I’ve been evicted.
Back in college, a few of my friends mentioned that they had bumped into my brother on campus. This was unusual since my brother lived six hours away. I told my friends that if they saw my brother again to NOT invite him into their place. My friends all thought that was a terrible thing for me to say about my own brother.
I tried to explain that my brother had been struggling with addiction for years. And stealing anything and everything had become part of his personal repertoire.
At any rate, my friends all thought I was being a dick. And invited him in despite my warning.
Unsurprisingly, he repaid their hospitality by stealing their checkbooks.
Even though my friends instead that it was their own fault for not listening to me, I still felt that it was my responsibility to pay them back. So I asked my coworkers to cover their shifts at the bookstore to pay them all back. (Three separate friends. Two were roommates.)
Working double time I was able to pay them back. But I didn’t have enough to cover my own rent. (Which was actually only $450/mo, it felt like a lot at the time.)
Ended up getting evicted and crashing on a friend’s couch.
I know my brother stole their money, assuming that I would just ask for money to pay them back from my older sister. He often stole money from my parents, assuming my sister would just give them more. Which she did. But I was tired of the bullshit cycle where he stole money with no consequences.
Yes, I know it’s dumb that I essentially decided to accept the consequences of his actions. When I could have asked my sister for help and avoided being evicted.
But I wanted him to understand that his actions had consequences for me. That I wasn’t just another route for him to steal from my older sister who he saw as a money pit.