Sharing a home with a roommate doesn’t mean that you are also required to share all your possessions with them.
Unfortunately, not all roommates get the memo and have no trouble borrowing your clothes, cosmetics, medications, or food.
Never even offering to repair, replace, or refill these items after they have been used.
While some roommates politely look the other way when this happens, others feel more drastic measures are called for.
The roommate of Redditor gamerharunyt was beginning to help himself more and more to the food the original poster (OP) purchased for themself.
When the OP’s initial efforts to stop their roommate from doing this were unsuccessful, they decided to pivot their tactics in a somewhat unusual direction.
While they succeeded in stopping their roommate from taking their food, the OP’s roommate felt their behavior was “hostile”.
Wondering if they went too far, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**Hole”. (AITA), where they asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for putting googly eyes on all the food in the fridge to ‘prevent snacking’?”
The OP explained why their less-than-orthodox measures to protect their food were not appreciated by their roommate.
“My roommate eats everything.”
“I’ll buy a pack of cheese sticks, and they’re gone by morning.”
“I asked nicely, then labeled stuff.”
“No change.”
“So I got creative: I bought a pack of stick-on googly eyes and put them on everything.”
“Milk?”
“Eyes.”
“Leftover spaghetti?”
“Judging you.”
“Even taped one to a banana.”
“It worked.”
“He said it ‘creeped him out’ and he stopped eating my stuff.”
“Now he says I’m being passive-aggressive and ‘creating an emotionally hostile refrigerator’.”
“AITA for turning the fridge into a surveillance horror movie to stop my food from vanishing?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this situation, by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The Reddit community resoundingly agreed that the OP was not the a**hole for putting googly eyes on their food.
Everyone agreed that if anyone created a “hostile refrigerator”, it was the OP’s roommate, as this would never have happened had he not taken the OP’s food without permission:
“NTA.”
“Can’t wait to hear ’emotionally hostile refrigerator’ in a YouTube short in two weeks.”-NotThatNeurotic
“I .. I’m in love with ’emotionally hostile refrigerator’ and you are NTA.”- mvms
“’Stop being a thief and it wouldn’t be an issue’.”
“NTA.”- Disastrous-Nail-640
“NTA.”
“Lmaoo ‘emotionally hostile refrigerator’.”- HoneyswirlTheWarrior
“This is the funniest sh*t I’ve ever heard.”
“You wouldn’t need to be ‘passive-aggressive’ if he would just respect your wishes and not eat your food!”
“NTA but you are the genius.”- queeritur
“’Now he says I’m being passive-aggressive and ‘creating an emotionally hostile refrigerator’.’”
“NTA of course, but maybe add some smiley faces to the googly eyes to make it all less hostile.”
“Little word bubbles saying ‘you’re gonna do great today!'”
“That should fix it.”- Legal_Reserve_8682
“NTA.”
“Also, ’emotionally hostile refrigerator’ is so not a phrase I expected to read today.”
“It is, however, a phrase I’m glad I read.”- nothingatlast
“NTA.”
“Whatever works to stop a thief.”- Prestigious-Name-323
“NTA.”
“He has an emotionally hostile gullet.”- Alewort
“NTA.”
“Dude is trying to make you feel bad so he can eat your food again.”
“Keep. Using. The eyes.”- Ok-Park-6482
“NTA.”
“Add more eyes.”
“Different sizes.”
“Make shapes.”
“Base them on eyes in nature and world religion.”
“More. Eyes.”- MySoCalledInternet
“That’s hysterical.”
“Even funnier is that it worked.”
“NTA.”- ScarletNotThatOne
“NTA.”
“This isn’t passive-aggressive, this is just straight-up aggressive, and he deserves it.”-badgerwilliams
“NTA.”
“Love how the passive-aggressive @$$hole accuses YOU of being passive-aggressive.”
“Creating an ’emotionally hostile refrigerator’ ….”
“OMG I SO. LOVE. THAT. CONCEPT.”
“Thank you!!”
“Was nothing short of genius on your part.”- GirlPearlEarring
“NTA.”
“And very creative!”- Fluffy_Musician6805
“NTA.”
“Honestly, emotionally hostile refrigerator is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I would not be able to take him seriously until the end of time if I were in your shoes.”
“Every single time there was any conversation, I would be tempted to be like, yeah, at least it’s not as emotionally hostile as the refrigerator.”
“Just no mercy for the rest of the time I knew them.”- The_World_Wonders_34
“NTA.”
“If you buy it, it’s yours.”
“He could ask, tho instead of just eating it.”
“That’s hilarious.”- patsfanxx
“NTA.”
“You found a creative solution that actually worked on your roommate.”- Lost_Cantaloupe2545
“NTA.”
“If he could respect your things like a normal person you wouldn’t have to resort to whatever he feels this tactic is.”
