'AITA for throwing out my flatmate's rice cooker and clearing the fridge? She went home for Christmas?'

"AITA for throwing out my flatmate's rice cooker and clearing out her part of the fridge after she left the country to go home for Christmas?"

Me and my flat mates are all uni freshers: me (18), Madison (18), Simon (20), Robert (22), and Liam (19) (all fake names btw). One day, Madison DMed me saying she didn't like how I talked to her in the flat group chat.

I'm a very jokey person so though I might of gone too far with my sarcasm, so I apologised straight away. She then didn't reply to my message and didn't come back to the flat for weeks. I got worried as her life 360 was off too.

Simon messaged the group chat:

Simon: "Yo guys, whose cooker is that? 😅" (picture of a mini rice cooker).

Madison: "Mine, lol."

Simon: "Inside is only just mold hahah okay."

Liam: "Crazy stuff."

Madison: "Oh what."

I gagged when I saw the picture as I remember sitting in the kitchen with her as she cooked that rice. Last month 💀. I took another picture of the rice to send to chat - adding that her avocados also went mold and that I few them out.

She didn't reply. The next day I reminded her to throw the rice away, it was making the kitchen stink. She responded: "Has anyone seen my pot?" 🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️. I PMed her twice reminding her - no reply. I finally caught her at 4 am in the kitchen with her friends. I apologised again to her in person and reminded her to throw away her rice.

She told me it was ok and said she would. (she didn't - it was there for another few days) I triple-bagged the rice cooker and left it by the bin, sharing a picture in the chat: "Madison, please throw your rice away 💀."

Madison: "I’m not even there y’all, and I lost my pan." (she left to go back home for Christmas break in Thailand)

Me: "Madison, I told you multiple times to please throw that away. It’s a health hazard."

Madison: "Bruh, just put it where the vacuum is."

Me: "No—it’ll heat up and grow more mold."

Madison: "Nah, there’s a lid."

Me: "It’ll attract bugs and rats."

Liam: "I threw that shit in the bin fr. Was nasty."

When she left for Christmas, she didn’t clean her fridge section. I threw away food that was going to expire over the holiday, open sauce packets leaking on the shelf, curdled milk, cookies, eggs, and vegetables pooling water.

My flatmates said her side of the SHARED fridge was filthy for weeks. I messaged the chat with what I’d done.

Madison: "K."

I sent her a video of me clean-up. She complained I was disrespecting her space, claiming the sauces were still fine to eat and expensive. She accused me of nagging and said I shouldn’t touch her side of the fridge area since I don’t use it (I share a mini fridge with Robert).

She also said the sauces were expensive. I kinda feel bad for clearing her stuff out, especially as she was having personal problems in her life and was trying to heal. And I did call her a bad word on the group chat after her "K" responses💀. But it was going to expire over the holidays, and as I'm staying in the flat during Christmas, I don't really want to smell that. So, am I the AITA?

The internet did not hold back one bit.

Powerful-Solid-8752 wrote:

NTA. That sounds nasty AF. Don't feel bad for not wanting to live in moldy rotten filth.

She cannot do much about it beyond complain, so just use it as a lesson to get better roommates in future.

OP responded:

Mmhmm. Looking at homes at the moment with a great group of friend's for next year! As the flat set up was run by my uni - I didn't have much of a say in who I lived with unfortunately 😥

rossimac007 wrote:

Disgusting for even letting that food sit there for that long. This sounds like a bunch of children that are used to their mom cleaning up after them. Honestly the first time you saw mold should have been when the rice was thrown away. AH? No idea. But this is embarrassing for everyone who lives in that flat.

OP responded:

I like keeping the kitchen space clean and made a cleaning router each week so we take turns cleaning. Vacuum, mod, spray down the counter and the cabinets. I had actually cleaned one week for her as she said she was too busy that week, which I understood, uni is a lot.

But later she told me she went out clubbing. Never again. The rest of us do our part - but the smell only appeared a week ago. I had cleaned the inside of the bin, the stove, the counter top and took out the trash multiple times try to find the smell.

It was driving me MAD. It was only when my flatmate pointed out the rice cooker was when I clocked it and told her multiple times to chuck it out. All of this has unfolded the past week and the rice cooker was thrown out last Monday. I clean out her fridge yesterday and sprayed it down. The smell is gone now.

apart-ad-6518 wrote:

NTA.

Leaving moldy food for what, weeks?. Gross. Disgusting. I saw others saying you should've just thrown the rice & cleaned the pan. No way.

"When she left for Christmas, she didn’t clean her fridge section. I threw away food that was going to expire over the holiday, open sauce packets leaking on the shelf, curdled milk, cookies, eggs, and vegetables pooling water. My flatmates said her side of the SHARED fridge was filthy for weeks."

So you also cleaned up after her lazy, health hazard inducing a$$.

"She complained I was disrespecting her space."

So let her go live in a dumpster. Sounds like she'll be right at home.

Any_Use_4900 wrote:

NTA on the rice cooker and food; her fault for leaving it like that. Maybe you didn't need to throw away sauces, especially if they're vinegar heavy and not likely to mold...but with her disregard for everything else, I'd have probably lost my patience and thrown it all away all at once too.

OP responded:

If it was sealed I would have left it - lots of her other thing where fine and I left it as is. But is was spilling out onto the fridge shelf and making it smell. The packet was also non resealable unfortunately :,( (foil sachets packs).

twinsoccerx wrote:

NTA. I lived in a cottage in college with 2 other girls. The fridge smelled awful. We couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from. And my pregnant roommate couldn't stomach it but didn't want me touching her stuff. This was May when we were moving out. I basically wasn't home and neither was the other roommate.

The smell was from a container of takeout when she told her family she was pregnant. That was in February. Heaven forbid you leave crumbs on the counter rushing to class but leaving rotting food in the fridge for months was perfectly acceptable!

OP responded:

That's nasty :,((( - Happy you got out the situation!!!