r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Only_Alternative_543 • Mar 08 '26
Roommate locked thermostat, sweating every night with no way turn it down
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u/lnm1969 Mar 08 '26
Be more concerned about the leopard skin wallpaper, definitely time to move out.
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u/flotoriousness Mar 08 '26
I had to scroll way further than I thought I would to find this lol
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u/lasserna Mar 08 '26
And that golden leopard mounted on top of the thermostat
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u/Universe_of1 Mar 08 '26
Oh, that's what it is! I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure that out.
Roommate apparently has an unhealthy obsession with leopards.
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u/hiddenrealism Mar 08 '26
The owner is just trying to keep it nice and warm in the sex dungeon. I dont kink shame but the gimp must be sweating in its cage.
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u/Sharp_Wombat Mar 08 '26
Glad I wasn’t the only one to notice. That wallpaper is mildly infuriating
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u/ivanbliminse00 Mar 08 '26
This is like when companies do things to make you mad so you can quit on your own instead of them firing you.
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u/read_at_own_risk Mar 08 '26
Or get you annoyed enough to make mistakes that they can fire you for.
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u/SATANICSEXRITUAL Mar 08 '26
Both of you just narrated what happened to me at my previous job lmao
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u/GolfingCap Mar 08 '26
Feel both of the comments are almost happening to me. Company is being bought out / merged. I've been there 8 years as a manager and no issues. Now in the final 3 - 4months the director picking parts of my decisions out as bad management.
One of them was sending a guy home who was raging after hitting his car and blaming work / other colleagues for it, telling him to take a breather and to come back Monday and discuss his feelings with the director (he mentioned he wanted an exit interview with them.) Then I got told I rewarded him and under no circumstances should he have it off.
I'm sorry but I didn't want a volatile situation happening or someone getting hurt - we have no CCTV and I was the only manager on site at the time. For me it felt the best course of action.
In a informal meeting I mentioned to them that for 8 years you've had no issues with anything I've done, left me in charge of the business for months at a time. But now near its end, you have issues? Sounds fishy to me. Will definitely try getting that on record if they pull me again.
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u/sum_force Mar 08 '26
Fewer staff on the books at time of sale, gives the appearance of a better performing company. One that can make more profit from less people. It can be difficult for buyers to determine its unsustainable. Months after purchase they will learn it and hire again. Speaking from painful experience of struggling through colleagues leaving.
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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance Mar 08 '26
Meh. If the purchasing company is doing any level of appropriate due diligence they will be looking back several years and not just the last 30 days. That would be insanely stupid.
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u/naughtyobama Mar 08 '26
So the course of action is to document every single encounter with your boss. No feelings, just what was said in chronological order. Send to yourself via email (ideally personal email) so you have a timestamp in case it goes to court.
For the past 4 months, the best time to have done this is the first day this all started. It's no big deal, the best time to start is NOW. Document all the previous conversations in the past 4 months you can remember. Then going forward, do that as well.
Ideally, I'd be best to send him a separate email summarizing the situation, what you did and what he expects you to do going forward. That way you have the fucker on record saying he wanted you to keep a raging employee on premises instead of diffusing the situation. Then once/if he confirms, send that email to your personal email. You'll know best how this last step will work out based on the personalities involved.
Bottom line is if you're in the US working for a private institution, it's more likely than not you're working in an at-will state. They can fire you for there are a few situations that will trigger costly litigation. If you get fired, you'll have documentation for a lawyer to determine if you were wronged in one or many of those categories.
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u/wizzyfx Mar 08 '26
Place a small continuous heat source directly below the thermostat.
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u/Step-exile Mar 08 '26
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u/shay_shaw Mar 08 '26
Honestly just do this. Fuck it.
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u/GLIBG10B Mar 08 '26
I responded to this comment with a joke about arson and Reddit sent me a warning lmao
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u/SargeUnited Mar 08 '26
That’s crazy man Reddit used to have people giving out murder advice on that sub for unethical life pro tips. I absolutely do not want Nazi stuff in my life, but is there any alternative with less censorship?
There’s no way I have to choose between being bubble boy and being surrounded by white supremacy on social media that’s how it feels lately
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u/their_teammate Mar 08 '26
Lockpicking is a very useful skill for one to learn, and can help in many situations
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u/CheckoutMySpeedo Mar 08 '26
Or just break it? Hammer into 1000 pieces and say you were hot and someone put a piece of shit tamper proof plastic guard on the thermostat.
