My roommate's girlfriend and I are in a silent war over the thermostat.
By @paigefr · Petty or Nah
She's over here practically every night, which is a whole other issue. But the main problem is she keeps cranking the AC down to 65 the second I leave for work. I get home and the place is an icebox, and I'm the one paying for it.
The full story
I work a physical job. I'm up at 5am and I get home dirty and tired. I just want the house to be normal. My roommate's girlfriend is here all the time but doesn't pay a dime in rent or utilities. Fine. But the thermostat thing is where I draw the line. I set it to 74 when I leave. It's summer, that's more than fair. I come home from my shift, and it's 65 degrees. The AC unit is humming like crazy, been running for 10 hours straight cooling an empty apartment. My electric bill last month was insane. I told my roommate. He did nothing. Said he didn't want to get in the middle of it and I should just talk to her. So I tried being an adult. I asked her nicely if we could keep it around 72-74 because of the bill. She smiled, said 'oh, of course!' and then did the exact same thing the next day. So I started fighting back. At first, I just turned it up when I got home. She'd turn it down later. Then I left a sticky note. '74 PLEASE. I PAY THE BILLS.' The note would disappear. So yesterday I made my move. I shut the AC off at the breaker box before I left for my shift. When I got home, I flipped it back on. The look she gave me could've frozen fire. My roommate cornered me later and said I was being childish and creating a tense environment. I think she's the one stealing my electricity. Am I wrong here?
How people voted
- Totally Cooked — 27% (17 votes)
- It’s Complicated — 42% (26 votes)
- You’re Fine — 31% (19 votes)
Readers say “It’s Complicated” (42%) — 62 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@sashafr — The person who pays the bill controls the thermostat, period.
@noelkindof — Why isn't your roommate making his girlfriend chip in for utilities if she's basically living there?
@daniwelp — LMAO
@ediewelp — You resorted to passive aggression instead of setting a real boundary, and now the whole apartment is tense.
@ellieok — My old roommate's boyfriend used to eat all my food and leave the empty boxes in the pantry. Some people have no awareness.
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