Have you had your lunch yet, Coconauts? If you haven’t — hold on a minute and consider whether you want your appetite spoiled. If you have, brace your stomach; if your sandwich is currently suspended in mid-air — look away now — or at the very least, put that baby down before proceeding.
Welcome to 2019’s first spine-chiller, the one where you’ve been (allegedly!) unwittingly living with an unhygienic hoarder.
Meet Micho Teh, a self-professed gamer, cosplayer and streamer, who was up until very recently sharing a house with what sounds like our very own personal hygiene nightmare.
Alleging that Janet* was a bit suss from the start, with a powerful body odor and greasy hair, her living situation took a turn for the worse when she and a fellow housemate noticed that “Janet” no longer ate her meals holed up in her room, but had taken her mealtimes into the common living space downstairs.
Assuming (as per their shared video and photos of the situation, quite rightly) that her room was “messy,” the two housemates planned to “suck it up” as they were moving out next month. Unfortunately, they failed to qualify exactly how disgustingly filthy “messy” could get. As the weeks went on, the amount of cockroach visitors that the house received began to multiply.
Initially suspecting the issue to be related to the rainy season, the entire house became increasingly more suspicious as the number continued not only to grow exponentially, but seemed to emanate from the house’s upper floors — defying logic that the roaches were coming from the outside ground level.
Taking the dire situation to the housemate group chat, “Janet” initially feigned ignorance, claiming that she too had begun to notice the visitors, but was unsure of their provenance. The chat escalated, with “Janet” suddenly telling the group that the situation was so bad she was moving out.
Surprised by her actions, the housemates decided to investigate for themselves, and it soon became apparent where the proverbial president of roach-city lived: In “Janet’s” room.
Behold, living-quarters strewn not just with trash, but also dog feces, because — as it were — it seems that “Janet” failed to clean up after the dog that she kept with her inside the room. The sheer amount of trash is truly unfathomable, with Micho wondering exactly how she was able to live in the space for as long as she did. The space appears to be cut from the same cloth as one of the more abject Hoarders episodes that we’ve watched.
No, there are no photos of “Janet,” Micho wants you to know. And no, she hadn’t known her before living with her.
While we sit here shaking out heads, there is something to keep in mind that the kind doctors featured in Hoarders taught us: Many individuals struggling with personal hygiene, or lack thereof, are also dealing with mental illness to varying degrees.
Completely inexcusable considering the state that our protagonist “Janet” allegedly left her room in, but important to keep in mind that a lot of people out there are fighting losing battles with their mental health. Talk to them, or find out if they’ve got family you can speak to — you’ll save yourself the grief of being emperor to a roach kingdom, and also help someone clearly in need.
*While Micho’s post names the alleged individual, we’ve replaced their name with a pseudonym, as her claims have not been corroborated
