Man's Revenge on Roommates Who Kept Drinking His Coffee Applauded

A man has been applauded for exacting petty revenge on his roommates after they kept drinking his expensive coffee.

It is often claimed that revenge is a dish best served cold, but for one Reddit user posting under the handle u/Remarkable-Bid-7292, it was one served piping hot again and again.

The man lives with three roommates and, according to his post, they "all try to get along," or at least most of the time. Things came to a head recently over the use of his "pod coffee machine," which sits in the kitchen and is free to anyone to use.

"It wasn't a problem when everyone bought their own pods," the poster wrote. "Then mine started going missing from my shelf. I asked and none of my roommates admitted to taking them."

In the end, the man opted to start keeping his coffee pods in his room, but then he made the "mistake" of leaving them out in the kitchen. The inevitable happened.

"When I went to get it there were five missing," the poster wrote. "I know it is not a big deal. I know they cost like a dollar each. But it is the principle of the thing."

While stealing food might represent a source of annoyance to some, it's not especially high on the list of pet peeves for many renters in America today.

In a survey of 1,900 U.S. adults who rent and share accommodation conducted by Rent.com, just 6.5 percent of respondents ranked not paying for groceries or stealing food as the thing that most irks them about their roommate.

Poor communication (12.2 percent) and the violation of personal space (9.7 percent) were the most commonly cited sources of frustration, according to the poll.

This particular renter felt differently, though. So much so, in fact, he came up with an ingenious scheme to exact some modicum of revenge. "I bought a sleeve of decaf coffee and a sleeve of decaf double espresso. I opened them and left them on my shelf," he wrote. "They slowly disappeared over the week. I bought more. The whole experiment cost me about $40."

After about a week of letting his housemates unknowingly drink decaf, the man finally confronted his housemates. "All three confessed they had borrowed a pod or two since they did not have a machine none of them thought to pick any up," he wrote. "I said that if they each sent me $15 I would pick up four more sleeves and leave them out to share."

Once he had received the money, the man wrote, to his roommates' fury, that they had been drinking decaf all this time. "They are upset but not in any major way," he said. "But they do think I am a jerk for tricking them. One had the gall to jokingly ask for her money back."

Commenting on the argument, Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and founder of The Protocol School of Texas, told Newsweek she felt there was wrongdoing on both sides. "Taking something that doesn't belong to you without replacing it is a common roommate issue that should be addressed in a friendly, but serious way because it is a form of overstepping boundaries," she said.

However, Gottsman felt the man's response was not an appropriate one. "Playing a lighthearted prank wouldn't be terrible if it didn't involve something that could potentially affect someone's health or energy level," she said. "While this didn't turn out to be dangerous, it did add another layer of disrespect to fellow roommates. Neither of the offenders were malicious but definitely dismissive of each other's feelings."

The etiquette expert ultimately called for action on both sides. "Everyone needs to step up and pay for the caffeinated coffee," Gottsman added. "A cheerful, yet heartfelt, apology for the joke is also in order. It's better to get along with your roommates by doing the right thing, even when they are not looking."

Others on Reddit, however, saw things differently, with the majority of those responding to the post, siding firmly with the man and his petty form of revenge. "How unfortunate that the product they stole wasn't to their liking," one user commented.

Another agreed, writing: "Just an FYI [for your information], 'good friends' don't steal from each other."

A third added: "You didn't trick them. They chose to steal from you. That's on them."

Newsweek reached out to u/Remarkable-Bid-7292 on Reddit but could not verify the details of the case.

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