Food Thief Learns His Lesson After Roommate’s Revenge Hits His Mom Instead: “Burst Into Tears”

If you’ve ever had a roommate who constantly steals your food, you know how maddening it can be. Whether it’s your favorite snack or even just a single egg (in this economy!), it’s enough to make anyone snap.

So how do you deal with it? Lock up your shelf? Buy a mini fridge? This Redditor had a more creative approach. After finding out their roommate’s mom was a big fan of horses—and knowing their food would likely be raided again—they decided to leave a “special” surprise in the fridge right before her visit.

Let’s just say it ended with her in tears.

Read the full story below.

Let’s be real, most people don’t exactly choose to have roommates unless they have to. It’s usually a matter of saving money on rent, not a dream living arrangement. But while splitting the bills can be great, sharing your space with someone else can seriously cost you in nerves and peace of mind. Some roommates, unfortunately, are the stuff of nightmares.

Just how bad can it really get? According to a survey by RENTCafé, which polled over 1,500 adults in the U.S., the answer is: pretty bad. The survey looked into what makes someone a terrible roommate and how to avoid ending up with one. And if you've never had to think about just how chaotic roommate life can be (lucky you), this is your wake-up call.

You might guess that the worst offense would be something like not cleaning, being rude, or even stealing food, like what OP had to deal with. But ironically, the number one roommate sin turned out to be not paying rent, with 20.4% of respondents giving this offense an “F.” No surprise there—if the whole point of having a roommate is to save money, someone who doesn’t chip in defeats the purpose entirely.

What did surprise the RENTCafé team were the second and third worst offenses. Just behind rent-dodging were mean or insulting behavior (20.3%), followed by disinterest in being friends (20%).

“You’d think other issues would rank higher,” Amalia Otet, a spokesperson for RENTCafé, told NBC News. For example, not paying shared bills was rated the worst by 19.6% of people, while being unclean earned an “F” from 12.1%.

So, if you do have the luxury of choosing a roommate, how can you find someone who actually pays rent, cleans up after themselves, and maybe even gets along with you?

Rooming with friends sounds like a safe bet, after all, you already trust them. But living together can reveal sides of people you’ve never seen before. Plenty of friendships have fallen apart under the same roof, and for women, this seems to happen even more often.

According to the survey, 35.4% of women who gave their last roommate an A-grade said the person was already living in the home when they moved in. Another 35.2% found their ideal roommate through an online service or social media. So for women, their best roommates often weren’t their best friends. For men, however, it was the opposite, they most commonly gave top ratings to roommates they already knew.

If friends aren’t an option, don’t worry, there are apps and websites that help you find people who fit your preferences. You can set filters, read bios, and of course, meet up beforehand to do the all-important vibe check. Still, even with all that, a little bit of luck never hurts.

You can also take cues from the survey data to figure out if you’re compatible. For example, introverts and extroverts living together tend to clash more than roommates with similar social needs.

Even your career field can be a weird compatibility factor. RENTCafé found that women were more likely to argue with roommates working in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, tech, and journalism. Meanwhile, men tended to clash with roommates in construction, marketing, advertising, and law.

So if you’re on the hunt for a roommate right now, we’re wishing you patience, luck, and good vibes. May you find someone who pays the rent, doesn’t steal your food, and maybe even makes the apartment feel like home.