Have you ever asked someone to house sit only to come back and find your house in disarray? One woman was so upset by the condition that her home was in that she broke up with her boyfriend over it. In a Reddit post, the woman explained that she was traveling to help her mom move, so she asked her boyfriend, Jack, to stay at her house with his daughter, 13, and keep an eye on everything for two weeks.
Before she left, she did some grocery shopping and told Jack that he and his daughter could have some of the food while they were there. She didn't expect them to eat all of it.
The woman provided a bit of background information.
In her Reddit post, the woman explained that she has been dating Jack for two years, but they don't live together because they both have kids and want to be completely sure about their relationship before bringing their families together in that way. The woman has two 13-year-old boys and one 11-year-old daughter.
They stay together on weekends twice a month to test the waters. When the woman does her grocery shopping, she factors in the weekends that Jack and his daughter spend at her house, and in total, she spends about $1,000 a month to feed her family.
She went grocery shopping before her trip.
When the woman asked her boyfriend to stay at her house while she was away, she told him it would be about two weeks, though she wasn't sure of the exact amount of time she'd be gone. She also did some grocery shopping in advance, spent $1,092 on groceries for the month, and told her boyfriend that he and his daughter could have some of the food while they stayed at her house.
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She came back a bit early and found her house in a really messy state.
The woman and her kids ended up getting back four days early, and they found the house in disarray. "Dirty dishes on the counters and table, dirty clothes throughout the living room and bedrooms (mine and my daughters- where they slept). I keep my house clean so this caused a lot of panic on my end," she explained.
Jack and his daughter also ate most of the food.
The messy house was one thing, but what really bothered the woman was the fact that Jack and his daughter ate the majority of the food in the house (a month's worth of food) in less than two weeks. "We were left with a single pack of hamburger, all the veggies and a few boxes of pasta," she said.
She later noted that most of the food was actually wasted. "There were pots and pans left with all the food they cooked. They didn't even try to refrigerate it after cooking for leftovers," she later clarified.
She told him to get out of her house.
Jack tried to explain himself. "Sorry, I was gonna clean before you got back but I didn't expect you so soon," he said at the time. She told him to leave her house, and after thinking about it some more, decided to charge him $1,000 for the food he ate while he was at her house.
He was offended by this because he doesn't have a lot of money and she does. "I said he could have some, not eat everything in the house and leave us with nothing," she explained. "He said that he had allowed his kid to have her friends over and they are a lot but he shouldn't have to give me $1000, given that I told him they could eat the food."
She broke up with him.
In addition to asking him for money, she broke up with him. She later added more details to the post, saying that she didn't leave him over the food. His response is what made her leave him. "This may make me sound bad but I wouldn't consider him house sitting as doing me any favors. All he has to do was dump out the dehumidifier when it got full," she clarified. "I could have asked my neighbor to do that for $200. He and his daughter live in a small apartment and coming to my house feels like a vacation to them (their words, not mine)."
She asked Redditors what they thought about the situation, wondering if charging him $1,000 was out of line.
Many Redditors sided with the woman.
Though some Redditors could sympathize with the fact that Jack doesn't have a lot of money, they couldn't accept the fact that he let his daughter have her friends over while he was house sitting. Many also pointed out that it's very obvious that giving someone permission to eat "some" food doesn't mean they can eat all of the food.
"There is no planet where it would be a reasonable expectation that it was a free-for-all on the food worth $1000," one Redditor responded. "And the fact that this is not just some stranger you would expect the bare minimum from, but rather your long time partner, who you'd think would have more care about your belongings and your feelings, makes it even worse."
"Not only did they trash your home, he allowed for his daughter to have FRIENDS (not just 1) without asking you," one Redditor wrote. "You just got a good glimpse of what your future looks like if you live with man and his daughter. He is responsible for the grocery bill. Send him the bill."
Some thought charging him $1,000 is excessive.
Although many Redditors agreed that Jack's behavior was upsetting, some thought that the woman should just break up with him and move on without asking him for money.
"When someone is house-sitting for you, it is customary to provide them some food," one Redditor said in Jack's defense. "However, that does not include feeding people for a party. Asking him to pay the full $1,000 is too big of an ask."
"I wouldn't stay with someone who isn't cleanliness compatible," another Redditor wrote. "If he destroyed your house once he'll keep doing it. Asking for money was stupid though just move on with your life and dump him."
Of course, there are two sides to the story.
To some Redditors, the way Jack didn't seem to take care of the woman's house is a sign that he doesn't really respect her. He made a mess, ate all of her food, and had guests over without her permission.
But some Redditors had a problem with the woman's attitude, which led them to believe that maybe she didn't respect her boyfriend all that much either.
"He failed completely but he doesn’t owe you a cent," one Redditor wrote. "They were not getting a free vacation. They weren’t getting a vacation at all. That is absurdly pretentious and patronizing."
Sure, the woman has a nice house and a lot of food, but so what? House sitting is still house sitting, another Redditor agreed. "This guy is an idiot and sucks but her attitude makes her the AH to me," the Redditor responded. "My mom’s house is super nice – pool, hot tub, tons of wine/booze. House sitting is still a chore (even though she stocks the fridge when I don’t need her to) and I’d much rather be at my 1-bedroom even if I wish I could afford that house."
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