“You will continue to do what works, because you’re not going to be stolen from in the name of being more agreeable.”- Imnotawerewolf
“NTA.”
“Next step is a patrolling roomba with a chainsaw.”
“Let’s make it a physically hostile refrigerator.”- arseholierthanthou
“YTA for thinking of this before the rest of us did.”
“But NTA for doing it to your roommate.”- AaaahMyDogs
“This is hilarious.”
“NTA.”
“Your roommate is a thief.”
“Who eats that much cheese?”
“Does he not poop?”- Buckupbuttercup1
“It’s always the food thieves who wanna call you hostile for enforcing basic boundaries to stop them stealing your food.”
“NTA but you may want to consider getting your own mini fridge with a lock on it.”- thirdmulligan
“NTA.”
“But you are a genius.”- Brown_Sedai
“OP, in another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”
“NTA.”- xuwugirluwux
“You just put on the googly eyes, the roommate is the one doing things that make the food judge him with those eyes.”
“NTA.”- Sweetsmyle
“The only justification for stealing food, ever, is if you have no food, no money to buy food, and you are starving.”
“Your roommate does not fall into that category.”
“He is a thief, and your solution is clever.”
“NTA.”- ThisWillAgeWell
“NTA.”
“When my roommates weren’t cleaning up after themselves in our kitchen, even after multiple talks, I scattered chocolate sprinkles around and said we probably had a mouse problem because of all the food they left out.”
“We lived in a big old house, so totally believable.”
“It worked!”
“Sometimes you have to go the extreme route when they won’t listen to anything else.”
“I recommend drawing angry eyebrows above the googly eyes for added intensity.”- VanillaClay
“‘Emotionally hostile refrigerator’.”
“lol NTA.”- scabaret_sacrilegend
“Lmfaoooo I love this.”
“NTA at all, he shouldn’t be stealing your food.”
“As long as he only looks at his stuff, he shouldn’t feel emotionally hostiled at all.”- Spazrelaz
“NTA.”
“You asked nicely.”
“I cackled reading this.”
“Reaches for the milk carton…eyes looking at him.”
“Reaches for a banana…eyes looking at him.”- Twofeathers2255
“NTA.”
“It’s hard to call it passive-aggressive when you’ve made it pretty clear you don’t want him eating your stuff.”- Professional-Scar628
“NTA.”
“And Oh I love this!”
“I had a roommate problem similar to this that I solved by not buying anything but ingredients.”
“Literally nothing that was grab & go, or heat & eat.”
“And oh the whinging!”
“They didn’t quite complain that I was supposed to buy food that they could easily help themselves to, but endless comments about my ‘weird’ food, & why couldn’t I eat like normal people.”
“Apparently raw or frozen vegetables and raw meat that took time to prepare were a bit much.”-Mira_DFalco
“NTA.”
“You’re doing something completely harmless meanwhile your roommate sounds like a thief.”-
TheDreammweaver
“NTA.”
“You’re not made of money, and the googly eyes are cheaper than the amount of food he was taking from you.”
“If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid.”
“It works.”
“Telling him to stop didn’t.”- CapeOfBees
“YTA.”
“if you don’t show us pictures of your work.”
“NTA otherwise.”- mrik85
“NTA.”
“That’s so funny.”- actualchristmastree
“NTA.”
“Great idea.”- Ma-Hu
“NTA!”
“I love this idea & my family would laugh themselves silly every time they opened the fridge!”
“They need to buy their own food & if it continues, buy a fridge for your room.”
“Not kidding.”
“One son has his own, so his brothers don’t take anything important!”
“Good luck.”- SailorMom1976
“NTA.”
“He’s being emotionally hostile to your fridge items.”- daddyschomper
“Not only are you not an a**hole, this post makes me want to be friends with you.”
“NTA.”- blinkingsandbeepings
“Calling dibs on ’emotionally hostile refrigerator’ as a band name.”
“NTA.”- bookynerdworm
“An emotionally hostile refrigerator?”
“WTF?”
“He doesn’t consider eating all your food to be emotionally hostile?”
“It sounds like it worked, but your roommate’s weird.”
“I’m petty.”
“I’d put those googlies on his toothbrush.”
“NTA.”- West_House_2085
“‘Emotionally hostile refrigerator’ sounds like the name of an obscure alt-rock band.”
“NTA and this post is hilarious lmao.”- SoloDeath1
“NTA.”
“Your roommate is morally wrong and of weak character.”
“They are a food demon who’s stopped by googly eyes.”- Braindead_Crow
It’s pretty fresh of the OP’s roommate to call the OP hostile after they willfully ignored their first requests to stop eating their food.
Just goes to prove, no one likes being caught in the act… even by leftover spaghetti.
One can also imagine that the OP may have started a popular trend to stop people from stealing food…