No one can choose their family members, but the people in these stories really wish they could exchange a few. These people dealt with the most obnoxious, rude weirdos all over the place. These cheapskates performed the most bizarre, nasty tricks in order to save only a small amount of money. Good luck at the next family reunion! Content has been edited for clarity.
Swindled The Whole Family!
“My sister is the cheapest person I have ever known. When I reluctantly flew up to New York for her third wedding (where she insisted on wearing white, for the third time) to be her Matron of Honor (for the third time), I did not share in her excitement at getting married again. She had been engaged six times in 15 years (she is engaged yet again for the seventh time as I write this, so she will be soon getting married to her fourth husband), and I truly believe she is addicted to the feeling she has when she meets someone new. I don’t know what it’s called. Anyhow, this is not about that. It’s about her EXTREME CHEAPNESS.
I could give at least ten examples of the cheap things she did when I was there for her wedding, but the one that stands out the most is when she offered to treat her soon to be mother-in-law and I to breakfast. We get to the restaurant and she is going on and on about how much we’re going to like this restaurant and we order and eat, and my sister looks at me and says, ‘Lisa, your total comes to such and such, so just give me a twenty to cover everything.’
I responded, ‘Huh?’
Her mother-in-law asked, ‘How is that treating? Do you even know what treating means?’
My sister just stared at her blankly. That’s when she gets up and walks out of the restaurant. She has no intention at all of paying. Like somehow she deserves to be treated, even though she said she would treat. Of course, I had to pay. Her mother-in-law and I followed her out to the car, and we were both perplexed with her strange behavior. We went home and tried to reason with her, but she kept saying, ‘So what?’
The next day, I kid you not, she did it again. She said to me, ‘I’m sorry about yesterday. Can we go there again and I promise I’ll treat this time?’ and then she suggested we pick up her mother-in-law so she could, as she put it, ‘make it up to her also’.
As we are in the car driving to the restaurant, her mother-in-law says, ‘I fell for this yesterday. You are treating today, correct?’
My sister says, ‘Yes. Of course.’
SHE DID IT AGAIN! How could we be so stupid! She did the exact same thing again with no emotion. I was so mad, but mostly mad at myself that I fell for it a second time.
The other two cheap things she did during that trip was spend the money that was designated for the wedding decorations on herself. Then she hands me $15 from the hundreds she’s given and says, ‘Here you go. Buy the decorations.’
I asked where the rest of the money went, and she lifted the bags from a department store and asked me not to tell her (soon to be) husband.
The third thing she did was when we went to a restaurant. At the time, I had no job, and my sister made $5000 a month selling jewelry. For my wedding shower gift, I would buy her dinner. I told her, ‘Please don’t order more than two drinks, because it will be too much for me.’
I supposed I shouldn’t have offered anything at all, but I was hoping she would for once be slightly respectful. Of course, she wasn’t, and she ordered drinks for herself and all her friends all night and kept saying, ‘My sister is paying for it!’
The bill came to over $300 and I was infuriated. I couldn’t pay for that! I put $40 on the tray and showed our mother what she did, and my mother ended up paying the rest.
This is a regular routine for her. I’ve cut her out of my life. I am done. The last straw was two years ago, when she won a lawsuit and was awarded $170,000 and she spent every cent of it in 18 months while working and making her $5000 a month. She NEVER paid any of her bills at home (she is in the process of getting a divorce from husband #3 and insists she is deserving of the house he took three years to build by himself with the help of a friend), so she had plenty of money. She cried poverty when asked when she was coming down here to Florida to meet her newest nephew. She claimed she had no money, yet she was posting pictures to Facebook of her $1000 full back tattoo she received over a period of 3 months.”
What An Awful Father!
“My father was cheap. He’d gladly spend $15K on a new tractor, but he would deny my mother a $7.50 pair of new shoes. He had us convinced we were poor, but we weren’t. I learned to sew early, so that I could make my own clothes. I could literally make a dress for $1, if I found fabric on sale and used an old 25 cent pattern. He figured up how much money I’d need for lunch, something like 35 cents a day (this was a few decades ago), and totaled it up. It was about $35. He gave it to me at the beginning of school and told me that was it until January 1st. Of course, I needed money for other things, like my my class ring (paid for mostly with babysitting money), my senior yearbook, and a trip to the fair with friends, so by the end of September, it was gone. I babysat on Saturdays for my lunch money.
