Student asks if she's wrong to keep mini fridge to hide food from hungry roommate.
Ah, college! A time of independence and yet, complete and total dependence...
When a student from a wealthy background made friends with her less-advantaged roommate, she figured she would spread the wealth. If you are mooching off your parents, what's the harm in letting someone mooch off you? Everyone's gotta eat, after all.
Unsurprisingly, things got complicated when one roommate became a little too comfortable with the unspoken 'arrangement', and the rich OP had to take action...however petty. After a fight ensued, she came to Reddit for answers to see if she's in the right, or if she's a jerk with main character syndrome (no shade).
Here is her story and the top responses:
'AITA (Am I the as*hole) for buying a mini fridge to stop my roommate from eating my food when she has no money to buy any?'
I (19F) go to a really expensive college. I’m lucky because not only did I get a scholar ship but my parents are wealthy and I can get money whenever I want, my roommate on the other hand isn’t as lucky. She comes from a poor background and has to work because her parents can’t pay her tuition and she doesn’t even have a partial scholarship.
She often takes my food because she wants to spend most of her spare money on makeup/clothes/decorations and paying for her monthly payment to the school, so I allowed her to eat the food I bought.
Huh... that's pretty generous!
The issue was that she started eating too much. I understand eating 3-4 times a day, but my roommate literally ends a whole fridge full of food in less than 2 weeks and I got to eat less than 25% of what I HAD BOUGHT.
Okay, well that's clearly not cool...
It got to the point I had asked her to cut it down a bit and she got offended asking me if I was calling her fat, to which I replied no I’m calling you a binge eater. She said she’d stop but she never did.
Last week I got fed up because I had bought my favourite cake from a bakery 30 minutes away and it costed me 120$ and I put a little note on it that said “ you can eat some but please leave me half! :)” and when I came home that same day she had eaten the whole cake and the note said “ sorry hope you didn’t mind I was hungry and stressed”.
Wow. There definitely seems to be some compulsive behavior at play... but does that excuse anything?
I ordered a mini fridge from Amazon and it arrived at my house 4 days ago and I immediately went shopping for things I would eat and that could last me atleast 1-2 weeks. I'd lather have less food supply than paying for more and having less. It’s in my room and my room is always locked when I’m not home.
Smart!
Yesterday I was laying in bed when she barges in and says “hey the fridge is kinda empty, when are you going to buy more food?”. I told her “I’m not” and she got mad and told me I knew her situation and I should be a “real friend” and buy food for her.
Then she saw the mini fridge and she started losing it, really don’t even remember what she said. Now her friends are texting me asking me why I decided to stop buying food for us when that was the “agreement”. I’m sure she’s telling them a twisted side of the story but I still wanna know AITA (am I the as*hole)?
So what's the answer, folks? Is OP being petty and a bad friend... or is she being seriously taken advantage of by her entitled roommate?
The result came back from Redditors to be an overwhelming: NTA (Not the As*hole)
NTA. Her background is irrelevant here, honestly. She chose to go to an expensive college without a scholarship. She chooses to spend her money on unnecessary stuff. She can buy her own food. You're not responsible for her no matter how much money you have. - alexenglish_
NTA. It isn't that she doesn't have the money to buy the food. It is that 'she wants to spend most of her spare money on makeup/clothes/decorations.' NOT...YOUR...PROBLEM!!! She is telling her friends that you AGREED to pay for her food? I mean, who DOES that???!!!! If her friends are so concerned, tell them that THEY can buy her food. That should be the last you hear from them. - patjames904
I laughed at the audacity of coming in and saying the fridge is empty, when are you going shopping so I can eat. - SusanAkita2014
NTA. I had rich roommates in college while I was poor as heck. Worked TWO jobs and an internship while taking classes. I was able to feed myself but I often had to forgo buying any luxury items/non essentials. If she didn’t have any money at all and needed some help with groceries that’s one thing. But it sounds like she has enough to buy non necessities and instead is using you to buy her food.
Even at my poorest, if I had the money to buy food rather than makeup I went with food and didn’t rely on my roommates to feed me. They helped me out here and there but I never demanded it from them. Don’t let people use you. - Lizzy54090282
NTA. She can twist whatever she wants, but it’s your money and your food. You were more than cordial with it, to begin. She took advantage. You’re doing fine. Let her whine. She needs to learn how to budget and move her money to necessities. Not wants. - slythercon
NTA. It was very considerate of you to share your food with her. Unfortunately, she started taking advantage of you. Ate the whole cake?!?! How rude!! If someone is nice enough to share food with you, you don't binge eat. You don't steal their food that has a note on it asking for them to leave half. - PianoOk6786