Living with other people is an experience that can look very different depending on who those people are. A tidy night-shift worker who needs peace and quiet to sleep through the day and a messy extroverted student who always has friends over make very different roommates.
The woman Reddit user CheekSuper7240 shares a house with also has a unique trait—she keeps stealing food. Eventually, it got so bad that he decided the only way to protect his was to lock it up.
Out of all crimes a roommate can commit, stealing food is one of the most frustrating
Image credits: Image by Freepik (not the actual photo)
And this guy has, unfortunately, realized it firsthand
Image credits: guyswhoshoot / Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: CheekSuper7240
We have to remain mindful of the people we live with
Image credits: Image by Freepik (not the actual photo)
The fact that the woman accused the guy of creating division in the house perfectly illustrates that everyone has red lines. However, him getting a lockbox wasn't a proactive disruption of their arrangement; it was merely a reaction to what she had already been doing. So, who is responsible for the tension?
According to the 2025 National Student Accommodation Survey, which interviewed almost 1,300 students in the UK, people find a lot of ways to get under each other's skin. The most common annoying roommate habits are:
- Leaving dirty dishes out (64%);
- Not helping with cleaning (56%);
- Being too loud (46%);
- Leaving lights/appliances on (43%);
- Leaving food to rot (40%);
- Not removing hair from plug holes (28%);
- Not changing the toilet roll (25%);
- Stealing food (24%);
- Leaving windows open (23%);
- Leaving the toilet seat up (22%);
- Taking long showers (20%);
- Moving a partner in (14%).
The overwhelming conclusion from these numbers is that anything unsanitary will likely anger your roommates. And, while we all enjoy the freedom that comes after living under our parents' roofs for the first years of our lives, it turns out that some of their house rules were probably pretty sensible.
Many of those who read the story believe the guy's response was totally reasonable
A few, however, disagreed
Some said they also experience similar problems with their roommates
Eventually, the author of the post released an update on the situation
Image credits: Drazen Zigic / Freepik (not the actual photo)
