A Reddit user shared a story about how he purposely gave his roommate wrong answers for their final exam.
Gave Him The Wrong Answers
According to the OP, the roommate was notorious for asking for answers to exams and copying OP’s work. They were in the same major, and they took most classes together. However, the roommate never put any effort towards his studies since he assumed that the OP would always carry them both.
When the final exam approached, the OP was fed up with this behavior and intentionally gave the roommate wrong answers. The roommate had no reason to doubt since the OP always came through for him.
The roommate failed miserably and did not graduate. After the incident, the OP said he felt both guilt and relief.
The Masses Weigh In
The Reddit community had mixed views on the OP’s actions toward his roommate. Some sided with him, while others thought the actions bordered on maliciousness.
One user tried to make sense of OP’s actions, “You definitely deceived him for self-preservation in the end, but talking to him first would have been the best plan. At least you accept what you did and regret it. All that’s left to do is learn from it, I guess.”
You Acted in a Malicious Manner
Another user said the OP enabled his roommate and then turned on him in the end in a malicious manner, “I think it’s a bit malicious or spiteful or something. I’d say helping a homie out once or twice is all good, but then you should have spoken up and said no, that at this point, you feel he’s relying on you, and you’re not comfortable with that. I’m not saying your roommate isn’t a lazy sack of dirt, but you’ve been enabling him as well, and then it looks like you acted out of spite. Had you told him when this first started, he would have at least failed or passed on his own terms; now it’s on you.”
The OP should not have let him copy his work all year if he did not intend to go through with it at the finals, “Why did you let him copy your work all year in the first place……that’s on you. You should’ve spoken up, and if he didn’t stop, report him or something. This doesn’t dismiss your roommate’s actions, but how was your roommate able to get the answers from you all year in the first place?”
Maybe He Was Tired of Being Manipulated
Another user thought that maybe the OP was tired of being manipulated by his roommate, “IMO the reason is likely manipulation. With a roommate, you have to live with them every day and entitled people often act out of anger and frustration when you do say no, so you’re damned if you do academically and damned if you don’t housing-wise. If you have anxiety, it makes you an incredibly easy person to exploit as well. Often it’s a slow, insidious distortion from studying to cheating where you might start out actually helping them study, but they slowly start trying to get you to help cheat where they’re blurring the lines between help and copying in order to exploit your kindness.”
The Roommate Should Have Double-checked the Answers
According to another user, the roommate is also to blame because he should have double-checked his answers, “Roommate could have easily double-checked the answers. Idk how this is being blamed on OP when all he did was give the wrong answer to a POS college student. He could have said something just as easily, but either way, the roommate is the obvious problem.”
What You Did Was Wrong
“In my opinion, what u did was wrong. I know that u are fed up with him, but u should have at least confronted him about the situation. Moreover, u could have not shown him the answers at all rather than just giving him the wrong answers…” said another user.
Another one agreed, saying, “Have u ever tried to talk with ur roommate and set boundaries about him copying ur work? If u haven’t, then yta for allowing him to do that all year & then messing with him without any notice when it mattered most.”
You Should Have Addressed the Situation When It Started
“you should have been honest from the start and told him you were not comfortable with him copying your work; maybe he might have done his own or found someone else to copy. Maybe pay someone for papers like a lot of college kids do. I think setting him up to fail is bad!!” said another.
One user said that the OP should have reported the roommate a long time ago, “He had no business doing this. In fact, you should have turned him in a long time ago. Cheaters are only hurting themselves as they don’t learn anything, and what’s he going to do next semester if you have different classes or he has a new roommate that won’t let him get by with that?”
Your Roommate Got Exactly What He Deserved
Cheating has consequences; according to one user, “Dont feel bad, he’s no friend if he’d ask you to cheat. l went through similar deal except we both got caught. I affected my grades, l never seen any remorse, in fact, my ” friend ” stopped talking to me cause l refused to risk myself ever again.”
“Don’t listen to these people calling you a pushover. Everyone knows that copying answers is wrong. It’s not like it isn’t common knowledge. Your roommate got exactly what he deserved. Because he would’ve found a way to cheat regardless,” added another user.
Do you think the OP was wrong in setting his roommate to fail his most critical exam on purpose? What would you have done if you were in OP’s shoes?
