I told my mother that my ex-roomie got in touch to give me my money back, and he was going to email me the money so I gave him just the name of the bank I deal with and my email address, and my mom FREAKS out saying how he’s going to scam me and take all my money and I never should have sent him this info and tells me about this one time her friend’s second husband once got a virus and he sent out this email saying he was in England and how he had to delete his whole email account. Meanwhile, I’m all like, WTF mom? It’s the name of a bank and my email. IF this indeed just a random scam, these people have been following me for 12 years, because there’s no WAY somebody could have gotten all that info from the internet. Like, we lived together PRE-social media, so it’s not even like we’re friends on Facebook.
Maybe a little back story would help. Back when I was in college (for the third time. That time it was for journalism. Yea, I know, it totally doesn't show, right?) I rescued a lot of strays, first the animal kind, and then the human kind. The boyfriend I had at the time had let one of his co-workers stay on our couch for a while. Shortly after, I broke up with the boyfriend and moved out. Unfortunately, a few months later, the couch monster followed me to the new place, where he, and eventually his girlfriend, lived on my couch for all of first year. Anyhow, after much bad blood, he left without paying last month's rent, and he's been known as The Roommate Who Shall Not Be Named ever since. (And that was before the whole Voldemort thing. I’m a fucking psychic.)
Needless to say, (but I’m going to say it anyway) my mom has been bringing this up periodically. 'Remember that roommate who screwed you out of millions of dollars? Yea, he was a dick.' My mom has a real knack for making whole mountain ranges out of the tiniest pile of dust. I totally don't take after her at all. Ok, maybe a little. But in a completely different way.
Before he left however, we had both signed a note saying how much he owed me. I held on to this piece of paper for years, and every time I would stumble across this note, I would fly into a rage and stomp around and feel all grumpy. So, to save some sanity, I threw it out maybe six months ago, and tried really hard to move pass the frustration and irritation that his memory evoked. Even started referring to him by his name, anything to try to crumble the grudge I’ve been carrying for 12 years. Finally after all this time, I’d had come to peace with this guy, and more importantly I had come to peace with the fact I’d never see that $300 ever again.
Imagine my surprise when I got a Facebook message from him asking how he could pay me back.
So, the moral of the story is if you forgive your ex-roommate, you'll get your money back that he's owed you since the turn of the century. Just don't tell your mother, because she will think the internet is trying to steal your money.