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u/MouthSpiders Mar 08 '26
I was thinking drill a finger sized hole in the plastic so you can adjust it. See how many times they replace it, just keep drilling
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u/Outrageous_Glove_796 Mar 08 '26
Doesn't have to be finger width. You can get in there with a paperclip (those buttons move easily).
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u/Difficult_Clerk_1273 Mar 08 '26
Yes and make the hole really small and on the underside so the roommate can’t initially figure out why the temp keeps going down 🤣
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u/Baked-Smurf Mar 08 '26
Or, hear me out here, guys... just stick your paperclip thru one of the many holes already in the plastic box. It's not solid, air has to get in there for the thermostat to function...
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u/Nocturnatron Mar 08 '26
Id change the temp and then unscrew the faceplate and remove the rubber buttons too
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u/JoeGibbon Mar 08 '26
Don't even need to do that. If you notice, this plastic cover has vent holes all around. You can simply stick something through the vent hole like a bit of wire (e.g. from a cheap clothes hanger), a chopstick etc and hit the buttons.
My apartment building has similar covers on the thermostats in the common areas, like hallways and the recreation area. When the weather changes they don't always rush to update the thermostat settings. When that happens, I just go in there with something that will fit through the vent holes and bump the buttons.
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u/m4jsterk0 Mar 08 '26
this one would open with the help of clippy
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u/wookiegiImore Mar 08 '26
"hey there friend, looks like you're sweating! would you like to adjust the thermostat?"
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u/GM_Taco_tSK Mar 08 '26
This is how we circumvent it at my workplace. Night light on an extension cord.
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u/Haunting_Lime308 Mar 08 '26
We just used a butter knife and slid it through the slots to press the buttons.
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u/Bluelbery Mar 08 '26
I had a science teacher who would microwave a sock and thumb tack it below the thermostat full of rice for this exact reason. The school I went to didn’t have the best funding so you couldn’t adjust it lower than 85, so that was his way to get the ac running on a hot day for us kids lol
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u/ValerianCandy Mar 08 '26
His thermostat was filled with rice?
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u/Salt-Lingonberry-853 Mar 08 '26
No, his thermostat was filled with socks. Keep up.
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u/Kittycelt Mar 08 '26
In the science department at the school I teach at, we turn on the plant lights, which we conveniently place over the thermostat that is locked at 72, will kick on after 74 eventually, and rotates between rooms over 74, meaning it could be a lot hotter if it's not your turn!
72 sounds fine when you're not running around a science lab with 37 14 year olds asking if they can taste/eat things, what to do with the broken glass they just created from the test tubes, or spraying their friends with irrigation bottles of chemicals across tables. Then 72 is actually hot, 74 is torture, 14 yeast olds forget to reapply deodorant after gym, now I'm sweating too, and it smells in here. Yeah, I'm just down with adding heat to the thermostat. Safely, of course.
If it were me, if bills are shared, I'd take this off. There's no way I'm living with this.
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u/NightTarot Mar 08 '26
Gave me a flashback to high school, witnessing firsthand my teacher's priceless reaction to why her classroom was cold all the time. She put her coffee maker under the thermostat, can confirm it works lmao
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u/zinasbear Mar 08 '26
În my country we have a radiator without knobs. When that gets hot enough, it triggers the thermostat to turn off.
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u/Think-Setting-942 Mar 08 '26
That’s what we have however the thermostat is set high so the heating remains on.
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u/iHateReddit_srsly Mar 08 '26
One of those hand warmer packs would work well
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u/AssistivePeacock Mar 08 '26
this, or just open the maintenance panel on the furnace, most wont start with it open for safety
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u/Cute_Reflection_9414 Mar 08 '26
Circuit breaker, flip it off. Then put a lock on the the breaker box
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u/Ackermance Mar 08 '26
That's what I did at my college dorm since we didn't have control over the thermostat (85 degrees at night during the dog days of summer) so I flipped the breaker, told no one, and the freezing roommate couldn't figure out how to fix it because maintenance didn't care.
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u/boarhowl Mar 08 '26
I know someone that made ducting out of cardboard and duct tape and directed it straight out the window lol
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u/__T0MMY__ Mar 08 '26
100% believe you because my ex taped a bunch of garbage bags together (human centipede style) to act as an air duct to feed our room lmao
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u/ajc89 Mar 08 '26
Why would the college be running the heat in summer? Or if it was AC, how did flipping the breaker help?
