Food-stealing roommate accuses roommates of "ruining the vibe" after they put a lock on the fridge to keep her out: 'She even tried to rally our other roommates against me'

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Jan 8, 2025 12:00 PM EST

Sharing food in a joint living arrangement is one of those things that is ok until it's not. Sure, having shared resources makes sense with basic cooking supplies and such—besides, who wants to have three or more bottles of milk sitting in the fridge? But still, it's pretty easy for one person in the arrangement, whether consciously or through ignorance and neglect, to take advantage of the situation... And this only actualizes over time: sit down to share a drink in the evening one week, and suddenly ten weeks have gone by, and they've never bought the drinks once and are now helping themselves to yours even when you haven't offered and aren't even around.

The thing is, food isn't cheap in fact, it's often one of the biggest household expenses, so coasting by taking other people's food and drinks and making a serious habit out of it is leaching behavior that your friends and roommates won't possibly be able to keep up with without having to put an end to it.

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    Aforementioned locked milk bottle in office fridge...

    COWBELLE WHOLE MILK TESCO SEMI SKIMMED 13 MAY 1.8% FAT PRO Arla Cravendale FRESHER FILTERED FOR LONGE FOR PURITY
    via Vented55

    "Peak pettiness or justifiable security in the office kitchen?"

  • It's the same thing that can happen with that friend who's always down on their luck and needing a handout; you can only help them so many times before you can't ignore the actual source of the problem. 

  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10451803392
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

  • This roommate found that her roommate had been habitually—almost obsessively—taking her food out of the fridge. She resorted to putting a (temporary) lock on it like one of those ridiculous photos of milk bottles in an office fridge—where workers have taken to locking up their milk to stop others from taking it. 

    This type of behavior can only go overlooked for so long before you're tearing your hair out over every little instance of it. 

  • 03

    AITAH for installing a lock on my fridge to stop my roommate from ‘stress-eating’ my food?

    So, I (30F) live with my roommate, Sarah (29F), who has this habit of eating everything in the fridge, whether it's hers or not. She always says it's because she's "stressed" and swears she'll replace it, but my groceries vanish faster than a dating app match after mentioning kids. The last straw was when she ate my emotional support tiramisu. For context, I'd spent hours making this tiramisu after a rough week at work. It was my therapy in a dessert.
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 04
    Sarah ate the whole thing without asking and left a note on the empty dish that said, "Sorry! PMS s ks. I owe you." That was it. I lost it. I ordered a lock for the fridge for my food and moved everything into it. Now Sarah's furious, saying I've "ruined the vibe of the apartment" and that I'm "passive- aggressive" for locking her out of the shared fridge. She even tried to rally our other roommates against me (spoiler: they also hide their snacks from her).
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 05
    AITAH for locking up my food, or is Sarah just mad she can't steal my serotonin anymore? UPDATE(S) - 12/22 • There is a TEMPORARY lock on the fridge while we figure out a solution. • We have no proof to go to the cops, we have receipts from the last 6 months of grocery bills and she claims that she could have been on those grocery runs. She also took the broken lock from my roommate.
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 06
    • We've lived with Sarah for around 6 years now, she was one of the core girls in our group and this has only started within the last 14 months. So we care about her as a person but this behavior can't continue. She only recently started saying it's because we make more money than her and that it's only fair we share since we've been friends for so long. • We've gone to the landlord for theft, he claims that we just need to work it out and don't really have a leg to stand on. We also use a payin
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 07
    • As for buying a fridge, we already bought two 400 dollar coolers and that still didn't work. Why should we pay an additional few hundred for a fridge and our electric bills would be insane. • We CANNOT break the lease. We would loose our 4,800 security deposit and need to pay 9.8k for 60 days of rent until they find new tenants (& we can't live there during the 60 days) • Her parents are crazy strict and ab ive and feel bad for going to her parents.
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 08
    Cheezburger Image 10451803648
    via nrd - nicotitto

  • After taking drastic and controversial measures, her roommate accused her of creating a hostile living environment. Now, she has turned to this online community to see whether or not she was in the wrong for her actions.

  • 09
    Tomorrow Bunny222 • 16h ago NTA If I made tiramisu from scratch after a hard week and someone ate ALL of it without asking and then left a note on the empty dish blaming PMS, their life would be in danger lol
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 10
    pixie... • 17h ago Edited 17h ago • Nope, f Sarah. She can buy her own stress reduction food from now on. Send her a bill for the replacement ingredients for the tiramisu and anything else she's eaten recently. NTA
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 11
    Front_Rip4064 • 16h ago • NTA. If Sarah is stealing everyone's food, you need to have a house meeting and everyone bar Sarah decides on a solution. Also, she's going into your rooms to steal food? That should be an immediate eviction as far as I'm concerned, because your rooms are not common property. You didn't ruin the vibe. She did. And now she's p ed because she knows the reckoning is coming.
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 12
    RegretPowerful3 • 17h ago • NTA. Make a list with the price of every ingredient for the tiramisu and anything else with a date to pay you back. It's not okay for her to eat your food. In terms of her perishables, since it's a known habit that she cannot share a fridge and leave your and your roommates' food alone, she should look into a mini fridge with a freezer (if she needs the freezer as well) that she can keep in her bedroom. They are relatively inexpensive and think about not having her on
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 13
    . angelssweetx • 7h ago • NTA. Girl, if she can't stop herself, that's on her. You gotta protect your snacks-emotional support tiramisu ain't a group project. Locking it up is fair. She just mad she got caught.
    via JennyAnonymous
  • 14
    Dachshundmom5 16h ago • • She's breaking locks and stealing from you. This is time to vote her off the island behavior. If she was breaking locks and stealing money from your wallets, would you think you were an AH? Food costs money. She's stealing from all of you.
    via JennyAnonymous

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roommate living situations living together psycho roommate roommates flatting roommate drama Food Thief renting
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