Is this a dickhead move?

I have a roommate who gives no regard to the costs of living and how they affect those of us who are poor in the house (i.e. Me). I have three roommates. This guy will be downstairs reading a book with all the lights on and two TVs going and upstairs in his room he'll have both TVs going, the fan on and the lights on. Maybe you get the drift. Anyway, we live in Ohio. It's cold here. Snow, sub-zero temperatures, the whole nine yards.

He complains that his room is too warm, so he leaves his window open. It's 10 degrees outside, and he has the window open. I've tried to tell him that it's too cold in my room -- which it is -- but that was met with indifference.

Finally, I told him that I'm not paying full utilities if he leaves the window open. He mocked me, saying to figure out what percentage that makes the utilities go up and deduct that from my next utilities check.

Am I a dick, and how much do I take off each time he has the window open?

 

Personally, I'm in awe that Ohioans know how to use utilities....

 

I saw the thread title and thought, "gosh, that guy is a dick."

I read the post and say, no.

If I were you, I would definitely turn off lights in his bedroom and turn off his TV, etc.

If he's not in the room, turn shit off.

If he wants to keep his window open at night, make him keep his door closed.

As far as paying less on utilities? Well, that's hairy. I'm not sure if that is OK or not.

 

Sounds like a fairly untenable situation. Suck it up and get yourself a space heater, then a new roommate when you get the chance ...

 

The space heater will cause expenses to rise, though it will be split four ways, so maybe it is worth it.

 

I don't think that you are being a dick. What I would consider doing is making this guy pay the electric bill for a few months to see if maybe he gets the drift. If it's too warm in his room, he can get a fan or close the vent to prevent heat from coming in.

 

house meeting. now. do it. cause let me tell you. you're living with at least one dickhead.

 

oh, and as for ohioans using utilities.. grew up there.. swear to god my dad refused to heat the house..i live in florida now...if it gets cold out (50s, 40s whatever), the heat is on. I WILL NOT BE COLD AGAIN!

 

Wait until your roomate goes to sleep, get your other roomate, a pair of socks, a couple bars of soap ... do you see where I'm going with this? Beat him until he falls into line or tell him to GTFO.

 

I had a roommate like that -- almost exactly. Put everything in writing, dude. State your grievances clearly, see if he's OK with the percentage split -- and you've got to get the go from the other roommates, too; I'm sure they're on your side, so maybe 20, 20, 20, 40 or something like that -- and get it in writing. Everything.

My old roommate did all that stuff for four months, didn't clean a thing, left everything on and out and then spent the next three months at his girlfriend's house before having his parents come up from Wyoming -- we lived in Pennsylvania -- to take all his stuff back. He paid me $900 in rent and utilities in those seven months, and his mom gave me a $400 check when she moved him back to Wyoming. I'll never see the other $2,264.38. I itemized everything from his share of the rent ($300) to a cut of the cable bill to a cheeseburger; when you're pulling down $20,000 after taxes, every bit helps.

It's been more than two years since he bailed, and I've spoken to him once. He assured me he'd pay, but ... right. I don't think there's anything I can do because the dude wasn't even on the lease; he needed a place to stay, and I trusted him. I figured since he was my roommate for three years in college, he'd be cool. He was a tool.

But money will probably get between you guys, which is inevitable and blows. I just hope you weren't friends with the dude before because things will never be the same between you guys again -- most likely.

Good luck.

 

Is this roomate's name Puck? If so, just vote him out.

 

And buy new peanut butter. Trust me.