I live with 2 other people in a house. One of them is utterly worthless and I'm trying to figure out what to do about it, so of course I came to TWW for insight. Here's the background about the roommate

-he pays rent relatively on time, same with utilities
-he signed a lease through the end of July
-he contributes NOTHING to the house
-never buys any common supplies (trash bags, paper towels, sponges, soap, etc.)
-never does any chores (take trash to dumpster, take dumpster to street, vacuum the floor/carpet, clean the toilet [I have my own thank God], doesn't throw away his old food [instead it rots away, literally].
-he wastes electricity at will: leaves lights on, ceiling fan on, TV on when nobody's home, and leaves the refrigerator door cracked all the time
-occasionally the toilet runs, he doesn't fix it so it wastes water all night
-he turns up the heating thermostat and doesn't tell anyone
-when he cooks with our pots/pans he takes forever to clean them. He's scratched plenty of Teflon pans with metal forks, and damaged one of my pots (which then magically disappeared).
-he doesn't know how to properly lock the front door with the deadbolt.
-he leaves his clothes all over the place downstairs (I have no idea why he strips late night while watching tv)
-he leaves food exposed and uncovered in the fridge
-he never runs or empties the dishwasher, but has no problem cramming dirty dishes in there when its already run and all clean.

I confronted him about almost all of this a few weeks ago and now he won't talk to me (this guy's almost 23, btw). He hasn't really changed any of his habits. I want to throw him out of the damn house. I'm moving into another place end of July and actually am not on the lease, but have nowhere to go in the short term. My other roommate, who's lived in the house for a while basically has final say and I told her to talk to the landlord and kick this guy's ass out. But I don't think she'll bother. I'm not sure what to do at this point.

3/26/2009 7:55:05 PM

he's worthless but ....he's on the lease and you aren't - if anything it seems like he could bitch to the landlord to kick you out

3/26/2009 8:02:33 PM

sounds like there's nothing you can do until you move out.

You could be passive aggressive and do shit like throw away his clothes he leaves laying around

3/26/2009 8:06:13 PM

^^very true, and it'd really only be a huge inconvenience for me b/c I'd have to pack. Would never happen though b/c 1 he has no balls and 2 landlord likes me more. Otherwise not a big deal. My other roommate isn't happy either. I mean the place is a mess. I apologize to friends when they come over, and some of my other roommate's friends won't even come over at all.

^No I won't do that. Plus I have a dog here and I don't want him taking anything out on him.

[Edited on March 26, 2009 at 8:18 PM. Reason : k]

3/26/2009 8:17:46 PM

just gut it out for another few months

choose your next roommate(s) wisely. i'd hate to see you get stuck with a new set of wastoids

3/26/2009 8:33:32 PM

this is a problem I have been struggling with as well. Cannot wait for the end of the lease in June.

3/26/2009 8:36:03 PM

Well I don't feel like being his dad or his maid, b/c that's what I feel like when I lecture him or clean shit up. And its not like I can leave all the nasty shit out. I have a dog.

*my dog was sick for 5 days and racked up quite the bill. The vet is pretty sure he ate something he shouldn't have, which can happen. But my roommate is so fucking dirty its more of an issue. Hell, the reason he's so dirty is why I had X rays taken of my dog.

3/26/2009 8:53:48 PM

At least he doesn't try to turn around and lecture you.

I was living with this total douchebag for awhile that would do jack shit except sit in his room and play WoW. One day he had the gall to emerge from his fortress of solitude while I was making something in the kitchen and lecture me on taking out the trash... right after I had taken out the trash And never mind the fact the asshole didn't even know where we kept the trash bags, much less where the dumpster was. The guy was a total nut job.

3/26/2009 9:38:07 PM

Quote :

"ceiling fan on"

not trying to minimalize anything cause i'd hate to have a roomate like that, but the quoted item is ridiculous for you to be pointing out

[Edited on March 26, 2009 at 9:41 PM. Reason : unless the ceiling fan has lights that he leaves on]

3/26/2009 9:40:40 PM

^yes the light on the fan is always on. But do you really think the light uses more electricity than the fan? B/c the comparison isn't even close.

And he's the only one that complains about the power bill, ironic since he's the one that does nothing to keep it low.