If I wanted anything extra, I skipped lunch. We lived out in the country and I didn’t have a car, so I couldn’t get a job. The people I babysat for came and got me and brought me home.
One day, I was tired of being hungry all day, so I decided to fix myself a sandwich to take the next day. My dad came into the kitchen and asked what I was doing. It took a lot of negotiating, but he begrudged me a simple baloney sandwich.
For years, I heard about the college money I was going to get when I graduated from high school. He had to pay the premium around Christmas, and for the last few years, he actually told me that my supposed college fund would be the only thing I got for Christmas. But did I get it? NO. He cashed it in and kept the money himself.
I left there as soon as I could.”
Revenge Has Never Been So Satisfying
“About last year, I met a girl whom I have much in common with from school. We quickly became good friends, and about two months into the school year, we decided to meet up outside of school for a movie.
She was pretty, with silky dyed hair and high cheekbones. Since she, as I was, from a fairly expensive private school, her family was decently well off. On the day that we met up for our movie. She met me at the ticket booth early, which I appreciated. However, as we got into line and we stood in front of the ticket booth, I took out my money, and waited for her to pay as well. This is the time when she decided to tell me that she didn’t bring any money.
Mind you, she had made all of these elaborate plans to grab dinner from the sushi place beside the movie theater and go shopping later. How could she have not brought any money with her? Incredulous, I turned around and looked at her, but she spoke up before I could ask anything.
‘Could you pay for me?’she whispered, almost pleading, and I hesitated before nodding. As there was a number of people, I didn’t want to hold up the line. The movie only cost about 16 or 17 dollars, so I paid for both of us.
As we went into the movie theater, she didn’t say anything about me paying for the ticket, not even a word of gratitude. I was going to get some popcorn, which I had originally already planned on sharing with her, but as we got into line, she grabbed a large packet of sour punch straws and a bag of twix. Mind you, she didn’t bring any money, and she knew that I had known this all the while. As we went up to the counter, I told the cashier that I wanted a medium popcorn, but she cut me off.
‘Make that a large, please.’ I turned around, my eyes narrowed, but I decided not to say anything. I paid for the popcorn and her two bags of candy. We went to watch the movie, and much to my indignation, the girl refused to share any of her candy with me, turning it away from me after I took two pieces. Which I bought for her.
When we went to the sushi restaurant, she had not hesitated in ordering $30 worth of food, all of which she had left much unfinished. By this time I had been completely turned off by her behavior, and I only wanted to get this over with. As the day ended and I went to drive home, she decided to bring up briefly, ‘Oh, I’ll return the money.’
She never brought it up again.
I am not one to be petty over money. I would not haggle anyone over a couple of bucks, but that exchanged had ticked me off. I had spent a good $50 on her, without a word of gratitude. This is something that I would not tolerate, and it was a turn off from a potential friendship. She asked me to hang out over the next couple of months multiple times, and I had declined all of them, until she asked me to watch a movie with her and another friend (I’ll call him X. He’s a mutual friend of ours) again one day, and I hatched a brilliant plan.
I brought just 15 dollars in cash (just enough to afford one ticket), and to call up X and tell him to do the same. It is petty, sure, but the exchange has stuck with me for a while. She had asked me to borrow money multiple times throughout the school year with no intentions of returning it, as well as taken things from me, such as my jackets, and never returned them. I asked X if he experienced the same thing, and he had confessed to lending her about $60 and never getting any money back. On the day of the movie, I had paid for my own ticket, and she had, once again, arrived with no cash on her. X, who was in on the plan, brought only $15 with him as well.
