliness, chore distribution, noise levels, budgeting, guests, and so on. If you can agree to these rules before moving in together, you’ll avoid quite a few conflicts further down the line.

Writing everything you agree on down and having a physical or digital roommate ‘contract’ can help a ton, too. Even if you agree about everything verbally, people tend to forget some details. Not to mention their tendency to misinterpret things that you thought you were on the same page about.

It is absolutely unfair to force a single person to be in charge of the chores in the house or apartment. Everyone should be pulling their own weight! That means keeping your own room tidy, as well as picking up after yourself in the common areas.

And, yes, that also means getting your hands dirty and helping out with cleaning the shower and toilet, scrubbing the sink, wiping the counters, washing the dishes, vacuuming, taking out the trash, doing the laundry, doing grocery runs if you cook together, etc. If you hate a particular chore, you could talk with your roommates about everyone focusing on the housework they don’t mind doing, and then dividing up the most loathed tasks equally.

Doing chores is an unavoidable part of grown-up life. You’ve got to find a way to fairly divvy them up between everyone at home

College student loading laundry in a washing machine at a laundromat, showing responsibility and cleaning efforts.

Image credits: No Revisions / unsplash (not the actual photo)

A key part of becoming a mature, functioning member of society is taking responsibility for the messes you create. Having some sort of chore schedule can help. But you also need to clean as needed, not just when the schedule says so or you ‘feel like it.’ If you spill something, clean it up. If you make a mess in the bathroom, clean it up. If you’ve thrown your clothes everywhere after a hard day at college or your part-time job, clean it up.

Naturally, everyone makes mistakes and slips up from time to time. Not every bit of messiness is intentionally malicious. So, they might need their friendly roommates to remind them to do one chore or another, or a keen eye to point out a bit of dirt they didn’t notice.

But if someone is intentionally dodging their duties and making up excuses, you need to sit down with them and address their behavior. Don’t be judgy or angry — stay calm, collected, and even friendly, but also don’t be vague about what you need. Be very specific with your expectations.

Some people are walking-talking red flags, and you’re better off not continuing to live with them

College student writing in notebook while lounging on orange couch in tidy shared apartment with plant in background.

Image credits: Andrej Lišakov / unsplash (not the actual photo)

According to ‘Bustle,’ some of the biggest roommate red flag behaviors are:

• Lack of cleanliness
• Eating your food
• Avoiding talking to you and leaving passive-aggressive notes
• Having guests over without informing you first
• Not paying rent on time
• Damaging your things without replacing them
• Having their significant other living there without contributing to the rent
• Bringing out the worst in you
• Infringing on your personal space

‘Dorm Therapy’ suggests that if your roommate has a habit of leaving their clothes in random places, you should gently remind them about how their behavior affects everyone living there.

For instance, you could say something to the tune of: “I’ve noticed that clothes on the floor make it harder to keep the room tidy. Can we work on a solution together?”

Pitch some ideas to them, like getting a hamper for their dirty clothes or some sort of storage for their fresh ones. Meanwhile, remind them that the communal areas shouldn’t be overloaded with personal items.

Who are the very best and worst roommates you’ve ever had, Pandas? Have you ever had to keep tidying up after the people you lived with? How did you handle the situation? What advice would you give anyone who’s about to go off to college and will live with roommates for the very first time? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

As the story started going viral online, the author interacted with some of her readers in the comments

Screenshot of an online conversation discussing college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty.

College students finally pick up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty about cleanliness.

Reddit comments about college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty.

Reddit discussion about college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty.

Text conversation about college students dealing with messy roommates and finally cleaning up when the only female roommate acts petty.

Reddit conversation about college students learning respect and picking up after themselves with a female roommate involved

Reddit thread discussing college students learning to keep clean after only female roommate gets petty about mess.

Many internet users enjoyed the revenge story. Here’s how they reacted to it

Comment on Reddit by Tasty_Switch_4920 discussing mistakes in hindsight and encouraging continuation of the story.

Comment explaining how college students finally pick up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty about cleaning.

Screenshot of an online comment discussing college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty.

Comment on college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty, shared on a social platform.

Comment discussing college students finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate becomes petty about cleanliness.

Text post from a forum user sharing experience about having five male college roommates sharing one bathroom.

Alt text: College students finally pick up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty in shared living space.

Screenshot of a college student sharing a humorous comment about roommates picking up after themselves due to petty behavior.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment praising a female roommate getting college students to finally pick up after themselves.

Unfortunately, bad roommates are far too common. A few netizens shared their personal nightmare stories

College students finally pick up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty about cleanliness.

College students share a story about finally picking up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty.

College students react and finally clean up after themselves when their only female roommate gets petty.

Poll Question

Total votes ·

Thanks! Check out the results:

Total votes ·

Newsletter

Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls

Subscribe

By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.

Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!

Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!

Follow Bored Panda on Google News!

Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda!