I FOUND OUT MY ROOMMATE HAS BEEN HAVING HER BOYFRIEND LIVE HERE WHILE I’M AWAY ON BUSINESS TRIPS
I travel for work about twice a month.
Usually for three or four days.
My roommate always acted normal while I was gone.
Or so I thought.
The first clue was food.
I’d come home and find groceries missing.
Nothing major.
Milk.
Eggs.
Snacks.
I assumed my roommate had used them.
Then I noticed my toiletries disappearing.
Shampoo.
Soap.
Toothpaste.
Again, I assumed it was her.
Then I found a men’s jacket in the hallway.
I asked about it.
She said her boyfriend had left it there.
I didn’t think much of it.
Until my next business trip.
When I returned, my bed looked slightly different.
The sheets had been changed.
I knew because I always leave the bed exactly the same before traveling.
I asked my roommate.
She said she’d cleaned the room while I was away.
That didn’t make sense.
I never asked her to.
Then I noticed something else.
My food was being consumed faster whenever I traveled.
I checked our utility usage.
The electricity and water bills were noticeably higher on the weeks I was gone.
I started getting suspicious.
So before my next trip, I placed a small camera in the common area where I had a legitimate reason to monitor the apartment.
I didn’t tell my roommate.
The footage answered everything.
Her boyfriend arrived the same evening I left.
He stayed overnight.
Then another night.
Then another.
He was using the shower.
Cooking meals.
Watching television.
Sometimes sleeping in my room.
I was furious.
I confronted my roommate.
She admitted he’d been staying there for months.
She said:
“You were never here.”
I reminded her that being away didn’t mean I had given permission.
Then she revealed something worse.
He wasn’t just staying there occasionally.
He had been using the apartment as his mailing address.
Packages were arriving under his name.
He’d even given the address to his employer.
That meant he’d effectively moved in without telling me.
I checked our lease.
Guests were allowed for short visits.
Long-term occupants were not.
I contacted the landlord.
They were shocked.
Apparently, the boyfriend had been listed on another document as a resident without the landlord’s approval.
My roommate had signed his name.
She had forged the paperwork.
That was the hidden clue.
This wasn’t an innocent misunderstanding.
She had known exactly what she was doing.
The landlord gave her a deadline to correct the situation.
She moved out instead.
I found another roommate.
The new arrangement has one simple rule:
If you’re going to have someone move into a shared apartment, you ask the person who actually lives there.
Apparently, that rule shouldn’t have needed explaining.