As we walked up to the ticket booth, she, once again, admits to not bringing any money, but this time none of us could spare change for her. She stood there, confused, and asked us the same question again, as if we couldn’t have heard it right the first time. When we admitted to bringing only 15 dollars with us, she got angry, as if we had betrayed her and ganged up on her. She shed a couple of tears too, with a pity story about how her parents are divorced (as if it had anything to do with her cheapness) and won’t give her allowance. All for not paying for her ticket. She called us out for not bringing more money for the dinner later, but X explained he had a game later that he had to go to, and I told her that I already had dinner at home. We never agreed to get dinner afterwards anyways. And so she stood there, awkwardly, without any money on her, and suggested for us to help sneak her in.
We refused. Angry, she walked away, presumably to return home. X and I watched the movie by ourselves, and he admitted to bringing his credit card with him anyways. I had brought mine too. After the movie we grabbed sandwiches and coffee, then drove to his game after. This time, I was admittedly in a better mood, and not as broke as last time.”
Getting The Whole Family In On The Scheme
“Look up ‘cheap’ in the dictionary. That picture will be my brother. Every restaurant he goes to, he is looking for a way to get the meal free. He has been barred from several restaurants, including some fast food chains. Years ago at a restaurant in a smaller town, our entire family (about 40 people) went for breakfast at a small family restaurant. He ‘found something in his food and should not have to pay for his meal’. He even tried to extend this into the entire group getting a free meal, but my brother and I stopped him. However after that, I do not go to any place to eat with him. He would have his family all line up in a Taco Bell and each order their own, and he would have them only order to just below where tax would apply. Everyone goes back each time they want one more taco.
He went to a chain restaurant with a group of 20, and the waitress came over with her very friendly, ‘What can I get you to start?’
My brother was at the far end of the table and stood up and very loudly stated, ‘You can start with the free bread and just keep it coming until I tell you to stop!’
He then told everyone how and what he would order for the entire group, so they would not have to pay. He complained about absolutely everything that came. Finally, the waitress must have said something to the manger, who came over and asked, ‘Is everything okay?’
My brother said the waitress was very slow and should be fired. The manager took over the table and finally told the entire group to leave. My brother created such a scene that the manger told them they did not have to pay, just leave. My brother went back the next day with two letters, demanding the waitress and the cook get fired. The manager advised him that he was never to come back. My brother bragged to the group that he had done this for years and would be getting more meals at restaurants like this if they want to go with him.
Most of them are busy when he wants to go to a restaurant.”
Decades Of Friendship Down The Drain
“I used to have a friend who, despite being well-off, was incredibly cheap, to the point that it was not only embarrassing, it was often hurtful too. She is very adept at worming out of paying for her share of things, mainly by making things so awkward that you end up caving in and paying for her, simply because you just want the situation to be over! Some examples:
On one occasion, when she was staying with me for a couple of days, she insisted that we go swimming, because she said she had to do exercise every day. I didn’t really mind, so off we went to the local swimming pool. After waiting for quite some time at the reception desk to pay, we eventually got to the front, but when the receptionist said, ‘That’ll be $4, please,’ my friend became really indignant, as the swimming pool she usually went to apparently only cost $3. She started arguing with the poor receptionist over the difference, much to the annoyance of all the other people in the line behind us, waiting to pay. So, I ended up paying for both of us. Not a big deal at all, you might think, but this was just one example of how I always seemed to end up paying for her.
Later that same day, we went to the cinema to see a film. I paid the admission for both of us (I didn’t want a repeat of the incident at the swimming pool), and then we wandered over to the concessions to look at the snacks. She decided she didn’t want anything. I bought myself a large bag of M&Ms. Once we’d taken our seats and the film had started, she announced that, actually, she WAS hungry after all, but didn’t want to miss any of the film by going back out to the concession stand. No problem, I said, you can share my M&Ms if you like. This started out fine; however, after about 20 minutes, she said that SHE wanted to hold the bag. A bit weird, I thought, but I duly gave the bag to her to hold.
As the film continued, every now and then I took some M&Ms out of the bag, as did she. But then she started leaning over every few minutes or so and whispering ‘Are you going to have anymore?’
As you can imagine, this started to get pretty irritating, especially as I was trying to watch the film. This went on for a while, with me saying ‘Yes,’ every time she asked. Eventually, I asked her why she kept asking and she told me that she wanted to save them for later. What the heck?! I was quite surprised at this, but couldn’t really make a fuss in the middle of the film. I carried on helping myself to the sweets that I’D BOUGHT, but it was all really awkward and a bit stressful, and it kind of spoiled the film a bit. It’s almost like she has a pathological need to not part with any money and to milk other people as much as possible.
