The Actors
Falling on hard times, my husband and I thought getting a roommate would ease our financial stress. We posted an ad on Craigslist, finding two guys who desperately needed a house (living in their car), and worked long hours.
The first month was perfect because we barely talked and they were both respectful and gone most of the day. The second was pure chaos. We quickly noticed they never cleaned their bathroom or room and left (our) dishes nasty in the sink until I cleaned them. Soon fed up, I asked them to start cleaning after themselves. Instead they never used them again (in front of us). They also started bringing girls into our home every day doubling the people in our household and singling out my husband and me. Trying to be nice we ignored it, but it got hard to ignore when we couldn’t even be in our own living room, kitchen or bathroom without someone there.
They also tripled both our water and electric bill and completely walked all over us. They started running our w/d every day and night and taking three showers each daily. Also completely ran our internet so we couldn’t even watch one movie. Again, we asked them to be more courteous, that I was pregnant and my husband worked thirteen hours a day, and we deserved both to sleep and a warm shower.
We paid double the rent and all the utilities and let them still use our stuff. Every time we had a discussion they nodded and said they were wrong and it would never happen again, it always continued. It got to the point where their lamp even burned holes straight through the shade. If I ever left the house the had many people cooking and the w/d was running and every light in the house was on. Eventually we said they had to use the l mat, that we could no longer afford it with a baby coming and again they just begged us and said it would change, we refused.
They always said they appreciated our honesty and we didn’t just avoid them and blow up because that’s happened in the past (not surprised). The best part is the pretended they didn’t know where stuff was when we were home even though I’ve seen them steal many times (even checked other drawers in front of us bahaha!) They never once bought their own products and used everything of our they were “entitled” to and acted like the nicest people you’d ever meet. Our three months are almost up finally and we see this moral as you can really never know people until you live with them and even then they could be acting.
This story was hard to follow as the writing wasn’t great. It just sounds like the OP and her husband need to know when to say enough is enough and not let people walk all over them. I hope they are better equipped to stand up to their soon to come child otherwise they’re likely going to deal with one unruly kid.
I agree-this story was a bit hard to read (“their lamp even burned holes straight through the shade”?).
I hope the couple have learned better judgement from this-”2 guys living in their car and working long hours” who still don’t have enough money to rent a place of their own? Hopefully they won’t also be duped into hiring that nanny who has a bit of a drug problem and an abusive boyfriend who just got out of jail, but seems really sweet!
Also has any one looked into advertising this site on Craigslist? So many of these stories start out with an ad on Craigslist, might be useful to those searching for a new roomie.
Why weren’t they paying a share of utilities? My experience of houseshares is that either the bills are split between people/families/couples/rooms, or that the rent is adjusted upwards to cover these things. Ok, if they were using the electric and hot water constantly you may still have been subsidising them a bit, but if they were paying a share of the bill each month it might have made them a bit more responsible about what they used…
I was going to ask if they had a lease or not, that might have made a difference. My cousin rents out her old house to tenants and has a full lease written up along with credit/background check. Its her property so she wants to make sure she gets good tenants and not ones who will give her trouble in the long run.
Sadly from what I have heard, not alot of good comes from roomies on craigslist….
I’m not very articulate at the moment but my gut says, “KICK THEM OUT WITH A BLOWTORCH!” Ugh. Sorry to hear about that!
Okay, the single letter name abbreviations are annoying enough. This “w/d” and “l mat” stuff is really irritating.
Stealing? The mention of stealing came entirely out of left field.
Why can’t these douches be kicked out? If they have their own leases, talk to property management. If not, just kick them the hell out.
Given that the OP is pregnant, I’m hoping that she’s in her twenties or older, but the writing suggests that she’s 15 or 16 at best.
Yeah, yeah, bad roommates. But what exactly are w/d and l mat? Is this what texting is doing to today’s youth? Rendering them completely incomprehensible?
Washer/Dryer and Laundromat
I found the writing slightly to understand… although this was most likely due to OP shaking with rage, I sure would if I had to write about my experiences with these douchebags.
Ahhh, washer/dryer. Confusion was added due to the “w/d was running” as opposed to the more correct “w/d were running”.
I’m confused – the OP owned the house….yet laid back and just took it
Reading this story, I was rather confused. Surfing the net, I found many other ways to write that were the best you’d ever see. Being rather confused, I found this story hard to follow. Also an english major, I find sentence structure being backward kind of hard to read, if you know what I mean by that.
I’m under the impression that English isn’t the OP’s first language, that said, the basic story was understandable, some things were a little confusing and needed to be re-read a few times but I got the jist.
This story is typical. Unfortunately, some people may take advantage of those who are kind. I know this too well. We don’t always know someone until we live with them. I know that time is tough and we can all use the help, but we must truly be careful when choosing a roommate. Most of us have to learn that the hard way. The wrong ones can really hurt us. Fortunately, those two guys were not violent and didn’t steal from them. Thank God for that!
One of you wondered why they accepted the abuse in their own home. Sometimes, one must handle the naughty with care. It’s a matter of self-protection. Her husband works 13 hours a day. She’s alone with two strangers in her home most of the time. Such a predicament can be unsafe for a woman, and aggression can only escalate an already volatile situation. We can’t always fight fire with fire. Sometimes, humility is the best weapon.
“If I ever left the house the had many people cooking and the w/d was running and every light in the house was on.”
Run that by me again.
“Eventually we said they had to use the l mat, that we could no longer afford it with a baby coming and again they just begged us and said it would change, we refused.”
Uh…what? I can understand a few grammatical errors here and there, but quite a few sentences made no sense whatsoever. Maybe that’s why these guys took advantage of the OP and her husband – they couldn’t understand a word they said!