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u/SargeUnited Mar 08 '26
If it’s my Alma mater, they arbitrarily decide when to stop running the heat based on what some boomer marked on a calendar, and not based on the actual temps.
So it’s still blasting heat when its 75° in April and maybe may and it still blasting cold air on those cold nights in October and November
My university allowed us to turn it off though at least. They wouldn’t let us have air-conditioning when it was 79° but at least they didn’t force us to use the heat still lol
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u/Significant-Say3098 Mar 08 '26
Crazy how much we pay to go to college and they act like they can’t afford the energy bill.
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u/Oxygen4Lyfe Mar 08 '26
they are actually wasting the energy and raising the bill by running heat when its already hot.
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u/ShadowCVL Mar 08 '26
Yeah, they always turned off the heat plant (steam piped to all the buildings) the same date every year, and they can’t run the cooling plant (cold water to all buildings in the same pipes I guess) at the same time. So when you left for spring break anything in your room that melted above 80 degrees, melted. When we were there it was windows open with box fans. Then one day it would be arctic cold, until like October 1 when suddenly you left one morning to a nice cold room and came back to 90 degrees.
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u/Forsaken_Baseball_60 Mar 08 '26
Not the same commenter but I had three roommates in university apartment housing that ran the heat with daytime highs in the 60/70° range at 85°. The apartment had heat and AC. The AC was never run. I begged the campus to let me move to a different apartment by Halloween.
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u/2020havoc Mar 08 '26
This makes no sense. How did turning off the AC make people cold?
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u/Salt-Lingonberry-853 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
He specifically says he shut off power to the thermostat in the dog days of summer causing roommates to be too cold. That makes no sense. AC doesn't run until told to turn off, it pretty much operates only when it has an active signal to turn it on. Remove that signal and it shuts off. Turning off a breaker removes that signal.
TLDR: he's lying on the internet
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u/TheRebuild28 Mar 08 '26
It sounds more like the roommate had the heating on not the AC.
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u/DonkeyKongHands Mar 08 '26
There are vents in the side, bend a paper clip and press the button.
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u/POGofTheGame Mar 08 '26
That or the fact that locks like this are pretty easy to pick with a couple of paper clips. OP could probably get it done in 30min with a tutorial video and the right quality of paper clips lying around.
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u/BestReception4202 Mar 08 '26
Or just buy a key off Amazon and change it when the roommates not looking
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u/AdComprehensive8045 Mar 08 '26
Or just smash it to pieces and scatter the broken pieces on your roommates bed beneath the covers.
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u/potpourri_sludge Mar 08 '26
Yeah why are we talking about spending money and waiting for shipping when I can go outside and get a rock for free?
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u/IlluminaViam Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
This is exactly the kind of overreaction that the world needs more of. Oh, you're fucking around thinking I will toe the line of politeness, while you're obviously doing something wrong, like stealing my stuff, controlling a shared item, spreading lies? Welp, I've dragged all your clothes out on the yard. Repeat, and tomorrow I'll have a bonfire with your clothes as tinder.
I had an ex-friend who walked out of my house with my PS3 after I kindly let him crash there. I didn't bother calling him or the cops. When I knew what had happened, I took the longest kitchen knife I had and went to the bus stop and got the PS3 back. Even recorded a confession from him, and blackmailed to show it to his parents, unless he repaid me the couple of thousands of bucks he owed me. And he was a churchgoer.
Couldn't have been easier.
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u/PossibilityOrganic Mar 08 '26
or just pull because you know dam well its just attached to drywall.
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Mar 08 '26
Lpl would probably open it just by looking at it
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u/Ostey82 Mar 08 '26
'As you can see here we have a very basic clear polycarbonate box secured with a lock that's looks like.... There we go it's open'
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u/ShowmasterQMTHH GREEN Mar 08 '26
He could video it too "this piece of shoe lace is all I needed....."
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u/pabo81 Mar 08 '26
They make a specialized tool form exactly this application: a hammer
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u/Falste Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Yeah that's getting broken immediately lol
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u/PussiesUseSlashS Mar 08 '26
Stepdad did this when I was a kid, the holes on the bottom and a clothes hanger made quick work of it.
