One Bad Mama

My Very Worst Roommate situation happened in the early 1980s in Austin, Texas. We shared a 3-bedroom/2-bath house. We each had our own room and the third room was occupied by her young son.

She had to be at her waitress job at 6 a.m., so when I left for my office job at 9 a.m., her “sleepover” from the night before would often still be asleep in the house. When I mentioned being uncomfortable with a stranger left alone in the house while I was asleep and maybe worse, alone to steal everything we owned, once I left for the day, she blew up and claimed that “they are good people” and I was “looking down” on her choice of a one-night stand partner.

She also allowed several neighbors free reign of the house to use our washer and dryer and balked when I protested, yet still expected me to pay half the utilities. Once, the A/C needed repairs and she brought home two men from the bar to repair the A/C unit. She informed me that she’d be having sex with one of them for her share and I’d be responsible for paying the other half in cash. She often use my clothes and personal items even though I’d forbidden her to use anything of mine and she’d later lie about it, even if I’d caught her wearing my clothes and jewelery in public.

The last straw was when I came home from work to find her drunk on the couch begging me to buy her a lice/crab removal kit at the drugstore. When I left for work that morning, she and her latest partner were passed out naked in front of the living room fireplace alongside her 3-year-old son! Evidently, he’d passed on his pests to her and when I suggested her son should also be treated, she challenged me to a fist fight.

I ended staying with a friend until I could afford to move to a new place the next weekend, at which time I fumigated my belongings and moved away. She called me at work for months trying to get an additional $250 for utility bills for that month, even though I only stayed there for five days that month.