You're not alone here, Louis. I know what it's like to live in the realm of extreme unfairness, and someone being defended when they shouldn't be.

A few years ago, I had a good friend share my apartment with me over the summer. At least, that was the intention. He ended up being the worst sort of deadbeat you could have for a roommate. He threw his trash everywhere but the can and never helped pick up around the house. He used all my dishes, never washed any of them, and broke a couple (they were inherited from my passed-away grandparents). He ate all the food I bought and left me nothing, then always somehow found the money to treat himself to Dairy Queen - but when he invited me along, he always said he only had enough cash for himself. He didn't pay rent the entire time he was here, and he spent almost all his days sitting half-naked in the game room playing World of WarCraft. He didn't even bother trying to find a job - and I prodded him about that repeatedly - until I threatened to kick him out, because I had absolutely no money and he was offering no assistance whatsoever. Five weeks of nagging him to take a full bin of soda cans to the recycling center saw him finally do it - then he used the trade-in money to buy himself a nice big meal at Dairy Queen before I got home from work that day.

He got a job and I confiscated his first paycheck to go towards his 3-months overdue rent. I got his second one, too. He complained I wasn't leaving him anything to enjoy. Well, duh. And the whole cycle still continued; he was still the worst slob. August came around and he went back to his mom's house, which he hated living in because she's very controlling. I didn't get even half the rent money back, never mind all the grocery money I spent on the guy. Financially, I was still floundering. I wrote a letter explaining the situation to his mom. She turned into a mother grizzly on me over the whole mess, defending her poor baby boy from his terrible friend. She did eventually offer to pay me the rent money back, and I accepted - a little is better than nothing. But we didn't so much as say a word to each other for a year.

We hang out now and again, but I've learned my lesson. I get him one gift on his birthday, one on Christmas, and otherwise, he doesn't get a dime from me. And I stay away from where he lives.