Living with a roommate can be an amazing (or horrible) experience. So when Reddit user u/one_n_0nly_throwaway asked: "College students, who was that roommate from hell and for what reason?" a lot of people had their own stories to share. Here's what they had to say below:
1. "She wasn’t the worst, but she had some pretty gross habits. There was one time she was waxing her crotch with those wax strips, and after she ripped one off, it fell facedown on the floor in the room. The rest of the semester we had dried wax glue and pube hair on the floor. She refused to clean it."
2. "I had a roommate who got diagnosed with colon cancer part way through the year. It was a roller coaster of emotions as his treatment progressed throughout the school year. I supported him as much as I could and couldn't believe he chose to stay enrolled and on campus through it all. At the end of the school year, he broke the news to me that his cancer was terminal, and he didn't have much time left. We said goodbye as we left for the summer, thinking it was the last time I'd probably ever see him. The next year, he was around campus again. Turns out he made it all up. Never had cancer."
3. "I once woke up at 2 a.m. and saw a ghostly figure sitting in my computer chair and heard the sounds of rushing water. Initially thought I was hallucinating, but it turns out my roommate was stone drunk, mistook my chair for a toilet, and pissed all over my floor and belongings. I confronted him about it, and he denied everything; maybe he didn't even remember."
4. "At University, I lived with two women from out of town. They were heavily into their Class A but weren't interested in cleaning, tidying, or being decent roommates to anyone else in our house. One of them had a seriously powerful Yamaha amplifier mated to a pair of 350W tallboy active cabinet speakers. It was a pricy setup. Queue the obnoxiously over-loud music blasting through the house most nights of the week while they would get high and essentially rave out with shitty trance music all night."
"One day, when I had the morning off university, she went out and left her door open. I seized the chance and went in, took the metal case off her amp, and removed the glass fuse. Reassembled, put everything back as it was, and left. I had peace and quiet for the rest of the term. She couldn't figure out what had happened to it, but I played dumb and said she must've blown the amp. Unsurprisingly, both she and the roommate she came with both failed the first term and left."
5. "I stayed with this one guy in my dorm who was super friendly but never left his room the whole year. We shared a five-bedroom apartment, and everyone had their own room. Our unit developed a mouse problem, and my roommates noticed a bunch of their dishes went missing. Turns out my roommate had a hoarding problem and was the source of our mouse infestation. When summer came and we had to move out, we saw inside his room for the first time — piles up to the ceiling of trash, garbage, used mouse traps, and dirty dishes."
6. "I had a roommate who was an absolute slob. They clogged the toilet one day, and we (other roommates and I) hounded him to take care of it. He let it sit for a couple of months and refused to fix it. Finally, we called our landlord, and he pulled out coffee filters. The dude was wiping his ass with coffee filters and flushing them, or at least trying to. It was the worst-smelling bathroom ever."
7. "I shared a dorm apartment with three other people (me, Sarah, Carol, and Daniel — fake names). We all had our own rooms with a bed and a desk and two bathrooms to share, plus a kitchenette and living space. It was great. It was me, two other women, and a guy. The guy was a little odd. You see, me and Sarah shared a bathroom and Carol and Daniel shared the other. We each provided our personal toiletries and then took turns purchasing toilet paper. Daniel never provided any for his bathroom. Carol asked that he do so because that was the agreement. He waffled and didn't."
8. "Oh my god. David. David was such a wild person while being so horrific and annoying but doubly adorable and kind of laughable. Like, he was so naive and unintelligent that he reminded me of a puppy."
"A.) David was a drummer. He was not a rock drummer or folk drummer. A marching line drummer. David practiced 'freestyling' the drums outside, facing the central acoustic space of our entire apartment complex while playing EDM remixes of Justin Bieber songs.
B.) A lot of college dorms are in lower-income areas because slumlords know they can prey on financially illiterate college kids. One morning, I (on the second-floor balcony) was smoking a blunt when I noticed a person who was homeless rummaging through the bushes downstairs. He looked up and saw me and kept trying to talk to me and convince me to let him upstairs to smoke with me. Instead, I tied a second blunt to a lighter and dropped it to him, saying I had to leave soon. Weeks later, David texts me, saying he wants me to meet someone. I walk into our living room and see him with the guy who was homeless and eight-plus of his friends. They were going to 'throw a party' in our apartment.
3.) David was getting kicked out? Or not paying rent? I imagine being kicked out for not paying rent. All I know is that other people were coming by to look at the apartment/his room, and he didn’t want to leave. I only discovered this information when I caught him taking stuff out of our trashcan and COVERING THE LIVING ROOM IN IT to 'make us look like slobs.' David then tried convincing me to 'play music really loudly' and 'smoke weed inside' so nobody would move in.
I did none of those things.
The guy who came to see the apartment was Chris, who ended up moving in. He was super sweet, and I adored him. I hope he is okay, and I wish I never lost contact.
Fuck you, David."
9. "She had a baby over summer break (she did not tell us she was pregnant); however, babies were not allowed in the dorms, so the baby lived off campus with her mom, but she would bring the baby to stay in the dorms if we annoyed her. We asked her to clean the bathrooms = she would bring the infant into the dorm room, and it would cry all night. We asked her to stop eating our groceries = she brought the baby to the dorm for finals week. I didn’t sleep and did terribly on my exams and two different job interviews."
10. "I had a roommate who played 'Happy' by Pharrell on repeat the year it came out. I'm talking back-to-back on a loop. It was horrible. He just would not stop, even with my pleading. It didn't stop until every other roommate got fed up enough as well."
11. "I stayed with a guy who was my roommate in the dorms the year prior and was an overall good guy and moved off campus to save money. I found the house to rent, signed the lease, and had him added after the fact. Regretted that one very quickly for multiple reasons:"
12. "I had a roommate who straight up punched me in the face because I told everyone any dishes in the sink I will wash and put in the dishwasher. I was never taught about cast iron skillets, so it was in the sink for about two days, and I thought I was being nice washing it for him. He physically assaulted me."
13. "When I went home for the weekend, she would borrow my clothes and let her friend sleep in my bed. I know it doesn’t sound horrible, but her friend had pubic lice, so I’d have to change my sheets as soon as I got back every time."
