My roommate’s food is constantly going bad and stinking up our shared fridge. I’ve asked him to clean it out, but he never does. This morning, the smell from his two-week-old leftovers was unbearable. I got fed up, took the container, and threw it in the outside trash. He’s furious, saying I had no right to touch his property and that he was “going to eat it.” AITA?
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My roommate’s food is constantly going bad and stinking up our shared fridge. I’ve asked him to clean it out, but he never does. This morning, the smell from his two-week-old leftovers was unbearable. I got fed up, took the container, and threw it in the outside trash. He’s furious, saying I had no right to touch his property and that he was “going to eat it.” AITA?
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> The action I took was throwing out my roommate’s food from our shared fridge without his permission.
I might be the asshole because I disposed of his property without consent. Even though it was old, he was right that I shouldn’t have touched his things. I escalated the situation by taking matters into my own hands instead of trying to communicate with him again, which was an overstep of boundaries.
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. Been there and it just spoils the rest of the food as well. So good job. But in case he is of different culture and the smell of the food is just something you are not accustomed to (for eg: you don’t eat seafood, so fish smells worse to you) then yes you kinda are.
Maybe TA? If it was actually 2 weeks, then, no, you probably did him a favor. That amount of bacterial growth could have made him very sick. Also, did you throw out one of his containers?
But when you live with roommates, there is a certain threshold of cleanliness that everyone is expected to maintain. If he’s regularly crossing that threshold and refuses to change his ways, then he’s TAH.
Throw it out. 2 weeks in a container is disgusting. It can be spread to contaminate other foods in the fridge as well
YTA. Wow 2 weeks is when it starts to taste heavenly. Waited all this time just to have it thrown away.. wow
NTA – he wants to save something for that long, freeze it
NTA – his rotting food is a health risk and is trash no matter who throws it out. He needs to get off his ass and take care of it. If he can’t do that, he needs to get his own fridge to stink up with rotting food.
110% NTA. Unless they make it a habit to eat expired food, you’re doing them a favor.
NTA. Tell him to get a mini-fridge for his leftovers, you will now be doing a fridge purge at least once a week.
NTA. If he won’t clean up after himself when you ask, then he needs to know the consequences of that. You are giving him clear consequences.
What exactly is he upset about, huh? I bet he’s embarrassed and trying to cover it up by getting defensive. He couldn’t possibly be as upset as you are being forced to clean up after him!
NTA weaponized incompetence. Get yourself a fridge and stop cleaning after him.
I once tossed a couple of bowls that sat in the sink for so long they were covered in mold and my roommate was super pissed. “I was just about to wash them!”