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So we're fairly old, late 20s, probably not overly dramatic at this point and have seen it all. Yet the more I think about the situation the less I'm confident about what's right.
Basically my girl has been ordering some cosmetics to ship abroad, since someone had asked her to do so. She's had an open box somewhere near the door with smaller stuff in it. I guess it was covered up with plastic and paper to the extent where it might have looked like an empty trash box? It ends up being tossed and the garbage is gone (I did climb in to check)
It was almost 400$ worth. I talked to my roommate, he's not acting all apologetic but offered to cover 60% since he had no bad intentions.
What do you think? Should he pay for everything? What would you do?
P.S. Two days before this happened his gf spilled some bleach on my girls shoes while cleaning the floor. 80$ shoes are obviously ruined, we haven't even talked about that.
 
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People have to make up for their mistakes, even if they are innocent. Show him this thread, or ask him how he would feel if you broke his computer by accident and didn't want to get him a new one. You replace what you break as best you can imo.
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He should pay in full, I had a similar thing happen where me and my roommate used triple the amount of electricity one month, we both questioned it, but shit happens. She did take like 3 months to pay it off but I was patient. Maybe someone left the fridge open one night... who knows. Maybe to ease the pain just take 50% now and 50% in a month or two.
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Hmmm, missing some extra info here for the whole story imo;
Are you good friends?
Are your GF/ his GF friends?
Was his GF apologetic?
480 bucks is a lot of money, unless you're really, really good friends they should replace the broken stuff.
(Unless you put the box in the shared area where garbage is usually placed, in that case you've been silly and should watch your stuff better and he was simply cleaning the room.)
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I don't really have friends, but this guy could've thought that he was a friend of mine, I've known him for 6 yrs or so. I guess we've got nothing in common anymore but still have (had) some mutual respect. His gf is new so no feelings lost there.
The area was a bit shady (still not a dedicated trash area) but it isn't the first time there's a package there waiting to be taken care of. I can see how he thought it was trash though, he definitely didn't do it on purpose. Are you saying in this case it's okay to do 60/40? Because I'm unsure myself.
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I absolutely believe that he should cover 50% of them as a favor. Explanation: 50% is just being courteous. The courtesy that was NOT extended by letting your roommate, who has the same responsibilities in the common area of the domicile as yourself, know that there would be valuables laying out and or in a general location. Following this, I think you're downplaying that it ABSOLUTELY looked like trash, and he was being responsible by taking it out given that it was by the door, where trash inherently belongs. Sure, it wasn't his, so he shouldn't have assumed he could pick it up and throw it out despite it looking like trash in a commonly denoted trash disposal area. That alone is the reason it would be courteous to cover 50%. To request full reimbursement for poor planning and communication on your part is absurd.
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On October 23 2012 14:59 Game wrote:
I absolutely believe that he should cover 50% of them as a favor. Explanation: 50% is just being courteous. The courtesy that was NOT extended by letting your roommate, who has the same responsibilities in the common area of the domicile as yourself, know that there would be valuables laying out and or in a general location. Following this, I think you're downplaying that it ABSOLUTELY looked like trash, and he was being responsible by taking it out given that it was by the door, where trash inherently belongs. Sure, it wasn't his, so he shouldn't have assumed he could pick it up and throw it out despite it looking like trash in a commonly denoted trash disposal area. That alone is the reason it would be courteous to cover 50%. To request full reimbursement for poor planning and communication on your part is absurd.
I don't think I've ever agreed with Game more, but I support this 100%. When you get in a living arrangement with someone there are some mutual responsibilities that aren't always clear, but cleaning up after yourself is one of them. Your roommate should have looked in the box beforehand, but shit happens and you can't blame him for you leaving your stuff out in a manner that appears like trash.
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If the box appeared to be trash, then I wouldn't blame your roommate for accidentally throwing it away. If he was acting carelessly, then he should pay in full, but it seems reasonable that he would mistake it for garbage - especially when you were able to see the resemblance yourself and the box was left in an ambiguous area. He offered to pay 60%, when it appears to me that you may also have been at fault since you were negligent in caring for the items. You didn't exercise due caution in protecting your valuables and decided to gamble, but are asking him to pay when you lost. Personally, I wouldn't accept any money from him over this. Not because it was an accident, but because you created the situation in which it was likely to happen, and even then he was genuine in trying to fix it.
While damaging the shoes may also have been an accident, his girlfriend bears the negligence in this case, and should repay the full depreciated value (which is likely to be far less than $80 unless they were brand new). I'd talk to your roommate about this first, though, if his girlfriend does not also live with you, since he would probably be content to repay you for her. Assigning fault in this situation seems much more straightforward.
If you disagree with my reasoning, then maybe accept his offer, but pressing for full repayment is probably a mistake even if a court would agree that he should repay you. You have no evidence to show that he is responsible and since he views 60% as fair, forcing him to pay more may create animosity which the $150 isn't worth when you live together.
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EPT
