Internet Delights at Student’s $400 Revenge on Roommate

Members of a popular internet forum applauded one former student’s quick thinking after they detailed the costly revenge scheme they carried out against their college roommate.

In a viral Reddit post published on r/pettyrevenge, Redditor u/BBBG214 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said their relationship with their roommate soured after a short time living together and explained how they reacted to her controlling and thieving behavior.

Titled, “My roommate steals all of my things so I hide her ID card,” the post has received more than 9,000 votes in the last day.

Writing that they met their roommate during their college orientation week, the original poster said the pair hit it off and decided to live together. Noting that it was “perfect” at first, the original poster also said that their living conditions took a nosedive soon after moving in.

“I brought my TV from home and my parents paid for cable for the room,” OP wrote. “If I came home and she was watching tv I didn’t mind until I’d ask for the remote and she’d tell me her show was on in 3 hours and I couldn’t use my own tv.”

“Next, I had a storage bin full of snacks I’d buy when my mom would send me some money,” OP continued. “I’d go home for a weekend and she would eat EVERYTHING. I’m talking literally every single food item in this bin and leave me nothing.”

Adding that their roommate never admitted to eating the snacks, or offered to reimburse them for the food, the original poster said they attempted to handle the situation in a cordial manner, but were ultimately forced to “get petty” and seek revenge.

“She’d leave her ID everywhere and I started taking it and hiding it so she’d have to go get a new one,” OP wrote. “It cost 20 dollars every time she had to replace it.”

“I must’ve stolen at least 400 dollars worth of her ID cards and she never realized,” they continued.

“At the end of the year when we moved out, I packed up and was out first,” OP added. “After I had moved all of my boxes and cleaned up, she left to go somewhere and I left all of her ‘misplaced’ ID cards on the desk on her side of the room.”

Whether chosen beforehand or assigned at random, living with a roommate can make or break a student’s college experience.

For teenagers and young adults unaccustomed to living with roommates, being thrown into close quarters with another student in a similar situation is likely to cause adverse effects.

But while Georgetown University reports that rifts between college roommates are common and that one in three students experience roommate problems every year, certain tense living situations bubble into larger issues.

In cases of extreme tension, College Choice, an informational resource for college students and their families, reports that students living with roommates they do not like are prone to depression, slipping academic performance and more frequent binge drinking.

To resolve these types of living situations, many college-related outlets recommend addressing points of tension directly and propose switching roommates or moving out entirely as a last resort. Seeking revenge on a disagreeable roommate, however, is not recommended.

Redditor Reactions

But throughout the viral post’s comment section, Redditors commended the original poster’s handling of their roommate, despite the former student’s costly revenge scheme.

“That is like the best departing gift,” Redditor u/pookguyinc wrote in the post’s top comment, which has received more than 3,300 votes.

“This might be one of my favorites,” Redditor u/poppymcculturestein added. “It is absolutely so petty.”

“This is the best petty revenge I’ve ever read, BECAUSE you left the truth after you left,” another Redditor chimed in. “You owned it as a final f**k you.”

Redditor u/Mala_Tea, whose comment has received more than 700 votes, was adamant that the original poster was justified in racking up $400 in new ID cards for their roommate.

“She was an entitled [piece of s**t] and you gave her the kind of medicine she deserved,” they wrote. “She stole from you and used your things without asking and was rude about it.”

“I don’t feel sorry for her at all,” they added.

The internet also didn’t feel sorry for a graduate who was turned down by her roommate when she asked her to leave the apartment so her dad could use her bed.

And feelings were pretty mixed when it came to whether or not one roommate was out of line for telling others her roommate’s “secret.”

And another college student said they were “shocked” to find out their college roommate was “old enough to be [her] grandmother.”