A Reddit user turned to r/AmItheAsshole to ask whether they were wrong for involving their roommate’s mother in a rent dispute. Instead of addressing the issue directly with their roommate, they told her mother about the late payments.
The roommates started as close friends, but after late rent became an issue, something shifted between them. “My roommate (we'll call her J) and I have lived together for almost 3 years, used to be genuinely one of my closest friends. Rent is $1850 split down the middle so $925 each. Starting around December she started being ‘a few days late,’ which, whatever, shit happens, but it became a pattern where she'd Venmo me like $400 on the 1st and then trickle the rest in over like 3 weeks, sometimes not fully catching up before the NEXT month's rent was already due.”
They went on to say that they started covering the difference when their roommate wouldn’t pay full rent. They told themself that they would get paid back, but that hasn’t happened yet. Now down $1,400 and constantly being told their roommate would “Figure it out next week,” they did something desperate.
“Her mom was in town last weekend and picked me up specifically to grab lunch, just the two of us, which has never happened before. She point-blank asked me how J was doing money-wise because apparently J asked her for a loan and gave a reason that didn't add up with what her mom knew about her paycheck. I panicked and kind of froze and then just... told her. The Venmo pattern, the $1400, all of it,” they explained.
The roommate’s mom was calm about the situation, and they didn’t hear anything from her for a few days after that.
That was until their roommate called them, screaming, claiming they had weaponized their mom against them. She said she had no right to talk to anyone about her finances.
Reddit Users Support Roommate Who Told Her Friend’s Mom About the Rent
They’re unsure if they made the right decision telling their roommate’s mom about what had been unfolding between them.
Nearly everyone on Reddit agreed: if she left them covering rent for months, they had every right to tell her mother about it. Many thought they handled it responsibly, while their roommate overreacted. It was her behavior that got her in that situation to begin with.
After reading the comments, the poster felt more at ease. ‘This is what I needed to hear lol. I keep spiraling like I did something shady, but I literally just answered a question that was asked to my face.”
The comments reassured the poster that they had simply answered a question and explained the situation. The poster said they felt more comfortable with their decision after reading the responses.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims made in the post, which are based solely on the author’s account shared on r/AmItheAsshole.
