What’s the most ruthless act of revenge you’ve ever seen?

The Cost of Compassion

I watched my friend destroy her lying roommate’s entire life with three screenshots after discovering she’d been secretly working while making my friend cover all the rent for three months. What’s the most ruthless act of revenge you’ve ever seen? I was crashing on my friend Gia’s couch when I watched her absolutely destroy her roommate entire life with three screenshots and perfect timing.

Gia was one of those people who couldn’t say no to anyone even when it was obviously killing her. She worked double shifts at the hospital as a nurse while Bailey supposedly worked in marketing from home. Though I noticed Bailey spent most afternoons watching Netflix in her pajamas.

When Bailey came crying to Gia in September, saying she’d been laid off and couldn’t make rent, Gia immediately offered to cover her half until she found something new. Even though Gia was already eating ramen five nights a week to save money.

I live in the next state, but when I’m in town, I stay on Gia’s couch, and I always pay her a little rent to make up for that time, so I was paying her, but her actual roommate wasn’t. The first month, Gia covered the full rent without complaint. She even bought extra groceries so Bailey wouldn’t stress about food while job hunting.

The second month, Bailey claimed she was close to getting an offer, but needed more time, and Gia paid again. Gia was picking up extra night shifts that left her so exhausted, she fell asleep standing up in the kitchen once.

By the third month, Gia’s car started making this grinding noise that meant her brakes were basically gone. But she still handed over Bailey’s rent money because Bailey swore she was waiting to hear back from final interviews.

Gia finally worked up the courage to ask Bailey for just one month of rent back so she could fix her car before it became completely undrivable. She approached it so carefully, explaining how she’d been walking to work in the rain because she was scared to drive without proper brakes. Gia only needed enough for the repair, not even the full three months Bailey owed her.

Bailey put on this whole performance about how devastated she was that she couldn’t help. She talked about how the job market was so brutal, and she was already borrowing from her parents just to survive.

I was there on the couch when Bailey’s boyfriend Craig came over that night. Bailey was telling him how guilty she felt about Gia’s car situation while wearing a brand new designer jacket I’d never seen before.

Craig actually offered to loan Gia the money himself, but Bailey quickly shut that down. She said they shouldn’t enable Gia’s poor financial planning, which made me want to throw something at her head.

Three days later, Gia’s car completely died on the highway. She had to get it towed to her apartment complex, where it sat like a giant dead reminder of Bailey’s selfishness.

Gia was now taking two buses to get to 12-hour shifts at the hospital, adding three hours to her daily commute. Meanwhile, Bailey was supposedly doing virtual interviews from her bedroom.

I started noticing packages arriving for Bailey almost daily from expensive online stores. She’d always rush to grab them before Gia got home from work.

One day I was working on my laptop in the living room and Bailey left her bedroom door open. I heard her clearly discussing project deadlines with her team and complaining about her workload at the company she’d supposedly been fired from three months ago. She said she was attending a yoga class, but it was actually a work meeting. I immediately texted Gia what I’d overheard.

Gia came home that night with this look I’d never seen before. It was like all the exhaustion had suddenly transformed into pure determination.

She didn’t confront Bailey directly. Instead, she asked to borrow her laptop to print some medical forms since Gia’s printer was broken. Bailey handed it over without thinking because she was distracted texting someone.

Gia found Bailey’s work email still logged in with hundreds of messages about ongoing projects dating back through all three months of supposed unemployment. But that wasn’t even the worst part. Gia also found Bailey’s banking app open. It showed regular direct deposits from her employer and Venmo transactions, sending money to someone named Mark almost daily.

Gia took screenshots of everything. This included one transaction labeled “miss you baby” with heart emojis sent to Mark just two days ago. She forwarded them all to herself before calmly returning the laptop.

Gia sat on the couch next to me composing a text to Craig while Bailey was in the shower singing without a care in the world. She attached the screenshots of the employment emails and the direct deposits showing Bailey had been getting paid the entire time.

Then came the nuclear option: the Venmo transactions to Mark. He turned out to be Bailey’s ex that she’d supposedly cut contact with after Craig caught them texting last year.

Gia typed a message saying, “Bailey’s been working this whole time and using the money you think she needs for rent to pay her ex Mark for what looks like more than just friendship”. She hovered her finger over the send button.

Right as she hit send, we heard Craig’s phone ding from Bailey’s bedroom. There was complete silence. Then we heard Bailey say:

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

Gia and I sat dead still, waiting to hear what would happen, but we were so not ready for what happened next.