Internet blasts man accused of stealing roommate's groceries: 'What a sense of entitlement'

Fox News

14 hours ago

Social media users jumped to defend a man whose roommate accused him of being "petty" and "killing the vibe" because the man moved his groceries to a personal mini fridge to prevent his items from being taken.
"I rent a flat with two other guys," the slighted roommate posted on Reddit.
"We all agreed we'd buy our own groceries and label stuff," wrote the man, who said he was 31 years old.
"One of them keeps 'accidentally' using my stuff," he added.
Even though his fellow tenant promised to replace the items he used, including milk, eggs and coffee, he rarely ever did, the frustrated apartment mate griped.
"I stopped saying anything and just started moving my stuff into my room's mini fridge," the man said.
That prompted the roommate to call him out.
"Now he's calling me petty and says I'm 'killing the vibe,'" the original poster wrote. "I'm not his parent."
The man turned to social media users to help him determine if he was in the wrong for being "territorial" about his food in the shared living space.
"We are roommates, not life partners."
He received overwhelming support — with some 1,300 positive "upvote" clicks on the post.
"If he doesn't replace what he uses, then has a hissy [fit] about you no longer making those items available to him, then he knows he is taking advantage of it and is just mad you set the boundary," one commenter said.
"What a sense of entitlement that he actually complains when he can no longer take your things," another Redditor said.
Some people recommended hypothetical responses that the 31-year-old could give his mooching roommate.
"I'd be asking what his contribution to 'the vibe' was," a social media user wrote.
Another offered, "You mean the vibe of you stealing my groceries? Yeah, I'm killing that vibe for sure."
"We are roommates, not life partners," yet another said.
Some suggested the original poster show the apartment mate what "petty" really looks like.
"Start 'accidentally' wearing his clothes," one person commented.
"Being petty would be putting your milk back in the fridge once it's gone off, or switching sugar for salt," another said. "I might be that petty."
Many Reddit users shared personal experiences with similar roommate disputes, many of which also involved snack-snatchers grabbing their groceries.
"It can only work when nobody in the house is a thieving a--hole, and everyone agrees on whatever [the] parameters [are]," one person advised.
Of the more than 150 responses, there was only one vote against the original poster.
"Grow a spine and tell him off," the response read.
But Lisa Mirza Grotts, an etiquette expert in San Francisco, California, disagreed with that advice.
"A closed mouth avoids open regret," Grotts told Fox News Digital. "He used non-verbal communication to correct the wrong."
Taking without asking or without compensating is the "ultimate roommate faux pas," she added.
"Shared spaces demand mutual respect, especially when there's an agreement in place," Grotts continued. "It may not be a legal contract, but it's a social one."
Grotts offered a golden rule for roommates: "If you wouldn't borrow it from a neighbor without asking, don't borrow it from a roommate."
Fox News Digital reached out to the original poster on Reddit for comment.