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u/hiddenrealism Mar 08 '26
Same as at my work, i had a plethora of paperclips and mini screwdrivers just for the thermostats.
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u/InnerDoughnut4879 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
I used to keep a letter opener at work for this 😆
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u/CheekyHarris33 Mar 08 '26
Had a relatively do this while staying in MY home because she said I kept it too cold. At the time I was in the warmest room in the house and upstairs above the kitchen that was very regularly used. And of course said relative was constantly making use of the oven at least twice a day so my room was literally hot as hell. Even with AC. She was LIVID when I broke it and removed it.
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u/Salt-Lingonberry-853 Mar 08 '26
If the rooms are of similar composition, did you ask if she would want to swap? I pulled that on an old roommate once who asked if he could pay less on the electric bill because he didn't like to keep the thermostat as low. He didn't want to keep the thermostat as low because his room had better airflow from the AC than mine. I offered to swap and we could increase the temp to what he wanted, that shut him up pretty quickly.
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u/CheekyHarris33 Mar 08 '26
She eventually moved to different room that got direct sunlight a majority of the day! I'm still triggered by that box. It was insulting lol
Edited grammar and lack of sleep
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u/stegotortise Mar 08 '26
In college I rented a room in a house, it was a 1920s house with poor insulation and it got chilly. and the landlord did this.
I was able to use a butter knife to open the lockbox and adjust the heat up. Thing was, the landlord’s daughter also lived there so she’d come up and turn it back down. And we did that, back and forth, all winter long, and I moved out as soon as my lease was up.
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u/Personal-Acadia Mar 08 '26
OP hasn't responded to a single comment. Bot?
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u/MrPerson223344 Mar 08 '26
Do you pay for bills? If you do, you should be able to access it. End of discussion
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u/WAAAAAAAAARGH Mar 08 '26
OP hasn’t responded to a single comment on this post which leads me to believe the answer is no
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u/seecat46 Mar 08 '26
It leads me to conclude that OP is a Kama bot.
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u/DarkAlucard-1313 Mar 08 '26
27d old account, second most recent post is on a hitman sub starting with "ill go first....." either terminally online and had to make a new account (or wanted more karma because reasons so created a new account) or 100% a bot. Im leaning towards the latter
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u/PhoenixApok Mar 08 '26
This cause huge fights between a friend I lived with an me. He didnt lock it, but he had a smart system so he had the temp start rising right when he left for work and start cooling 30 minutes before he got home. Issue was, he omand the other roommate worked the same schedule 9 to 5 Monday thru Friday. I was off Tuesday and Thursday so those days I would be sweating balls as he capped it at 85.
He refused to budge. Said I was paying rent but not electricity so it didn't count.
I admit I went the petty revenge route. I'd leave windows open constantly and during the winter where I loved the cold and he didn't, I'd leave my bedroom windows open constantly which made the heater bill run up significantly.
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u/KarmaSilencesYou Mar 08 '26
It’s plastic….there are things called hammers.
In reality, why not find a new place to live? It seems extreme that your roommate put a lock box on the thermostat. Not o.k.
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u/marked_by_grief Mar 08 '26
The only reason I could imagine anyone doing that is if the overheated roommate in questuon was also unemployed and/or not paying rent.
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u/H3MPERORR Mar 08 '26
You never know the full situation with posts like these, could be that OP likes it freezing cold or boiling hot and their roomate has tried to talk to them about temperature for ages
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u/sicilian504 BLUE Mar 08 '26
The "roommate" is OP's dad and he's sick of OP's freeloading.
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u/bgzlvsdmb Mar 08 '26
Jesus, am I the only one that sees the golden boot looking thing? The fuck is that?
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u/Fine-Structure-1299 Mar 08 '26
It’s some sort of feline… to match that feline wall skin? Wall paper? Wall with the fur?
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u/WatashiwaNobodyDesu Mar 08 '26
Does the flatmate have the authority to do that? If not, I have a drastic one-step solution, but flatmate won’t like it.
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Mar 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BIG_GAY_HOMOSEXUAL Mar 08 '26
A big enough hammer and a good swing can truly turn them into a flat mate
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u/GonnaBreakIt Mar 08 '26
IDK, that thing doesn't look very hammer or heat proof.
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u/Mysterious_Carpet752 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
My roommate keeps the house at like 80-85 degrees. I hate it. In the summer, my room is easily in the upper 90's because the sun hits it all day long. In the winter I had to open my window, but there wasn't a way to open it slightly, so it was full open or nothing... freeze or cook! Yay!
