Roommate’s Privacy Invasion Leads to DRAMATIC Cover-Up!
That horrible feeling of coming home and knowing someone’s been in your home and then finding things missing, really sucks.
u/Fanbelt, writing in Reddit, explains that her apartment that she shares with her room-mate Jess was burgulared and they both lost valuables. The loss of valuables is only a small part of having your home burgulared though. There’s the sense of violation and the fear of not knowing how things would have turned out if you had found someone in your apartment.
So how would you react? Maybe install deadlocks, remove any spare hidden keys, add a security screen and maybe a peephole. Bit would you install cameras inside? And how would you feel if your roommate did that?
u/Fanbelt AITA for Covering Up My Roommate's Security Cameras? My roommate, Jess, and I share an apartment, and we both occasionally work from home. A few months ago, our place fell victim to a burglary, leaving me without my laptop and Jess without a significant amount of jewelry. We rent, and the real estate agent agreed to replace the locks but otherwise shrugged his shoulders and told us there was nothing much else he could, or is obliged to do. The incident was distressing for both of us but I think Jess took it harder. My laptop was insured but Jess had lost family jewelery that no money could replace. I guess this might have been why Jess decided to take matters into her own hands by installing security cameras in various rooms, including the living room and kitchen. She claimed it was a precautionary measure for our safety, especially after the previous break-in. The video could be remotely viewed from your cell phone and it would store 72 hours of footage in a loop. I let Jess know I wasn't really comfortable with this but she was dead-set on this, and had already forked out hundreds of dollars on the cameras.
But the OP wasn’t happy having cameras on her all day and was particularly peeved when Jess told her that she owed $150 for her share of the cameras she didn’t even want.
And as someone who often worked from home, the OP felt the cameras were almost always on just her, and even though she liked Jess she didn’t really like the idea of being ‘spied’ on.
So, the OP, in frustration, covered up the cameras.
I just started feeling weird when I was working from home a lot (and on my own) that Jess was spying on me. It felt like a massive invasion of privacy. Jess had even insisted I pay her $150 for my share of the security camera system! I guess that means I own half of the cameras which made my later actions more reasonable in my mind. I eventually decided to take matters into my own hands and test whether Jess was spying on me. I covered up the security cameras discreetly. I used simple masking tape that you wouldn't notice if you were looking at the cameras but obviously would if you were looking through the cameras.
But seriously, how long did the OP think this would last? And what would be the consequences?
The OP is behaving in a very passive aggressive way as she was actually assuming her room-mate would notice and then there would be the confrontation she hoped. What she didn’t expect was that another break-in would occur and her actions would look very selfish and short-sighted.
To tell the truth, I actually forgot that I had done this. At first I thought Jess would confront me and I would know that she had indeed being spying on me, but she never said anything. I guess Jess hadn't been checking the cameras on her phone and didn't notice the cover-up, and our living situation seemed relatively normal for the next month. Then one evening when I got home late after working in the office, I arrived to an absolutely fuming Jess in the living room. She asked me sarcastically if I had noticed that the front door wasn't closing properly. I nodded and dread over came me as I realized what was coming.
Jess tells the OP she thought that there was an attempted break-in because the front door was unlocked and not closing properly. Naturally, the first thing she did was check the security footage and only then discovered the OP’s cover-up.
Jess told me that she thinks someone broke-in so she went to check the security footage to see if anyone got in the apartment, only to discover that the lenses were covered. She knew it was me and was shaking with anger at me. We ended up screaming at each other and then slamming doors to our bedrooms and now I'm writing this. AITA?
Readers on Reddit wanted to know a few more details including whether there were cameras installed in private places (like bathrooms, bedrooms) and if one had been installed outside the front door and was this covered up.
u/personaltrain11 if there were cameras in bathrooms or bedrooms then that's way creepy (and possibly illegal). What about the front door facing outwards? Did you have that covered up?u/Fanbelt OP There were no cameras in bathroom or bedrooms! We also didn't have a camera out the front because we live in an apartment block and weren't permitted to do it (plus it would be hard to set up)
Another reader enquired about the 2nd break-in with an interesting response. Could the second break-in have been a set up by Jess?
u/wilsonprom99 Was anything stolen in the second break-in?
u/Fanbelt OP Nothing that I can see. Jess claims she's missing a phone charger or something but I haven't lost anything. I don't think we were actually robbed. The door is not actually showing any evidence of being forced open. I just think the deadlock had been locked open. I'm beginning to get a bit suspicious and thinking maybe Jess just set this all up.
Readers were divided on the AH status because both characters seemed to be operating irrationally. u/willowwhite44 wrote that everybody sucks in this story and their description of it is a good TDLR , so we’ll leave this here:
ESH You can't act like this if you want to live co-operatively. So Jess buys the cameras and makes you pay half. She then sets them up, you feel uncomfortable and suspect she's spying on you (WTF? paranoid) so you unilaterally cover them up. Then when the chance comes to actually have a use for the cameras you're stuffed because YOU made them inoperable. Finally you think Jess is lying about being robbed again. The thing missing here is COMMUNICATION and trust. Sounds too toxic for me.
Who exactly is the AH here?
