Unemployed roommate Jenna skips electric bill payments for 6 months, and ghosts without paying $1,073 in utilities, leaving her ex-friend stuck: ’I told her to send me the money ASAP and she said she would check into it’

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  • I (27f) had been living with a friend of mine (28f, we'll call her Jenna) and we had been friends for a long time.
  • my roommate had stopped paying the electric bill and never told me

    "I got an envelope in the mail. I opened it and my jaw dropped"
  • We had already lived together for a few years. We hadn't had any big issues, aside from some small annoyances here and there,
  • but we were close with eachother and spent a lot of time together. We also both had worked at the same place (a restaurant)
  • and at one point she decided she was done working there and wanted to find something else, so she quit. I supported that
  • 5801077025 KWn WATTHOUR METER SINGLE PHASE 2-WIRE CLASS 2.0 TYPE FA33 M 220 V 5(15) A 50 Hz 1200 rev/kWh L.L 5801077025 2016 IFL
  • and was happy for her to find something else...only she didn't. Like she wasn't even trying to apply to places.
  • The only thing she did was ask a mutual friend to help her create a resume, but the friend later told me it was her having to write up everything *for* her.
  • Weeks went by and she was not even applying to places and trying to get a job. We were people always living paycheck to paycheck,
  • so obviously during this time she was roughing it financially, but when I had asked her about paying for rent and bills (I paid internet and she paid electric),
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  • she said she was getting money from her parents to cover it. I had never heard of any complaints from our landlord of her half of rent being late
  • and no electric issues, so I figured that was covered. However, I was starting to get annoyed as she wasn't helping with any cleaning
  • and I felt like I had to be her mom asking her to help with chores around the apartment and trying to encourage her to apply to places.
  • This continued on for 5 months and she still had never gotten a job. Nor had gotten any better with doing anything to help around the apartment
  • and I was getting to my wits end. It wasn't until month 6 when she had suddenly decided to just come back to work at the restaurant.
  • I was like COOL and just glad she'd be making money again and that I'd finally get to have some alone time in the apartment of not having to be her parent.
  • Life went on as normal for another year when she then told me she was deciding to move out as a friend of hers in the next state over was having a baby
  • and was asking her if she wanted to move in with her and be a full time nanny. I thought it was a neat opportunity for her and when the time came she moved out
  • and left (and I have to admit at this point I had felt a little relieved she was gone.) I had stayed in the apartment living on my own for a few months
  • when one day I had gotten an envelope in the mail from a collections agency. I opened it and my jaw *dropped.*
  • Jenna had apparently just stopped paying the electic bill and never even went to pay the balance of what she owed before she moved out.
  • The total due, along with many racked up late fees, was $1,073. And the kicker? It was now all under my name.
  • I immediately sent a photo of the collections letter to Jenna asking why the f she hadn't been paying the electric bill and was just met with "idk I just forgot?"
  • I told her I would be calling the collections agency in the morning to see if it could be transferred to under her name and credit
  • and for her to be able to pay it off. When I called the agency the next day and explained the situation, they said they couldn't change it to be under her name
  • and just advised me to have her send me the money directly for me to pay by a certain near date and it wouldn't be on my record.
  • I told her to send me the money ASAP and she said she would check into it (aka I knew that meant she was going to go to her parents to get the money.)
  • It took her about a week to get it transferred over to me and I immediately paid it in full.
  • That has been the last time we spoke. I have no idea how the nanny gig is going or what she's up to and frankly that is okay with me.
  • And while sure I had been annoyed with how I had felt like I had to act like a mom to her, I had never envisioned that she would just stop paying a bill
  • and never tell me, let alone fully move out leaving it all unpaid. Like seriously who does that??
  • There is a small part of me that feels guilty for throwing away our friendship as we had been close even before having lived together, since high school,
  • and did have a lot of fun together, but with how everything had been playing out and then opening that letter, maybe it's a "good riddance?"
  • How our electricity had never been turned off for us during that time, I will never know.

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