A 31-year-old tenant says her landlord demanded she share her home-cooked meals with his family — and she is refusing. The woman posted her story to Reddit’s r/Advice subreddit on September 6, describing a dispute that began after she made shrimp alfredo from scratch and offered some to her landlord and his pregnant wife. Their daughter did not have any.
The woman, who lives in a unit with its own bathroom, bedroom, and living area but shares a kitchen upstairs with the family, says her lease is explicit about food boundaries. “In my lease, it states that any food or drinks purchased by my landlord’s family is off limits to me, and I am responsible for feeding myself as well as cleaning up any messes made while preparing meals,” she wrote.
The Salmon Text That Started It
One afternoon, after she had prepared oven-baked salmon and cilantro rice for dinner, the trouble began to grow. She completed her cooking, tidied the kitchen, and brought her meal down to eat. She was halfway through when her landlord sent a “snarky text.”.
“Basically, he said that because his wife is pregnant and really likes salmon, I should have shared it with her,” she wrote. “He said he had seen what I had made, and because I had made 2 pieces of fish, I could have at least given her one. He said that they opened their home to me, and that next time I should be more considerate.”
The landlord also warned that if she was going to “play in their faces,” they would have reconsidered the lease. The woman says the food rule had been emphasized to her multiple times before. She also wrote that her landlords “don’t cook at all” and mostly eat frozen food, prepackaged noodles, and TV dinners.
Why She Won’t Share
She says she lacks the means to prepare additional food for the family each time. She stores her own small fridge, a tiny closet serving as a pantry, along with her own pots, pans, utensils, and spices.
She initially asked Reddit users whether she should give in. “I know it sounds like a terrible idea, but I think they might just make life terrible for me if I don’t,” she wrote.
One user suggested she “run like Forrest Gump on crack.”, while another wrote, “I’d not answer the text. Get a hot plate and an air fryer and make it work in the basement. I also wouldn’t have offered them food, ever. But when it comes to a shared living space, I’ve always been of the opinion that if you don’t share, I don’t share.”. The response was delivered with great force.
“I’m going to continue cooking my own meals, and they can get over it.”
She’s Not Sharing
She has since amended her original post with a note, choosing instead to pay no attention to her landlord altogether.
“These people are for sure crazy, and I’ve decided to ignore them,” she wrote. “I’m going to continue cooking my own meals, and they can get over it.”
Her safety measures include a lock on her mini fridge and pantry, along with a ring camera downstairs. She is using her next meal to make a statement. “I’m also going to make garlic short ribs and mac and cheese for myself tonight because it turns out I am a bit petty,” she wrote.
| The Landlord’s Rules | The Tenant’s Response |
|---|---|
| Family-purchased food is off limits to her | She keeps her own mini fridge and pantry |
| She must feed herself and clean up after meals | She uses her own pots, pans, and utensils |
| She should share food with the pregnant wife | She has no budget to cook for the family |
| “Next time I should be more considerate” | “They can get over it” |
As of publication, the post has attracted close to 1,100 comments. The Daily Dot could not confirm the specifics detailed in the post through its own means. What follows is the account as told by the person who posted it on r/Advice.
Source: dailydot.com
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