Can we talk about roommates who run a 'small business' out of your kitchen at 2am?

John Scott · 2026-10-10T19:35:04.591089+00:00

So three years back I moved into a two bedroom in Portland with a guy who seemed normal, and about two weeks in I wake up at 2am to this loud humming sound coming from the kitchen. I go out there and he has two crockpots going and a folding table set up with like 40 mason jars, and he tells me he's 'scaling up' his candle company. Within a month there was wax on the stove hood, on the counters, once on my good cast iron pan, and he was storing a case of fragrance oils in the cabinet where I keep my plates. The worst part was the shipping boxes, like 15 of them stacked by the front door for six weeks, and he asked me to sign for deliveries twice while he was at work. I finally said something after he melted a batch and the whole apartment smelled like 'vanilla bourbon' for nine days straight, and he acted like I was being unfair to a small business owner. Did anyone else deal with a roommate's side hustle taking over the shared space, and how did you set a line without the place turning into a war zone?

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Can we talk about roommates who run a 'small business' out of your kitchen at 2am? | Bad Roommate Stories - HW Forums