When you’re living with someone in the same household, it’s natural that you have to put up with some of their quirks. After all, no matter how compatible roommates are, there’s still a guarantee that there will be something that bugs one another.
For some, this annoying thing might be related to hygiene and sleep habits, while for today’s OP, it was about food. To be more specific, the fact that his roommate was constantly stealing it but never confessing. So, to catch him and make him pay, the author came up with a perfect revenge plan. And let’s just say that it involved cheese, vomit, and screaming.
More info: Reddit
No matter how compatible people are, living together is bound to bring out little annoyances
Image credits: RDNE Stock project / Pexels (not the actual photo)
A man who lives with a few roommates was sure one of them was stealing his food out of the fridge and pantry
Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
He was sure it was the one who hated mozzarella, so he came up with a plan that would both catch the dude in action and make him pay for his crime
Image credits: RDNE Stock project / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Since, as acknowledged, this roommate hated mozzarella, this plan involved it – to be more specific, it was part of a Korean hot dog, which the man kept praising for its taste
Image credits: themozzman
The roommate gave in to the teasing and secretly tried the mozzarella-filled hot dog, but soon after, it ended up on his bed – in vomit form
Ever since the OP moved into an apartment with 3 roommates, he had a growing suspicion that one of them, who he named Tyler for the sake of story, was constantly stealing his food. And it wasn’t a reasonable mistake; he was doing it purposefully, as they all had their fridge and pantry spaces clearly divided.
In an interview with Bored Panda, relationship mediator Glyn Conlon revealed that in her eyes, the food-related conflicts that usually happen between people living together are actually barely ever about the food itself. "Never. As I see it, conflicts are always related to values and needs."
She says if it were just about food, the compartments and other things like that would solve it. So, basically, when it doesn't, it shows that the values or social boundaries between the people involved are clashing. Well, in the case of this story, it's clear that the OP and Tyler's boundaries are very different, isn't it?
The thing about Tyler is that he hates mozzarella. And it’s not an allergy or anything like that; he just despises it ever since he got food poisoning from it when he was a child. Apparently, cheeses that have higher moisture content are more prone to be contaminated with listeria, which causes food poisoning.
While we don’t know what exactly caused Tyler’s mozzarella-related poisoning, there’s a likelihood that it could have been exactly listeria. At the same time, it could have also been mold, some kind of contamination during processing/distribution, or whatever else. To be frank, it doesn’t really matter, except that the man has hated mozzarella cheese ever since.
The OP decided to use this fact against him – he bought Korean hot dogs/corn dogs with mozzarella and put them in his part of the fridge. If you’re confused about how these hot dogs are different from American ones, well, the main difference is that the latter ones are usually made with cornmeal and eggs while the former ones are typically from yeasted batter and panko bread crumbs and could be with various fillings and toppings.
For instance, the kind with mozzarella, just like the one in today’s story. The OP threw away the boxes so that the roommate couldn’t see that the hot dogs were with cheese, and he complimented how tasty they were to his roommate as bait.
Image credits: gpointstudio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Not long after that, he heard Tyler screaming in his room. He went over there and saw that the man had eaten the hot dogs with mozzarella. He not only screamed, but he puked on his bed, too. Naturally, after this incident, the rest of the roommates couldn't stop teasing the man. For the prank's victim, it wasn't so funny. He accused the OP of lying about the fact that hot dogs didn't contain any cheese.
Yet, in reality, he never said such a thing; he just didn’t mention it being there. Technically, such action can be described as lying by omission – leaving out important details to misrepresent the truth.
Even though the name itself contains the word lying, not everyone agrees that it is. It’s for sure dishonest, deceptive behavior, but not necessarily lying. However, the results of it can differ depending on the seriousness of the information.
Let’s take the mozzarella incident as an example. Yes, the OP not disclosing the hot dogs had cheese in them was him not being deceptive. But it’s not like his roommate was very allergic to it; he simply didn’t like it, so he wasn’t putting him in danger. Simultaneously, Tyler shouldn’t have taken food that wasn't his, whether he thought it was cheeseless or not. So, in a way, he paid for stealing.
Well, no one is completely saint in this story, but in the netizens’ eyes, the OP was a bit less evil. His prank was a perfect way to make the roommate regret stealing food without putting his health in danger. Yes, his bedsheets might have been destroyed by vomit, but besides that, everyone came out fine.
At the same time, our interviewee thinks that any prank, no matter how harmless it seems, is still hurtful: "It is only harmless if both parties consider it harmless." Knowing that Tyler from the story clearly didn't think it was wholesome, from his point of view, it made the prank kind of harsh.
So, we leave you to decide who is the jerk in this situation. Share your takes with us in the comments!
This was very hilarious both for the roommates (not for the one who puked) and for the netizens, who deemed this prank a fairly harmless way to get back at someone
