Man Discovers Houseguest Bad-Mouthing Him Online. So He Packs His Bags and Sends Him Home

A man is looking for perspective after a painful falling-out with a longtime friend he once tried hard to help.

In a Reddit post, he said the situation began years ago, when he was 22 and his friend was around 23 or 24. The friend asked to move in temporarily with a straightforward plan: the poster would help him get a job at the same workplace, they’d split rent, and the friend would rebuild his life.

But when his friend arrived nearly broke, the poster stepped up more than expected. He was working full-time, driving for DoorDash on the side, and even letting his friend ride along just to keep him company.

From day one, he says he set three clear boundaries: no lying, no stealing, and no drugs in the apartment. His friend agreed. Early on, the friend claimed he was applying for jobs and had interviews lined up.

Soon, though, the story started to unravel. The poster said he’d come home expecting progress only to hear that interviews had “all cancelled.” When his friend later insisted they had been rescheduled, the poster tried to stay hopeful, even if something felt off.

Weeks went by with no real change. The friend slept in the living room, stayed up all night, and slept through the day. The poster’s roommates grew frustrated, saying the friend was eating their food and drinking their beer like he lived there. Tension in the apartment kept rising.

Wanting to understand what was going on, the poster contacted the friend’s parents. He says they told him their son had been struggling badly and begged him not to give up on him. Still believing his friend could turn things around, the poster kept trying.

Then one night, everything shifted. He walked in and saw his laptop open — with his friend’s Facebook page logged in. The friend had left it that way by accident. Scrolling through messages, the poster found his friend complaining to people back home, claiming he wasn’t being helped and speaking negatively about him.

Worse, he learned his friend had broken one of the core rules. The poster said he discovered his friend had brought pills and weed into the apartment and was smoking with one of the roommates while the poster was at work. The roommates admitted they hadn’t told him sooner because they didn’t want to spark more drama.

That was the breaking point. The poster said he called the friend’s family and told them he was done and that their son needed to go back home. But instead of stepping in, the family told him they didn’t want the friend returning. According to the poster, they called him a “moocher” and said they’d exhausted themselves trying to help.

Knowing the arrangement couldn’t continue, the poster made a final decision. He said he woke his friend up on a Saturday, told him to pack his things, and handed him a bus ticket he’d bought. He drove him to the station, dropped him off, and left.

Even then, the friend didn’t seem to understand the reason. The poster said he tried to explain everything — the broken rules, the tension, the lying — but his friend “didn’t get it.” They’ve barely spoken since, and the poster says his friend hasn’t changed in the years that followed.

Many commenters sided with him. One summed it up by saying he had offered real support — but eventually stopped sacrificing his own stability for someone who wouldn’t take responsibility for himself.