'AITA for selling furniture that my roommate found and not sharing the money with him?'
"AITA for not giving my roommate a cut of the money from selling a table?"
No_Annual_6292 writes:
My roommate was walking to work and saw a nice table left out on the side of the road for free, but he didn’t have time to grab it before heading in. He texted me about it, and my girlfriend and I went and carried it home.
It was only about two blocks away, but moving it took around 40 minutes and it was heavy. We had to move the table in two parts, and there were also four matching chairs. When my roommate texted me, he didn’t ask me to get it for him, he just said it was a shame he couldn’t take it and that it looked cool. I told him I was going to grab it myself, and he didn’t seem upset that I was taking it.
It ended up being too big for our space, so I moved it to our storage area. I fixed it up a bit and eventually sold it for a few hundred dollars. Maybe I’m the jerk for selling something I got for free, but I could really use the money, and I did invest a bit into refurbishing the table by touching up some dings. That said, this post isn’t about the ethics of selling free furniture.
When I told my roommate I sold it and how much I made, he asked for a cut. I thought he was joking, but apparently he wasn’t. Now he’s upset that I don’t want to split the money with him and that I only gave half to my girlfriend for helping me move it.
He says I wouldn’t have known about it if he hadn’t told me and that he wanted to grab it himself. But he didn’t help transport it, and I was the one who fixed it up, created the online listing, and handled the sale. I don’t feel like I’m the asshole here, but he seems pretty pissed at me.
People responded to OP's post.
Particular_Case80 says:
YTA. I don't think he deserves half or anything, but you either should have kept that info to yourself or anticipated giving him a finders fee. He is right that you wouldn't have known about it if he hadn't told you.
Consistent-Tax9850 says:
ESH. Your roommate asking for 50% is ridiculous. You did all the work of hauling it, restoring it, and selling it. However, that would not have happened had your roommate not informed you of the item. Your roommate deserves a finders fee which is usually 10%.
padfoot211 says:
ESH. Come on it’s full d%*k mode to go ‘I sold that table you found and wanted! Look how much I got for it!’ Like fine, sell it, but just leave it be. Asking for a cut was reasonable, some finders fee or something idk.
Full disclosure, I think paying him a bit would have been the right thing to do. But if I wasn’t gonna pay him I’d have kept my mouth shut and never let him find out. Now you went and bragged about it so of course he’s pissed and being a bit over the top.
redroverose says:
ESH, he doesn’t deserve the money you made obviously but it’s tasteless AF of you to tell him about it like that when you know he had wanted it for himself originally.