3/26/2009 10:13:10 PM

To be fair, ceiling fans don't use that much electricity.

http://www.ceiling-fans-n-more.com/ceiling-fan-faq.php#13

Why this highly questionable website says it's not too far off from a standard incandescent light bulb.

3/26/2009 10:22:25 PM

Is his name Josh?

3/26/2009 10:33:11 PM

thank you, but i don't see how it matters. prick that complains about the bills, still needlessly using it.

3/26/2009 10:33:24 PM

It's true, he sounds like he needs a kick in the dick.

Best to sneak the food he leaves rotting into a slit in his box springs just to get back at him for being a dick before you move out.

[Edited on March 26, 2009 at 10:53 PM. Reason : ]

3/26/2009 10:39:38 PM

Is he bigger than you, crazier than you? If not, ride his mother fuckin ass about everything and if he tries to bow up then kick his bitch ass. Call the cops and tell them you confronted him about all his shitty ways and he got pissed and tried to sucker punch you but your ninja skills helped avoid the blow and you roughed him up to make sure he wouldn't try anything else until the cops got there.

Who are they going to believe, the clean guy or the dick that can't pick after himself?

3/26/2009 10:41:29 PM

^ Depends if one of them is brown

3/26/2009 10:42:54 PM

^^I like that. And no, he's a skinny twig.

3/26/2009 10:50:17 PM

^hahahaha i'd pay to see that fight...

3/26/2009 10:58:19 PM

Quote :

"and damaged one of my pots (which then magically disappeared)."

lol, now that's just fucked up for a pot to disappear. It's not like you can accidentally take one to work and forget to bring it home.

3/26/2009 11:42:29 PM

haha, pots,
"where's my favorite pot?"

its funny hearing guys talking about their pots and pans

3/27/2009 1:38:35 AM

I GOT THAT CALPHALON STAINLESS COLLECTION SON!

3/27/2009 1:44:15 AM

have a talk with him with your gun positioned in between you two ... with your hand just resting on it of course.

3/27/2009 1:45:56 AM

Yeah that's a great idea, then skinny asshole could go tell the landlord that tikiteg went and threatened him with a gun.

And seriously, some people in life are useless. I had a trust fund baby for a coworker who consistently showed up late, spent money like it was nothing (though his income really was just enough for him to live lower middle class from what I could tell), and was a total oppositional asshole about everything, doing anything, or taking initiative. Some folks just ain't raised right, and there's nothing you can do to change them short of whoopin' their ass.

3/27/2009 4:16:01 AM

atleast your shitty roommate doesnt have his parents come stay with you with their two dogs in a 2 bd/ 2 ba apartment

3/27/2009 10:14:14 AM

I shared this insight with another TWWer with the same problem. My solution goes like this.

You say to your roommate, "Do these things, you have a reasonable amount of time with which to get them done. If you don't have them done by then, I'll do them... And then I'll walk into your bedroom and beat the ever living shit out of you."

And then you repeat for various habits of his you want to change around the house. It worked for me.

3/27/2009 11:29:47 AM

why not just fix all the issues once and then tell him you did them and if he doesnt do them you will take a shit on his face while he sleeps?

3/27/2009 12:03:41 PM

This is why I am SO glad I don't have a roommate anymore. It took me 4 hours to clean his room and bathroom after he moved out

and his fatass girlfriend used to eat all my food

[Edited on March 27, 2009 at 12:15 PM. Reason : a]

3/27/2009 12:15:19 PM

My last "roommate" was from hell, she constantly had men coming in and out of the house drunk to sleep with, and would spend the rest of the week parked on the couch in front of my boyfriends plasma watching reality TV shows binging on food she was not supposed to eat because she had gastric bypass.

I hope I never see that girl again.

3/27/2009 12:37:28 PM

I used to think my roommate was shitty

but then I read threads like this and realize it can always get worse

good luck

3/27/2009 12:52:51 PM

Alright, here is what I have done with the many room mates I've had that have been like this. Very simple:

any dish he leaves out, put it on his bed.
any exposed food, put it on his bed
any clothes he leaves out, throw them outside

Leaving stuff on and not doing chores though is tough. I usually had to get on the person's case but that was always uncomfortable and usually just caused further issues.