I once went to stay with her, but after having been at her house for a few hours, she hadn’t offered me anything to drink. Not a problem, as we had been engrossed in chatting. But, when I asked if it was okay if I put the kettle on, she said that she didn’t have any tea. Or, in fact, anything at all to drink. OK, no problem, water is fine, I said.
For our evening meal that day, we went out to a restaurant, where (you guessed it) I ended up paying.
The next morning, we got up and sat chatting for a while. After a couple of hours, she hadn’t mentioned breakfast and I was getting pretty hungry. I asked if it would be okay if I made some toast or something, but she said that she didn’t have any food in. This was a bit surprising, as she’d invited me to stay for the weekend and it had been arranged for some time. In retrospect, I think she wanted to see me but didn’t want to have to spend any money on feeding me. I think it’s highly possible that she ate breakfast in her bedroom, in secret, before getting up and coming into the living room to chat with me. She loves food (as do I) and always used to complain at my house if I didn’t keep her well-fed.
Anyway, as I was so hungry, I suggested we went out to a café for some breakfast. She took me to a really wonderful artisan eatery, where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast. Silly me, I assumed that she’d be paying, given that I’d paid for everything else that weekend and given that she hadn’t provided breakfast at home. However, when it came to pay the bill, she started lamenting about how she, ‘Doesn’t normally like to spend money on breakfast,’ so I ended up paying for it. She’d chosen a really expensive place, knowing that she was going to get me to pay for it! Other examples include us going into McDonald’s to buy a drink each and her asking me to pay for hers, as she didn’t want to break in to her $10 bill!
Each individual incident was no big deal on its own, but when it happens a lot, you realize that you’re being taken advantage of. She was basically taking advantage of my generosity and the fact that I hate any kind of awkwardness. She knows that I (and probably most people) don’t want to cause a fuss in public, so they will just end up paying.
To put it into context, she is from a fairly wealthy family and had a well-paying job, so it’s not like I could blame her behavior on poverty. She’s just incredibly tight with her money. She hardly ever leaves a tip in restaurants.
Because of her behavior with money, but also because I realized she just wasn’t really a very nice person in general, I eventually cut off contact with her. We’d known each other for about 30 years, but sometimes the longest friendships aren’t always the best ones.”
Well There Goes That Friendship
“This was told to me by my mom. When she and my dad were still together, they would go out every once in a while to eat with his friend, Rob. Rob would bring his wife along. My mom said every single time they would all go out to eat together, Rob and his wife would order one of the most expensive meals on the menu. Once their food arrived, they would eat like normal. They would eat every single thing off the plate, then once it came time to pay, they would both complain that the food was not good, and that they’re not paying.
My dad and my mom would both insist on paying for the food instead of making a commotion, but Rob would try to persuade and encourage them to complain as well to get a free meal. Of course, my parents never did that. The worst part is that Rob and his wife always got away with it, too. The restaurants never called them out on their nonsense (and neither my parents). It’s just my opinion and I’m sure majority of people’s opinion. If you can’t afford to eat out, then just simply don’t.
The thing is, these people (according to my mom) were well off (both had decent jobs) and could have easily paid AND tipped, but they were both such cheapskates, they would rather argue then pay. They probably made more money than my mom and dad at the time, and my parents would still pay and tip and even offered to pay for them. And it’s not like they were eating out at an extravagant, 5-star restaurant. After like the 5th time this happened, my parents decided they were not going to eat out with them anymore.”
Real Life Soap Opera
“Recently our mother died. Before her death, one sister and one brother forced her into a Lodge and registered her there without filling in all the children our mother had. So, two children of eight were on the registration form. This meant that no other child had access to the well-being of our mother. Then my sister put her daughter in charge of our mother as a caregiver, which she had no qualification for. I am a licensed caregiver and was already helping my mother with her needs aside from household shopping. Groceries were the responsibility of our brother, as our mother was living in his house. This, again, is another ‘cheap’ action of our brother due to the abuse he inflicted on her, which included the lack of groceries.