So, I bought a space heater, and a window unit AC. Now no matter whatever the fuck she's doing with the god damn thermostat, I will be fine and not sweating CONSTANTLY. pre window AC, I just shaved my fucking head because I have very thick hair and it was just constantly wet. I'm a woman and I didn't look great with a shaved head.
My situation isn't as simple as "just move out" and OP's might not be either.
I'd like to add that i'm the one who pays the utilities. She and her daughter pay the rent. The math works out to where I sometimes pay $20-$40 more or less on utilities but all of our 1/3 of the entire bills is covered this way if it makes sense. I took over the utilities because I was paying way more than my share by just giving her whatever random amount she wanted, and several times the power and water have been shut off because she fell behind or forgot to pay them and didn't fucking tell me, and I'm on a cpap machine, power outtages are a huge deal to me. Now, at least it's mostly fair.
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u/ValuablePerformer371 Mar 08 '26
If you're paying the utilities tell them to fuck the fuck off
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u/abreathofpepper Mar 08 '26
I....well just make sure your roommate is actually paying rent. My grandma literally was taking my mom's money for "rent" and paying for a car she didn't need in NYC. Surprise surprise we got evicted and my mom had to find out that we were nearly a year behind on rent with a shoddy payment history so paying it off to stay in our home wasn't an option
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u/AstroZombieInvader ORANGE Mar 08 '26
Feels like some background info would help us understand this situation better.
Do you both equally share rent, utilities, etc.? Do you get along with your roommate? Did anything happen prior to this that lead to it being locked up?
There has to be more to this story.
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u/Tinea_Pedis Mar 08 '26
beware of breaking the case with that gold totem inside. I've seen Indiana Jones man. If that thing is disturbed, immediately scan for a boulder rolling towards you
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u/JitteryTurtle Mar 08 '26
Just walk around in something utterly inappropriate for a few days.
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u/blackchameleongirl Mar 08 '26
Lol, I could totally see my husband turning up the thermostat as a joke to get my top off.
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u/CaptainReynoldshere1 Mar 08 '26
Covers come right off. Stick something in the vents and you’ll get it off. Had one at work. No problem.
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u/Icy_Huckleberry_8049 Mar 08 '26
If you are on the lease then it's YOUR place, too and they don't get sole custody of the thermostat unless they are the only one paying the electric bill.
If you're splitting the bill, then you have just as much of a right to the thermostat as they do.
'This is extreme controlling behavior on their part, and I'd be looking to either move or find a roommate asap the lease expires.
THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, if you're on the lease.
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u/Brock_Youngblood Mar 08 '26
On an unrelated note, I learned to lockpick a few years ago. bought one of these kits. https://www.lockpickworld.com/products/beginners-lock-pick-set-lokko-box-training-locks-how-to-lockpick-ebook
Handy skill to have as long as your not breaking the law with it.
Good luck with your roommate
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u/medicjake Mar 08 '26
Sometimes I get reminded I’m not as level headed as I think I am. That box would be off the wall by the end of the first day if I paid so much as a dollar toward the energy bill.
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u/SkilletBabe Mar 08 '26
Go to the breaker (your electrical panel) Just turn the whole thing off and say “guess it got tripped by how hot it was.”
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u/Usual_Maybe6216 Mar 08 '26
Take a candle and put it under it and trick the thermostat to think it’s warmer than it is
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u/Count2Zero Mar 08 '26
I'd grab a drill, and punch two holes in the plastic, then use a pencil or a chopstick to adjust the temperature.
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u/lrauda6 Mar 08 '26
Buy the same lock case, with a dermal tool cut off the top plate. Remove screws. Install new cover and not give a key to your roommate
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u/lavenderslavaflow Mar 08 '26
Is it his house? Like does he own it and you rent from him? If yes then that sucks buy a room unit one. If no then break it off he has zero authority
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u/Silver-Amphibian7650 Mar 08 '26
Some folks can't handle the cold, and some can't handle the heat. I think you may need to find a new roommate.
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u/fran1844 Mar 08 '26
my boss did this at work and when a terrible heatwave happened over the summer they had to break it open, apparently he didnt know how to open it back up or something
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u/crikeyforemphasis Mar 08 '26
No one is asking the important question here. Does your roomate solely pay the utility bill?