Roommate Hell·
LOCKED OFFICE BATTLE
A renter and two roommates clash when European guests force two offices to be shared, testing boundaries, work setups, and whether adaptation is possible.
Give up the office or keep the deal?
Be one of the first to vote.
Two spare bedrooms, one basement, and one office arrangement turned into a fight over who gets to keep "my office" locked down, and who gets to give it up for visiting friends from Europe.
The poster, 27, rents a five-bedroom, three-bath house with Tessa, 26, and Charlie, 31. They'd all been living there for a couple of years. The poster works from home. Tessa has a hybrid schedule. Charlie, when they moved in, said the two spare rooms were being used as offices, so the roommates should pay more rent.
The group went back and forth over what that should look like. Charlie floated the idea that the basement could be hers as a private space, but she shot it down herself, saying she did not want to be "banished to the basement." Tessa and the poster eventually agreed to pay a little extra, but the poster attached one clear condition: her office would not be a shared space.
That was where Charlie pushed back. She kept arguing about possible guest use and asked, in effect, what happens "what if she has guests and what if she needs to use an office space for something." Tessa suggested a mixed-use office. Charlie still didn't like that. After the back-and-forth, though, Charlie agreed, and the subject disappeared for more than a year.
Then Charlie announced that two friends from Europe would be staying for a couple of weeks.
Soon after, she said those guests would need to stay in both the poster's office and Tessa's office because she didn't want them to share a room.
The poster reminded Charlie of the original deal: they were paying extra because the rooms were being used as offices, and hers was not supposed to be shared. Charlie did not take that well. She snapped back, calling the poster "self centered" and "a possessive weirdo," then stormed off.
The poster says the refusal is not about being difficult for the sake of it. Her work setup uses multiple screens, and she says, "I would have to move my whole set up to my bedroom" if she gave up the room for a couple of weeks. Tessa, trying to smooth things over, suggested helping the poster set up in her bedroom and said she should probably just drop it to keep the peace.
The poster says this is the only conflict the three have had. Even so, the setup has left her wondering whether she is not being adaptable enough.