Moving ahead a couple of years, our mother dies and this sister is surprised to learn that she was not named Executor to the Will. In going through the Estate with another sister, who our mother named as the Executor, we have learned, with the bank, that our sister set up our mother’s bank account in a manner that her daughter became the immediate owner of our mother’s account. And, yes, she did try to withdraw the money.
Of course, prayers work miracles, and the action of withdrawing was stopped. However, then starts the process of understanding how such an act can take place. In this case, there was a sickly mother who was taken to the bank by this daughter. Our mother was told to sign papers that she was not understanding. This is true, as she called another sister after the fact and asked for an explanation and understanding to what was happening.
Ironically, my sister and her daughter have the same initials. My sister used her initials to sign the paperwork while our mother was in the bank. Then, on another day, when our mother was not in the bank, this granddaughter went in the bank to sign her name to all the paperwork making herself the joint owner of our mother’s account.
Before our mother died, she was made aware that her granddaughter was on her account. Our mother was very mad and wanted her granddaughter’s name removed. However, this did not happen. This same sister who is planning this evil coup went to further extents to make this one brother, who has no backbone and can only see the credit for himself, Power of Attorney and Personal Directive. Along with her plans, she puts her daughter on both documents as a ‘back-up’.
How ‘cheap’ can someone be as to set up such a situation that hinders a Will? Yes, if God was not on the side of righteousness, this account would have been cleared out. As for the remaining children, we would never have known how much money our mother had, or how she wanted it divided. Needless to say, where is the respect of carrying out the last Will of the deceased?
Of course, these actions have caused a great family war that now extends into the grandchildren. And yes, the one who is talking the loudest is the sister and brother who organized this whole plan. The Estate has not been settled at this time, and it is by choice the remaining children are trying to keep any action out of the court because, in actual fact, bank documents were frauded.
Sometimes, knowing how and who you are dealing with is enough. It is not easy to think family members can help other family members understand their deceit. If they are deceitful enough to put such a scheme together, they don’t want to know what they did was wrong. Just let them go.”
Relationship Ruined Forever
“This has stuck with me over the years. My husband’s father had died when we were in college, and my husband had supported his entire family since (the mother, 3 sisters, and 1 younger brother). Mom is working, but does not earn much. When we married, he was not in a good financial condition, and we paid off loans to friends until about a year after our marriage before taking on further loans from the banks. He married off two of his sisters, paid for both of his younger siblings education, and mom’s medical bills. Anyways, we worked hard and diligently over the years, supported each other through thick and thin, and now we are in a very very comfortable position.
Now, my daughter was born 4 years ago. We arranged for a big celebration and invited all our relatives. My mom-in-law did not bring a single thing for her new born granddaughter. Well, I was busy and did not think anything of it until later, when the incident happened. After the event, we all went home and I was happily opening all the gifts. Suddenly, she demanded that we all pay her $5 each, as she had given this money to the waiters at the restaurant when they had approached her looking for a tip. My husband wasn’t around, so she had given them the money. Now, she wanted it back. I was horrified. She wasn’t a random stranger who had spent something and now wanted the payment. It was such a trivial amount, and the occasion was her granddaughter’s naming ceremony. I had never seen my parents demanding even a dollar from me or my brother regardless of what the financial condition was at any time, nor had I heard anyone else doing the same. I was in severe postpartum depression, and this really hit me hard.
After years of caring for the entire family, spending all we could sometimes at the cost of our own needs, she could not even spare a minuscule amount for her own granddaughter. Unfortunately, I could never get this out of my heart. I grew distant and now we share a relationship that is formal at best, for the sake of a person whom we both love dearly.
I can never imagine asking for such a ridiculous amount of money from my own kids. Something broke inside my heart that day, and I could never be the same. I have never insulted my in-laws in any way and will never do, but there are times that you feel that you exist just to fulfill the financial needs of your extended family. that was that time and it hurts, even to this day and it is the only contention between me and my husband, who never sees anything wrong with his family’s behavior. This haunts me on my bad days.”