Edit: Oh, and in my experience these guys usually aren't trying to be assholes, they just don't know what they are doing. Yes they're being lazy, but they don't understand that this actually affects other people. It doesn't affect them so they figure it doesn't affect you either.

[Edited on March 27, 2009 at 1:08 PM. Reason : .]

3/27/2009 1:07:02 PM

ha ha...you should have moved into my place with Deen when you had the chance

3/27/2009 1:27:25 PM

lol, I didn't even address the electricity wasting problem. In my apartment I have the fortune of having the fuse box to our entire apartment in my room. The switches are neatly labeled corresponding to what they control.

I just turned off the power to my roommate's room when he did shit like that. In my case it was because he left his shit on in his room all the time, so it was directly related. I'm sure you could make an argument that you turned off power to his room to make up for the power he is wasting everywhere else in the apartment though.

3/27/2009 2:50:59 PM

You only have a few options due to your situation:

I noticed you said he contributes NOTHING to the house. In that case you can take all the toilet paper, paper towels, etc and lock them in your room.

Try to identify other things of yours that he uses and enforce your control over said things.

Wash dishes when he is around, and the next time they pile up, ask him to do them since you got it last time.

After going through 15 roomates, I've not found a reliable method for coaxing people to be cleaner after they get used to being messy. I just be very real with people when I meet them and I tell them exactly what I expect from them. I know the typical messy patterns and I discuss them by name before he/she even moves in, ie: its not ok to leave dishes in the sink, its not ok to leave trash or food out, laundry left in the machines for more than a day will be deposited outside, etc. I might've come off as anal, but it was worth it. Bad roomates can make your life miserable.

3/27/2009 3:50:33 PM

^^^^I'm not going to be passive aggressive in a way that he knows I'm fucking with him. I'm at work all day and he's usually here at the house, around my dog. I don't want something to "happen" to my dog. I mean back in October my dog escaped from the house b/c this fucking idiot of a roommate didn't close the front door completely....you see what kind of retard I'm dealing with here.

I moved in to live with these 2 people, I was the replacement 3rd roommate for someone else that moved out. They told me they were clean, well 1/2 of them lied. When he leaves clothes out I throw them into the corner of the room where random shit just piles up. I have paper towels and I do keep them in my room. The problem with that though, is that when he makes a mess now he has nothing to clean it up with. As far as any pots and pans I care about, I've put them away out of place where he won't find them. Regarding the pot he fucked up and threw away, it was some crappy pot I got for free. Just the same, when all the pots are dirty and I need one it sure was handy

Right now there's a big bowl of spaghetti with sauce just sitting exposed in the fridge, been there since sometime around 4am if I had to guess. I'm guessing the noodles have already hardened up to a degree.

3/27/2009 5:57:35 PM

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this, but who's TV is it? I used to restrict TV use until they cleaned up after themselves. Sometimes you have to treat them like they're 8 before they start acting like an adult. He was obviously either pampered growing up or lived in a complete shit hole.

3/27/2009 7:52:52 PM

^I think he had both. I blame his parents.

I dunno who's TV is downstairs in the main room, but that room is always such a shithole I don't bother. I have a nicer TV in my room with my own DVR box.

3/27/2009 7:56:57 PM

just get a little hot plate for your room with a microwave and a mini fridge
and live in your room.

3/28/2009 11:10:24 AM

If you recall the spaghetti he put in the fridge a few days ago...well it went bad. Imagine that, uncovered pasta.

Well instead of throwing it away conventionally, he decided it would be more clever to go out on the front porch and dump it in the grass off the side of the house. You've got to be kidding me.

Anyway, I scooped it up into the pot he still hadn't cleaned and its sitting on the counter.

3/29/2009 8:57:16 PM

you brought food he threw outside back in - knowing the person you are dealing with did you really think this was a good idea? it's just going to anger you more....

3/29/2009 9:00:56 PM

Do you live with Dean?

3/29/2009 10:01:27 PM

Quote :

" Anyway, I scooped it up into the pot he still hadn't cleaned and its sitting on the counter."

Quote :

"^^^^I'm not going to be passive aggressive in a way that he knows I'm fucking with him."

uh...

3/29/2009 10:07:53 PM

get your own place next time.

3/29/2009 10:14:34 PM

Quote :

"Well instead of throwing it away conventionally, he decided it would be more clever to go out on the front porch and dump it in the grass off the side of the house. You've got to be kidding me."

