“AITA For ‘Poisoning’ Housemate Who Ate My Food Without My Permission And Ended Up In The ER?”
Sharing a home doesn’t entitle the residents to share everything that’s in there; especially without permission.
That’s why redditor u/Gloomy-Isopod-8132 was quite annoyed when someone kept taking his food without asking. But he wasn’t sure who it was until one of his roommates got sick and some of his food—which he wasn’t sure was suitable for eating—disappeared from the fridge. Scroll down to find the full story below.
Sharing a home with housemates doesn’t necessarily entail sharing food, too
Image credits: voronaman111 (not the actual photo)
This redditor’s roommate kept stealing his food until karma taught him a lesson
Image credits: Thomas Kriese (not the actual photo)
The OP edited the post and shared more information
Image credits: u/Gloomy-Isopod-8132
Discussing certain rules and expectations in the very beginning can make living together way easier
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
Living under one roof often involves sharing, be it food, shampoo, or even clothes. But no matter what item it is, it’s important that both sides are okay with it, as taking someone’s things without asking could hardly be considered sharing.
That’s where communication plays a significant role. Whether it’s friends, relatives, or strangers that live together, talking things through can help set clear expectations and discuss certain boundaries, if any. Sometimes it might be best to even put pen to paper and write it all down.
“The agreement helps people set expectations for living together and identify what they are looking for in a roommate,” the assistant director of contracts and occupancy management for the Housing and Dining Services at Kansas State University, Kathy Van Steenis, suggested.
She pointed out that it’s important to discuss any arrangements concerning sharing food and cooking; for instance, whether each of the residents cooks for themselves or they take turns in preparing meals for the household, and if snacks and such staples as flour, milk, or spices are shared or kept separately. In the former case, who buys them? And how are they compensated for them?
The residential specialist continued to add that there can also be situations where a roommate is fine with sharing… until they are no longer. That’s why it might be best to keep some items to oneself, especially when it comes to things other than just food. “It usually leads to less conflict if roommates keep their personal belongings separate,” she suggested.
Living with friends might not be as easy as one thinks
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
A fellow member of the Kansas State University community, interim associate director of Housing and Dining Services Nick Lander, seconded the idea that a mutually agreed upon document is crucial to a satisfactory living experience, even if the residents were friends before moving in together.
“Even if the roommates have been friends for years, they probably haven’t shared a small space together every day and every night,” Lander pointed out. Statistics show that being great friends does not necessarily equal being great housemates.
According to a survey carried out by Apartment Guide, out of 47% of surveyed Americans who decided to share a home with a friend, only 32% were satisfied with how it played out. Be that as it may, living with a friend seems to be the most common and the most satisfying arrangement in regards to sharing a dwelling.
Based on 2017 data, close to 79 million US adults—roughly 32% of the entire adult population in the country—lived in a shared household. With so many people living under one roof with someone else, there ought to be others in a similar situation like the one the OP found himself in; and surveys seem to indicate that there are.
According to Survey Monkey, taking someone’s food without asking for permission first is the fourth most aggravating thing housemates do, annoying nearly one-fourth of those living with roommates. Quite a few netizens would likely be annoyed by it, too, as they didn’t seem to consider the OP a jerk in his situation, but criticized his roommates instead.
He provided more details in the comments, too, by answering some of the redditors’ questions
Netizens didn’t think the OP was the [jerk] in this situation
He came home with a carton of eggs he found dumpster diving. And he couldn’t text the others because the roommate ate them all. I hear carton of eggs and I assume six. Did the roommate eat six eggs in one go? What a greedy thief. He might not have ended up in the hospital if he had eaten one or two.
If they'd gone bad, one would have sufficed to make him sick. Though bad eggs usually smell so rank once cracked open, that he should have noticed.
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Lo. Steal other people's stuff, and get what you deserve. If they were so rancid how did this kid not notice? Stupid, and a thief.
Dude, people connect with food emotionally. You DO NOT steal people's food.
Roommates shouldn’t steal food, you shouldn’t be putting potentially dangerous food in a communal food area, and while I understand the desperation of dumpster diving, please don’t do it. People throw away perfectly edible things all the time but you never know what else was thrown into the same dumpster that now contaminated everything else. It’s better to be hungrier than you would want than to end up in a medical emergency from some unknown contamination. And it’s possible that if they had died from it, you could be legally liable for it even if unintentional. Glad to hear it wasn’t intentional poisoning though.
You can think about dumpster diving whatever you want (I personally think it's disgusting but understand why people do it) and yes, he shouldn't have put it in the communal area and definitely not have taken eggs. But still, theft is theft, especially when, and I can't understand how no one sees that, your roomie is in a bad situation and doesn't have enough money to buy food! I highly doubt OP didn't tell them about his food situation when he asked them not to take his food. But those disgusting dingbats kept stealing his food! That's absolutely appalling. In general: theft is theft. Honest people don't steal. Full stop. I lived in shared flats for years and no one ever stole my things. There were other problems and we argued over cleaning a lot, but no one ever stole. They always asked or bought replacements if they borrowed something when I wasn't there to ask.
