Karo Syrup and a cold shower??? Probably not a good mix

This is a variation on a theme of the frequent, and amusing, “I caught my roommate stealing my food and taught them a lesson” posts.

This happened quite a few years back while I (18 f) was in college and renting an older, off campus duplex in a great location with a girl that had graduated and was starting her career at a company nearby. The duplex was very nice but it had a smaller hot water heater that didn’t provide enough hot water to allow both of us to shower in the morning without running out of hot water.

Luckily our schedules were such that she showered first (she always took loooong showers and used all the hot water) and was out the door to work before I was awake and needed to get to school (late morning/early afternoon classes). This allowed the water heater to refill and reheat water for round two in the mornings.

Now as a bit of information about myself that is pertinent to the story. I have the worst hair. I mean the absolute worst. Slow growing, thin and fine. It took me a long time to figure what worked with regards to product and styling and I made it as good as possible. As a result I found the best shampoo that worked wonders on my hair and it wasn’t cheap. It was my only “splurge” as I was completely self sufficient. I paid for everything myself. Tuition, rent, food, car pmt. insurance…. everything.

Well, I started noticing that my expensive shampoo was being depleted way quicker than it should. I talked to my roommate and asked her to please not use mine as it cost a lot (that I could barely afford) and she didn’t need it as she wasn’t cursed in the hair dept. as I was and could use anything and she used a lot every morning.

She apologized, said she wouldn’t and that was that….or so I thought. It just kept on happening. So I decided to take a stand. The shampoo I was using was clear and a bit thicker…….much like the color and consistency of Karo (corn) syrup. So I drained the remainder of the shampoo out, replaced it with an equal amount of Karo and waited for morning.

What I didn’t know at the time but worked in my favor was that she waited until the water started to cool at the end of the shower before quickly washing her hair while there was still hot/warm water to do so. That did not work well for her that particular morning. The water started to cool, she quickly “shampooed” her hair but there were no suds. She tried to rinse but by then there was no more hot water and cold water doesn’t rinse corn syrupy hair very well.

That morning I noticed that her shower went on longer than normal even though I knew it was cold by then. I went out to the kitchen to get something to eat just as she was coming out with sticky, icky hair. Our eyes met and she knew I did something but wasn’t sure what. I just shrugged and went back to eating. She put 3 pots of water on the stove to warm up and when the water was warm, proceeded to wash her hair multiple times (with her shampoo) in the sink. Literally Wash, Rinse, Repeat. It added about an hour to her morning. She was late to work and had to call in to re-assign a client to someone else in the office.

We never spoke of it and it never happened again.

Not the best story but it does encompass the meaning of petty. No one was hurt, no harsh words were exchanged and it didn’t really affect our relationship as we didn’t have much in common anyway.