He should’ve asked, but she shouldn’t be leaving half-rotted fruit out.

I’ve been a roommate for nearly eight years now, and in that time, I’ve learned that all the hard-and-fast «roommate rules» don’t always apply. The rule «never touch your roommates’ things» makes sense in concept, but if your roommate is constantly leaving rotting food in the fridge and never throws it away, it’s probably okay for you to break that rule. It’s unsafe for everybody in the house to have moldy food near food that’s going to get eaten, and you shouldn’t have to ask your roommate permission to toss a green loaf of bread that was white a month ago.

When you have a roommate who constantly neglects their fruits and vegetables, letting them rot and leaving you to clean up the mess, you might start to notice when their strawberries are on the verge of turning white and fuzzy. It’s only human to think, «My roommate is not going to eat these ripe strawberries because they never eat their fruit before it rots. Maybe I could eat some without them noticing.» I’m not saying this is right, but if you’re sensitive to food waste, it’s not an unreasonable thought! Best practice is always to ask your roommate if you can eat their food before you eat it. Some people would clutch their pearls at the mere concept of their roommate borrowing an egg from them, but most people don’t care about occasionally sharing food with the people with whom they share a refrigerator.