Cheating Them Out Of The Cost
“My husband invited me to join him in a video game & BBQ night hosted by his wealthy friend. I’m not here to shame anyone, so we’ll just call him Angus. I was told that Angus makes around $100,000 per month from his various business ventures. Yeah, you read that right, he makes 6 digits of income every month, not every year!
When we arrived there, the five guys that were there (including Angus and my husband) were excited to open the mail package that contained the newly arrived video game. They then proceeded to take turn playing the video game and preparing the barbecue. Angus approached the guys to inform them that he got charged an extra $10 when he picked up the video game at the post office, and he felt that it’s only fair for them to split it five ways. Everyone paid him $2 each.
I was stunned. I grabbed my husband to the side, confused. Did he just hand $2 to his wealthy friend to help pay duty charge on the video game? While $2 may not be a lot of money, I was weirded out by the whole thing. My husband explained to me that Angus told the guys months ago about this new video game coming out and proposed to them to buy a copy together and split the cost 5 ways. They all agreed, they also paid their share of the shipping fee. I was even more confused. ‘So, all of you own the video game? How will it work? Will we take turn to take it to our homes?’
My hubby just casually chuckled and said, ‘No, the game will stay at Angus’ house. Because we always play video game at his house anyways.’
Okay, so Angus saw an ad for a new video game. Angus wanted to buy said game. Angus didn’t want to pay full price. Angus manipulated his friends to buy it for him. Angus only paid 20% of the cost, but owns 100% of the timeshare. Here is an example of why Angus is richer than most people.
The icing on the cake was after we all finished eating, as we were getting ready to go home, Angus stopped us on our way to ask everyone to chip in for the groceries. He had calculated how much each person owed him for the BBQ ingredients, including the meat, the corn, the butter and the ready-made BBQ sauce. He even made us pay for the whole bag of charcoal for the grill. We only used up about a third of the bag, but we all had to reimburse him the whole bag’s worth. None of us got to bring home any leftover food and charcoal, even though we all shelled out the same amount of money as Angus.
I still find it a very over-the-top way to try to save some money, considering Angus has more money than everyone else. But whatever, it’s his prerogative to be as stingy as he wishes. And it’s my prerogative to stay away from people who value money over friendship and other virtues.”
Chinese New Year Showdown
“I have an aunt who was given up for adoption because our grandparents were too poor to afford to keep her. She and a younger sibling were both given up to two different families. The youngest sibling is a boy, he’s now a doctor somewhere, but chose not to reunite with my grandparents (who have both passed away). This aunt did reunite, and she has lived a largely comfortable life as an only child who inherited an apartment after her adoptive mother passed on. She used to wear gold chains, rings, and bracelets. And she used to seldom call upon us unless it was for festive occasions.
And then it seems she lost all her wealth very quickly. We suspect she lost it all gambling, or her husband lost it all drinking. Or both. They have four kids, which is way more than they can comfortably afford. Most local families have two children max, even the very wealthy ones. Children are exorbitant to have in Singapore and most responsible parents here are very finicky about quality over quantity of children. After she got ‘poor’, she started seeing my mom, the most softhearted of her six contactable siblings, as a convenient ATM machine. Her kids are old enough to work but don’t seem to be contributing at all.
While she rarely called upon us in the past, she calls my mom once every few months to ask for a loan.
During Chinese New Year, a festive season that’s very important to us, we have family reunions and everyone catches up with extended family that we haven’t seen for the past year. She used to come when visiting family members were still around (our extended families usually come from 12pm to about 6pm). Now she comes at the end where she knows most of the families with children have left (they leave about 3pm, and she comes around 4 or 5pm). Because it is customary to give out red packets filled with cash to children and unmarried young adults, she comes with her four kids, hoping to get as much as she can from the remaining adults, while not having to give any to children, knowing most of the families with young ones don’t usually stay long because the children get fussy, or they have the spouse’s other family to visit.
