Roommate Cheered for Leaving Woman To 'Starve' After She Wasted Food
A roommate can make living alone more affordable but sharing a place with someone can have its downfalls, and cooking can often be the cause of disputes and annoyance.
In a viral post, u/ZealousidealFan8906 explained that their roommate Tammy makes each meal as precise as possible to ensure a dime isn't wasted. Whereas, the original poster (OP) will make enough food for two meals.
Recently, there has been some friction in the house as Tammy asked for some leftovers, but chucked most of them in the bin.
Newsweek reached out to a friendship expert who feels it may be time for the OP to get a new roommate.
Explaining their story, the Redditor states Tammy was "very low on money" after Christmas and asked for some of her leftovers. But the OP was left feeling annoyed when they noticed Tammy ate a quarter of the serving and threw the rest into the trash.
"I didn't say anything [but] almost the exact same thing happened two weeks ago. This time I asked her to please just try a little before she took a full portion. She said she was really hungry," they wrote.
But most of the meal went into the bin again so the OP refused to give Tammy any more food when she asked again on February 25.
"It isn't really going to affect me for her to throw away a meal. But it means she is wasting not just [the] money I spent on the food but also [the] time I spent getting the ingredients and preparing the food.
"She isn't talking to me but she is complaining to other people about me being cheap and letting her 'starve.' I'm not. I actually gave her a box of generic mac and cheese for her to eat. I'm just not going to watch my hard work literally go into the garbage," they wrote.
So far, the lengthy post has racked up 9,400 upvotes and many people, including Gill Hasson, the author of How to Deal With Difficult People, have backed the OP.
Time to Get a New Roommate?
Hasson told Newsweek: "By all means share what you have with a friend when they are in need—either because they ask or because you see their need and want to offer your support.
"But, this roommate is abusing their kindness. When a friend takes advantage of your support, you have to decide what you are—and are not—prepared to do.
"So, you might decide to help out a bit more for a limited amount of time or limit how often you would provide support. You could explain that you're happy to help but you have limited time, money, or resources (whichever is applicable) and therefore this is the extent that you can help out.
"In this situation, the writer has been pushed too far and has decided to stop providing her roommate with free food. Now, she must not worry about her roommate complaining to other people that she is cheap and letting the roommate starve.
"What fair-minded person would judge the writer as being unreasonable? Quite the opposite! Most people will see the situation for what it is and will probably conclude that the roommate shouldn't be relying on others to feed her."
'Food Wasters Are the Absolute Worst'
The top comment has 12,600 upvotes, it said: "NTA. You tried to be kind and help her out when she was in need. Then she threw your help in the trash. She is the ***hole. Plus Holy crap you even gave her food she could make for herself."
The original poster commented back to state the food was a 50-cent box of mac and cheese.
Another person said: "Her friends who are agreeing with her are probably the same way, which is the only reason why I can imagine anyone would be on her side here."
"Food wasters are the absolute worst. If she can't see why you're refusing to let her waste your food, then she needs to get acquainted with some hunger pangs so she learns this lesson the hard way. NTA, OP. Just because you can spare food doesn't mean you should allow it to be wasted," said another.
Newsweek reached out to u/ZealousidealFan8906 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.
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