Cheat on stupid games, steal stupid prizes. Congrats; you just won … salmonella!! 🤣
Get a dorm fridge in your room, keep your food there, and put a lock on it. Or just get new roommates. Problem solved
If he needs to get food from the rubbish I don't think he has the money to get a fridge. That's the problem with poverty: the easiest solutions are often impossible because people can't afford them. If he can't afford a carton of eggs, how is he going to afford a fridge? Yes, it would be cheaper in the long run, but there's no "long run" for poor people, only today: eat today, pay your bills today, but some medicines today, get a pair of shoes without holes today...
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I had a ditsy aunt who mailed me smoke kielbasa overseas. Regular mail. Too over a week to get there. I was pretty sure it was bad. I tried a small part of a piece & spent that evening in the bathroom. I left the rest in the community fridge with a warning on it. The next morning I see the packaging in the trash. All I had to do was sit in the middle of the common area & listen to what room was flushing the toilet the most. The culprit was actually hurling from both ends. Good.
I... no, everyone sucks here if you put eggs from a dumpster into a communal fridge and someone else eats them and gets sick. Who the f**k puts eggs from a f*****g dumpster into a shared fridge? Go to a food pantry or something.
Near me, foodbanks are rationing handouts due to overwhelming demand. So no, that’s not a solution
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Have you never heard of poor people, Mr. McDuderson?
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He came home with a carton of eggs he found dumpster diving. And he couldn’t text the others because the roommate ate them all. I hear carton of eggs and I assume six. Did the roommate eat six eggs in one go? What a greedy thief. He might not have ended up in the hospital if he had eaten one or two.
If they'd gone bad, one would have sufficed to make him sick. Though bad eggs usually smell so rank once cracked open, that he should have noticed.
Load More Replies... Lo. Steal other people's stuff, and get what you deserve. If they were so rancid how did this kid not notice? Stupid, and a thief.
Dude, people connect with food emotionally. You DO NOT steal people's food.
Roommates shouldn’t steal food, you shouldn’t be putting potentially dangerous food in a communal food area, and while I understand the desperation of dumpster diving, please don’t do it. People throw away perfectly edible things all the time but you never know what else was thrown into the same dumpster that now contaminated everything else. It’s better to be hungrier than you would want than to end up in a medical emergency from some unknown contamination. And it’s possible that if they had died from it, you could be legally liable for it even if unintentional. Glad to hear it wasn’t intentional poisoning though.
You can think about dumpster diving whatever you want (I personally think it's disgusting but understand why people do it) and yes, he shouldn't have put it in the communal area and definitely not have taken eggs. But still, theft is theft, especially when, and I can't understand how no one sees that, your roomie is in a bad situation and doesn't have enough money to buy food! I highly doubt OP didn't tell them about his food situation when he asked them not to take his food. But those disgusting dingbats kept stealing his food! That's absolutely appalling. In general: theft is theft. Honest people don't steal. Full stop. I lived in shared flats for years and no one ever stole my things. There were other problems and we argued over cleaning a lot, but no one ever stole. They always asked or bought replacements if they borrowed something when I wasn't there to ask.
Cheat on stupid games, steal stupid prizes. Congrats; you just won … salmonella!! 🤣
Get a dorm fridge in your room, keep your food there, and put a lock on it. Or just get new roommates. Problem solved
If he needs to get food from the rubbish I don't think he has the money to get a fridge. That's the problem with poverty: the easiest solutions are often impossible because people can't afford them. If he can't afford a carton of eggs, how is he going to afford a fridge? Yes, it would be cheaper in the long run, but there's no "long run" for poor people, only today: eat today, pay your bills today, but some medicines today, get a pair of shoes without holes today...
Load More Replies... I had a ditsy aunt who mailed me smoke kielbasa overseas. Regular mail. Too over a week to get there. I was pretty sure it was bad. I tried a small part of a piece & spent that evening in the bathroom. I left the rest in the community fridge with a warning on it. The next morning I see the packaging in the trash. All I had to do was sit in the middle of the common area & listen to what room was flushing the toilet the most. The culprit was actually hurling from both ends. Good.
I... no, everyone sucks here if you put eggs from a dumpster into a communal fridge and someone else eats them and gets sick. Who the f**k puts eggs from a f*****g dumpster into a shared fridge? Go to a food pantry or something.
Near me, foodbanks are rationing handouts due to overwhelming demand. So no, that’s not a solution
Load More Replies... Have you never heard of poor people, Mr. McDuderson?
Load More Replies... 
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