What Man Did When Roommate Confessed to Messing With His Food Applauded

A North Dakota man threw out all of his roommate's belongings after they admitted to tampering with his food—and the internet has some opinions.

The man, who asked only to be referred to as Nicholas, took to Reddit to detail the stomach-turning details that led to him evicting his roommate, Andrew.

He posted anonymously under the handle u/SuperNicoRobyn for reasons that will soon become clear. "I was too embarrassed to share more of the full story with my friends and family, and I was getting heat after they found out I kicked my roommate throwing away his stuff," he told Newsweek.

Nicholas had been worried he had potentially overstepped the mark in throwing his ex-roommate's stuff in the trash. However, in the wake of the response to the post, his feelings have changed. "I'm way more anxious than before," he said. "Those commenting told me crazy stuff like I should change my locks and that I should go to jail because throwing someone else's stuff in the garbage was a crime and all that... there's a lot to process."

According to the Reddit post, Nicholas and Andrew had been living together for the best part of a year. "My name is on the lease and Andrew would just Venmo me his half of the rent, we never had any formal contract between us," he explained in the Reddit post.

It was an arrangement that had been going fine until a recent dinner with friends where someone asked if they ever clashed as Nicholas is neat while Andrew is untidy.

"For some reason Andrew decided to mention that whenever I'd get 'too annoying' about cleaning the apartment or whatever, instead of fighting, he would go and spit on my food," Nicolas wrote. "Straight-out spitting. On my food."

He said that initially they were "all laughing" but then Andrew went into the kitchen and "demonstrated how easy it was" to take one of Nicholas's meals and spit on it. After everyone left, Andrew attempted to apologize and asked Nicolas if he was "OK" with it.

It was at that point that Nicolas realized his roommate had been "dead serious" about tampering with his food and an argument erupted. Andrew stormed off to his room but the next day sent a long apology text. Any hopes of reconciliation died soon after, however, when, after failing to get a response, Andrew sent another message saying he "doesn't regret" spitting in his roommate's food and even hinted that he should "avoid" his ice cream as it's "flavored" now.

"Just the thought of it made my stomach turn," Nicholas wrote. "So, I wasted no time. While he was out, I gathered up his belongings and tossed them in the trash." Some of his friends think he "went too far" in throwing out Andrew's stuff, but Nicholas wrote in the post that he felt like it was his "only option" given the circumstances.

Many on Reddit were inclined to agree. "Get him out of your life, that's one vindictive fella," one user wrote with another commenting: "Anyone would feel violated finding out their roommate has been defiling their food – that's a massive breach of trust, health, and decenc.." A third added: "You're nicer than me. Reddit would ban me for saying what I would do."

Others wondered if Nicholas might have gone too far in destroying his roommate's possessions though. "Even if you can kick him out on the spot, putting this stuff out front would have been the right thing to do. Throwing it away is destruction of property," they said.

Those concerns were echoed by Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert from The Protocol School of Texas. She told Newsweek: "There is no doubt that the behavior of the roommate was deplorable by spitting in another person's food. The roommate has every right to want to separate from her roommate, but taking their belongings and throwing them in the trash it's not the route."

Gottsman felt Nicholas would have been better served by having a "stern conversation" with Andrew to let him know he needed to move out immediately. "There is no doubt the roommate needs to go, but tossing their personal belongings in the trash is adding more inappropriate behavior to an already disgusting situation," she said.

Nicholas told Newsweek he is now planning on moving in with his sister and is "still figuring out" his "next steps" in addressing what Andrew did. The experience has put him off living with other people though.

"I'm really embarrassed about what happened," he said. "I'm not sure why he thought I'd cool about it. He said it was pretty often too, which is crazy."

Though Newsweek received comment from u/SuperNicoRobyn we could not verify the details of the case.

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