My mom called her out on it indirectly, asking her why she’s come so late when everyone has gone. It was obvious she had no intention of socializing and came only for the red packets. My sisters and I were already adults back then, so we knew what she was up to and were appalled. Also, since we were fully employed (and also we actually have dignity) we weren’t hard up for her red packets and didn’t make a fuss that she totally skipped out on giving us any, while her children were asked to stretch out their hands to take any that were given to them (a very rude and shameless gesture). My mom merely shook her head, disappointed and hurt that this aunt only cared about gaming the tradition for her own benefit, and she wasn’t interested in knowing how the rest of her siblings were doing in life.
Cheap and uncaring. I don’t look forward to seeing her, and I’m glad we’ll be overseas next Chinese New Year.”
Nightmare Roommate
“I went through a horrible two-year period of depression. There was one person that was there for me. She was never really reliable and always changed her opinion, but she was there for me, and so I thought she was my friend. Because we had gone through similar incidences, and were both needing a roommate, we found a place together. The landlord did not want multiple people in the lease, so I took it all in my name so we could get the place. I thought I could trust her. For the next two months I had to almost beg her to pay rent. I would get $100 here and $200 there, but she never confirmed when I would get the full amount. It was to the point that I was on my last dollar. I asked her again and nothing. That evening, she came home with a new tattoo and I about lost it. At 1.5 months in, I had fronted $1900 in the deposit that she had told me on many occasions that she could/would pay, and I had only covered half of her rent. She would text me on many occasions that she had paid me and it was in my room. I would come home and there was no money.
Finally, I was so frustrated that I texted her that I could not afford to chase down rent and asked her if she could at least pay half of the deposit over two months. If not, I would have no choice but to find another roommate. Mind you I asked her on many occasions if she could afford it, and she said yes without hesitation. She became extremely upset and said we needed to speak in person and not over text. I said fine and asked when would she be home. She then disappeared for a week. I became so confused that she refused to speak on the phone, and required a face to face meeting, but she was never available. I said I was extremely sorry, but I could not afford both of our rent. That she would have to find someone else if she couldn’t pay me. She ignored me for a week and finally came home. We had a fight and I ended up apologizing, still with no confirmation on when she could cover her part. I finally ended up getting 3/4th of the deposit and rent and decided to let it go. She had been there for me and I was exhausted from begging.
Then, other things started to happen. Though I had purchased all the furniture and dishes, she would constantly complain that we did not have curtains. Then she would look at me as if expecting me to say I’d cover it. Then she started taking my clothes, my purse, going through my things, and took my vintage earrings that were stashed so far away. She had to have gone through everything. Then she took my lamp and would leave it on all night and while she was gone on trips. I finally got upset the other day and turned it off. When she came home, she knew I had switched it off. She proceeded to change the handle on her door and lock her room. I knew she would be gone for a few days, so I easily picked the lock, turned off my lamp, and took all of my possessions that she had grabbed without ever asking.
She would come in my room and ask, ‘Are these clothes yours? Somehow they made it into my laundry.’
I knew and she knew that this was a lie. They were clothes that had been in the back of my closet. I knew because one was a dress I only wore to funerals, and I searched my entire room for it. Two days ago, she came home from a trip to New Orleans. She had taken my suitcase that I had offered her. She walks in the door with my purse that was a gift from my father years ago. I had it stashed away, as it was sentimental. There she was holding it, had never asked. I left the room and I knew I was about to lose it on her. She had gone purse shopping the week earlier and just wanted to spend the money. I calmed down, went back out, and told her to please never take anything of mine again without asking.
Well here we are today. She has a quarter of my clothes in her closet, my pillows on her bed, and my lamp on her bedside. I am frustrated and about to pick the lock and take everything back. I decided I did not want to do anything out of anger. I’m just so sick of not knowing if I’ll have clothes to wear.
Last month, I went to house sit at my mother’s. Her car had not been working, and I had left my keys in case she had need to move it. When I came home, I noticed my truck had definitely been used, and even though I had left with a full tank, it was in empty. I knew this roommate had driven it the whole time. It was full of stuff. I texted her and asked her and she said absolutely not. Then I decided to throw away all the stuff that’s in here. She rang me off the hook after she realized that she had left items in there that she wanted. She never admitted it, and I of course had to refill the tank.
Once the lease is up, I’m out of here. I really want to go take back my stuff.”