Karma Cleanser - February 20 2002

Dear Karma Cleanser:
My roommate and I really don’t get along very well. He talks down to me, eats my food and he’s a big music Nazi, among other things. The thing that bothers me most however, is the fact that he drinks my milk. He uses it and never replaces it, and if he does, he buys skim milk (I drink whole) and then he drinks it straight from the carton so I can’t have any.

A friend recently gave me the idea to whack it in my milk just for fun. I did it, and now I can’t help but chuckle a bit every time he uses my milk for his cereal. Is that wrong of me? I really don’t feel that bad about it.

-- IT DOES A BODY GOOD

The Karma Cleanser marvels at how often we hear about folks sabotaging their roommates’ food, an alarming trend that makes us paranoid about even our own pantry. In any case, yes, what you’re doing is wrong, not to mention disgusting and decidedly juvenile. Get a new roommate, and get your rocks off elsewhere.

Dear Karma Cleanser:
If I’m a witness to a bad thing but decide not to do anything about it, does that make me a bad person? How do you know when you’re doing the right thing by doing nothing?

It’s been three weeks since this happened but it has been eating on my thoughts since then. I was walking in front of my house one morning and happened to see my neighbor backing out of his driveway at a speed only reserved for NASCAR drivers. He turned quickly into the street and in doing so backed halfway over a cat that was lying next to the curb. The cat was injured but not killed. It screamed and ran away. The neighbor stopped his car for a moment, looked around, then drove away.

I’ve since found out from the owner of the cat that her back paw was broken. She will eventually recover completely but for now both the pet and the owner are in a bad state. When I heard about the injury I didn’t immediately volunteer my knowledge of the incident, not wanting to make waves on a street where nerves are already a little frayed. But I’m feeling very guilty for keeping quiet.

-- TIRE TRACKS

It’s understandable that you don’t want to incite a neighborhood riot, especially if the street has a history of tension. But you owe it to your neighbor (and her maimed feline) to admit what you saw. Tell her on the condition of anonymity, if need be, but it’s imperative that you let this cat out of the bag.

Been bad? Get right with the universe at karma@creativeloafing.com.