Attention, Deadbeat ex-housemate. You have not been responding to my emails about when you’re going to finally start paying me all that back rent (and that $1000 phone bill) you owe me from starting from October 2001.
Being five years later, I might normally let this go, but you were a pretty crappy housemate: you almost never helped with chores, often insulted me in front of my friends (and who knows what you said behind my back) and that incident with the con man has not been forgotten. I am left with no option except to use my considerable Googlejuice to make it so that the number one Google result for your name is also the number one result for the phrase “deadbeat ex-housemate”. Since you work in the field of computers, I trust that have this Google stigma will inspire you to take some fiscal responsibility and start writing cheques. This Googlebombing will stop when the cheques — certified cheques, you little rat-bastard — start coming in.
To my readers: this Googlebombing will be annoying, so I promise that any such post like this will be accompanied by an interesting or amusing picture. I’ll mark this post, which could be the first of many, with a very amusing and psychedelic animated graphic of Christopher Walken floating through space:
Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate.
Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate.
Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate. Deadbeat ex-housemate.
19 replies on “A Special Message to My Deadbeat Ex-Housemate”
And Joey is MUCH nicer than I am.
— The Wife.
How many people who will potentially interact with him will search for that phrase? Why not instead have his full name in the title of this post, so that people searching for it (i.e. people who have dealings with him) will see your story?
Putting his name in the post is certainly more effective but might leave you open to a libel charge unless you have the paperwork to prove he’s in arrears.
The bad news is that your legal remedy for the phone bill is likely exhausted as the Limitations Act, 2002 specifies that you have two years from date of discovery to initiate an action. The limitation for rent is generally longer (six years from date of discovery, I think, under the Real Property Limitations Act, 1990). Take all this with a small grain of salt, as I am not a lawyer so you should check this all out with someone trained and licensed in the craft.
Good luck on recovery, though.
Joey,
s.24(5) of the new Limitations Act reads: If the claim was discovered before the effective date (of Jan. 1, 2004), the former limitation period (before this new law in 2004) applies.
Arguably, the former 6 yr. period applies here. You’ve got 1 yr., more or less, to file your Statment of Claim Small Claims Court. File the claim, get judgment & then garnish him at work, at his bank until you get paid. Even if he’s a deadbeat. There’s my pro bono work for the day.
With sweet sentiments always,
Nick, your asshole friend
Does repeating the same link on the same page actually have a greater effect than a single link? That would surprise me.
He’s in the U.S.. A “blogslap” is probably the my last best shot at getting the cashola.
Probably not: the power of the repetition is more psychological than technological.
Might I suggest a little special display at Shmoocon? He’s apparently a member of the group. A public shaming (among his security peers) may be in order. It’s a little ways off but you might get maximal bang for the buck.
file the claim, get the judgment, then get a garnishment order, if you know which US bank he deals with, you may be able to garnish the Canadian office of that bank (ie. Citibank, Bank of America, etc.) to get yer $$. Plus, you can maintain the judgment for 20years & enforce it if he ever returns to Canada or ever has assets in Canada in the future, plus interest.
and depending on which jurisdiction he’s in, you may be able to enforce your Ontario judgment in that state if they have a reciprocal enforcement of judgments statute similar to ours (eg. Ontario judgment may be enforceable in another state if said state is a signatory). I think I recently read a case about a US state judgment being enforceable in Ontario. Later, N
I agree that putting the persons name in the post and even more importantly in the title would help out much better.
how much does he owe you again?
About $6,000.
ROTFL!
Next week, I’m gonna use the same technique to get my wife to put out đ
If he’s anywhere in the Bay Area, just let me know, and I’ll take care of it for you, Joey.
Harsh, but it appears necessary, man. $6k is a lot of moola to forgive. I’m damned sure I couldn’t. I suppose it’s cold comfort to realize it’s highly unlikely that you’re the only one he owes major dough. If he’s anything like a couple people I know, he’s prolly out of the country as a way to duck bills as much as to earn a living.
Is it too late to ask how in the world you let this guy run up $6k on you in the first place? The first couple grand didn’t trigger somethin? Ahh, youth.
I believe that the idea here was that whoever was to do a search on the individual’s actual NAME, then that person would get to see about him having been a deadbeat ex-housmate. So, again, it’s the man’s name that’s being searched, by people who already know him and to whom this not-so-nice info about him would matter!
You might be surprised. The deadbeat ex housemate didn’t show up to give his presentation at RailsConf 2007, and Accordian Guy was able to give the best slam ever! It’s the slam that brought me here. And THAT is the power of Google juice.
Dude, I wonder if he skipped to avoid paying you!?!
[…] story reminds me of my own third-roommate situation from a little while back. My deadbeat ex-housemate, who left in December 2001, still owes me a few thousand dollars for rent, […]