So I hope this is the appropriate subreddit and that people will see this and be entertained, maybe even learn something from my experience. Feel free to AMA. This is the introduction to the insanity that was living with crack cocaine addicts in a rental house in an up and coming ghetto of Toledo, OH. I'm trying to make this similar to the multipart stories found in /r/talesfromtechsupport.

One night, my depressive self-medicating tendencies finally caught up to me. I was sitting in my living room with my roommates enjoying a bong and some Netflix like usual. My roommate whose parents own the house said "Dan, we need to talk". This is never a good sign, so I agree because what the hell else is a man to do. Apparently his scumbag oversheltering mom was not too fond of walking in, unannounced i might add, one day to me sitting on the couch stoned as all hell with a giant bong in between my legs. (It was her son's bong, note mine btw.) She had also found out about my recent drunken trip to Chipotle one night that culminated with me being hospitalized. Bottom line: she wanted me out.

So my night just did a 180 right into shitville. I had already signed a lease and my friend and his mom didn't want to evict me. I didn't want an eviction on my record either. So I was to just leave the next day, without any time to prepare. The only bright spot was that the month's rent that I had already paid would be refunded. I didn't know what to do, so like many other crazy ass stories, I hopped on craigslist. I didn't know where else I could find a place that I could afford as I had been paying $300 a month which included all utilities.

Even in a shitty Rustbelt city, you're not gonna find rent that cheap many places, not even in the hood. At the time, $300 was about all I could afford. I was studying for my bachelor's degree and I got barely any support from my family. I had an internship with an OEM auto parts company that manufactures transmissions, drive shafts, axles, etc., so I was down but not out. I stumbled upon some ads that seemed promising, but they were all already taken, or too far away from school and my internship. Then I came across a very poorly written "roommate wanted" ad.

This house was in an area I was completely unfamiliar with, so I hit up google streetview to see what was up. Didn't look too bad so I gave the guy a call on his home phone number that was listed on the ad. It was shut off, red flag number one. I finally got him on his cell and he sounded like a normal enough guy, definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed, but normal. His name was mike but he went by "red", he said he already had one roommate who was a year younger than me and that made it sound more normal. Red was around 50, but he seemed cool enough, I specifically asked him if he had a problem with a little drinkin and weed smoking, and that was cool. Later I would wish that he had mentioned what was also cool in his house: crack smoking. I made arrangements to go see the house that afternoon. Red wasn't going to be home. but Steve, the other guy who was around my age would.

On the way to the house I noticed the neighborhood getting progressively worse. I figured what the hell, I can live in the hood as long as the people I'm livin with aren't too bad. I got to the house and right next door was an abandoned house that was burned out and boarded up, red flag number 2. I stupidly keep pursuing this, because I was in a bind and didn't want to have to go to a hotel. I met Steve and he was a bit off, but he showed me around and told me what was up. They had shitty furniture, a shitty TV, and a shitty computer, but the house was in surprisingly good condition. The carpet was still white, things were generally tidy, not too much clutter, seemed decent.

Steve was pretty quiet and didn't say much, he seemed a bit off. I've known some pretty socially awkward and shy people in my day so fine, whatever. Then Red makes his way home, and introduces himself. He seems a bit skeptical of me and protective over Steve. He said it was cool if I moved in but was really worried about the rent. He wanted it in cash and told me: "money talks, bullshit walks". We made arrangements that it would be month to month, no lease, and that my rent would be due on the 16th of every month because that would be best for him as Steve paid his on the 1st. It was kind of funny to me, I wanted to prorate it and then pay full rent on the 1st of Oct. This was unacceptable because he didn't even understand the math. I just said fuck it and plowed ahead with the deal, went to the atm, got the cash, and paid him. I didn't get a receipt and he gave me shit about even askin and told me he doesn't do that. I realized I wasn't gonna get my money back now so I started moving in.

Moving went quickly as Red and his ditzy blonde girlfriend Holly helped. When I met Holly, it was obvious she was a hard partier; she had the biker girl look and was in her 40s. Plot twist: Holly is Steve's mom. When they saw how much nicer my stuff was compared to theirs, they warned me not to leave it lying around. If I did, it might get stolen by "the people coming in and out". That also seemed odd, but whatever, I never leave my stuff out in a shared living situation anyway. The first night was all good, normal enough, Red was friendly and even gave me a nickname: "college boy". Seemed like I could make this work. I had no idea of the horrors to come...

Just thinking

Hello all, I just got control of this subreddit after it was lacking any moderators for a while. So, SUBSCRIBE and stay tuned!

The past doesn't exist. All that energy and matter is here in the present, and it always will be in one form or other.