In a trending TikTok video, a college student showed their unconventional attempt to repair a paint chip on their apartment wall so they aren’t charged a fee.
In the video, a shocked-looking college student, user @jacked.sprinkles, shows a comma-shaped tear in their dorm wall where a piece of white paint came off.
Worried about how that might affect her getting their security deposit back, @jacked.sprinkles “desperately” tries to glue back the piece, hoping their landlord won’t notice the repair.
Unfortunately, @jacked.sprinkles was all packed up and had no glue on hand so they used thick blue face mask goo as glue. While it does stick to the wall the repair is quite noticeable.
“I really through that was gonna work,” @jacked.sprinkles wrote.
The video, which has been taken down as of Tuesday morning, had garnered nearly 100,000 views and about a dozen comments.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen people performing what the internet has dubbed the “tenant special,” a riff off of the widely known “landlord special.”
The landlord special is a term used to describe the barebone effort or DIYs some landlords do when preparing a property for a new tenant. Landlords have been known to give a living space’s interior a fresh coat of cheap white paint that conceals defects and sometimes cements in grime.
The Daily Dot previously reported on a renter who did almost the same exact thing as @jacked.sprinkles, except they were gluing back a piece of paint that chipped off of the ceiling. Another TikToker shared the ordeal they went through to conceal the bare spots left by their pets on the carpet.
Commenters shared advice for @jacked.sprinkles to use the next time they need to fix up their apartment before moving out.
“Nail glue!! Lmao my saviour for pretty much everything,” the top comment read.
“Go to a local hardware store and take the chip of paint and get paint match! You buy a sample jar for super cheap and just touch it up!” a person said.
“One time I painted the corner of one of my walls with white nail polish, none returned,” another wrote.
A different viewer pointed out that “regular wear and tear isn’t a reason for your landlord to keep your deposit.”
In an Instagram direct message, the student shared that since her repair attempt didn’t work as planned, she ended up getting paint to patch up the tear.