WTF?!?!

The whole time i thought the guy was inconsiderate, lazy, asshole, and irresponsible.

Either

A.) He just wants to really piss you off

or

B.) He's Schizo

3/29/2009 10:51:49 PM

MY WORTHLESS ROOMMATE:

-She contributes NOTHING to the house
-She never buys any common supplies (cooking oil, trash bags, paper towels, sponges, soap, etc.)
-She never does any chores (take trash to dumpster, take dumpster to street, vacuum the floor/carpet, clean the toilet
-She eats everyone else's food and cooks her own meals everyday making it inconvenient for anyone else to try to cook
-She treats the communal Linux internet kiosk like her personal computer, sometimes tying it up all day
-When she cooks with our pots/pans she takes forever to clean them. We usually have to clean up after her if we want to do anything in the kitchen. It has to stay clean because it is the visible kitchen in our community center. She always washes the cast iron pans and leaves them wet so they get rusty.
-She leaves her boots and socks all over the place downstairs (which, as I mentioned, is more than the common living area - it is a community space frequently open to the public and used for arts instruction).
-She leaves food exposed and uncovered in the fridge. She will leave containers in the fridge empty almost indefinitely. Usually we have to go in after her and wash them.

3/29/2009 11:25:00 PM

Living by yourself ftw.

3/30/2009 10:39:41 AM

^^ Sound like you need to have a heart to heart with this chick

The only problems i have with my roommates are

Roommate #1
-likes to eat my snack food and use my coffee; but usually he's good about replacing it eventually

- Almost OCD about cleaning (guess its not a bad thing). I'm pretty clean and stick to a "24-hour" rule but i often hear him complaining to himself about some dirty pot i cooked with an hour before and find my mess cleaned for me a lot of times before i even get a chance to clean it.

- Has his broken down 1989 civic which has not moved in over a year to occupy one of our two resident parking spots.

Roommate #2
- I keep catching trying to smoke in his room. He only does it now when he thinks I'll be gone for a while but its pretty obvious when the whole upstairs smells like the bar.I tried to be nice about during the dead of winter when it was 20 degrees outside. My tolerance for diplomacy is up though. There is no excuse
why he can not go outside to smoke. Honestly if he smoked out his window he could probably smoke in his room without me noticing.
Instead though he's probably playing some level 89 golden dragon uber boss in WoW and decided he wants to smoke so he just puffs away
while playing at the computer, subbing out his room which leaks over to my room.

- During the middle of winter would always shut off the heat. Granted the upstairs including my room would heat unevenly with the downstairs.
Instead of merely just turning it down though he would completely shut off the system. I would wake up some mornings and my room would be 62 degrees
and even colder downstairs. The problem would repeat itself b.c once the heat was back on the system had to work extra hard to heat
up the downstairs (where the thermostat is) which would cause the upstairs to overheat in the process.

- Uses probably about 3 times the dishes than i do; and more than my other roommate. Yet, runs/unpacks dishwasher only if the other roommate and i stubbornly refuse to do it and we are out of dishes.

[Edited on March 30, 2009 at 11:20 AM. Reason : a]

3/30/2009 11:19:40 AM

pooljobs, do you seriously think bringing that food back inside is "fucking with him"? Gimme a break.

I'm having a hard time talking to him, he's never around or is here, but only when guests are here. I'm not one to call him out in front of other people, but I'm getting to that point.

3/30/2009 6:28:43 PM

well its better than putting it in his room, but its still pretty obnoxiously passive agressive

if someone did that to me i would be passive aggressive right back and leave that shit, it is a pretty dick move.

3/30/2009 6:33:37 PM

Like I said, he's never around to talk to him. I'm not just gonna be his passive bitch and clean up after him.

Oh and I want to do everyone a favor and tell them NEVER EAT AT EAST VILLAGE. This guy works in the kitchen there and he knows nothing about storing food and keeping anything clean. He has the worst hygiene habits I've ever seen. So do yourself a favor and steer clear.

*I actually like EV, but forget eating there. I mean maybe the chips and ranch dip, but I can only imagine what he does with the ranch.

3/30/2009 6:44:11 PM

in on page 1

3/30/2009 6:56:00 PM