No matter where you live, emotions are heightened, and even the smallest conflict has the potential to escalate into a full-scale battle of wills. Take, for example, a fight documented by a Redditor on the Am I the A–hole subreddit. In a post written two months ago, the original poster explained that her neighbors' kids have been trespassing on their property, and they had been debating planting prickly bushes to deter them.
The OP explained that she moved into the townhouse a few months earlier.
"My driveway is right next to the neighbors'; it big enough to fit two regular-sized cars, and halfway down my driveway, there's a path leading around my house," explained the Redditor.
Ever since the OP moved in, she's been having trouble issues with the neighbors using her driveway for parking, she wrote. "Asking them to stop using it and keep their items on their own property has not worked, so I placed a few large plants, installed a camera and a no trespassing sign, and that helped a bit. At least the cars are gone," she explained.
While following safer at home guidance, the OP has been working from home.
"But the neighbors' kids are making that really hard," the OP explained. "They're about 5 and 7, boys, and they keep ringing my doorbell multiple times a day to ask if they can play with my dog, if I want to play with them or anything else they can think of. I asked them to stop it so I can work, which of course didn't work, so I asked their parents, and was told boys will be boys, and they weren't going to do anything about it."
Even after the OP says she removed the battery from her doorbell, the issue persisted. "They keep running around in my front yard, on the path around the house, banging on my windows, banging on my doors and actually tried to open the gate to my backyard this morning as they heard me in there," she wrote. "I once again asked them to stop, told them I will not be allowing them to play with the dog anymore at all if they keep this up and they left, sending over their dad. I told him to keep the boys away from my property and door, if not, I'll be planting some prickly bushes to teach them to stay away from other people's property and shut the door in his face."
The OP then turned it over to the Reddit community, asking if she'd be a jerk for planting prickly bushes.
Commenters were overwhelmingly on the OP's side. "Their parents are lazy and sound like they just want to make you a free babysitter. 'Boys will be boys' smh," one wrote.
Another shared, "These parents are jerks. Be petty and install a motion-sensor that sets off a sprinkler system."
A third suggested, "You also might want to contact the landlord and see if they are willing to install a fence. I am a landlord, and I wouldn't want random kids coming onto the property and would be very willing to help out."
In an update to the original post, the OP explained that she planted a wall of berries at the two sides of her garden facing the driveway.
For about two weeks, she said it was somewhat quiet, but she still found the kids on her driveway every now and then. "As far as I know, they did not enter the garden, and I hadn't noticed them walking around my house anymore, so I figured the bushes were working," she wrote.
But then she caught the boys picking and eating raspberries. "I told them off and dropped them off at home, told their mom I caught them stealing (that's how I see it even though it's fruit), and that I'd call the cops next time. She huffed and told me to grow up, but took the boys inside anyway," the OP explained.
Fast-forward to the moment when the OP saw the father and two sons "right in the middle" of her garden, "clearing" her bushes and plants.
"I didn't even confront them, just called the cops from a distance as they hadn't noticed me yet and started filming them after making the call," she wrote. "Luckily, two cops showed up after 10 minutes or so and they confronted the neighbor as they were still picking berries. They told them they were trespassing and that the berry picking was in fact considered stealing and that I could press charges. For the first time, I noticed a bit of fear in my neighbor."
The OP then talked to the police, who asked if she wanted to press charges.
She said she wouldn't press charges right now, but is thinking about getting an extra camera set up on the wall between her garden and the road "to cover the entire front garden and driveway," which the police officers said would be OK.
"So, now I'm getting an extra camera installed," the OP explained. "If I ever catch any of them again, the cops will be called and possible charges will follow."
While it feels like a bit of a stretch to contact law enforcement to address the situation, here's hoping the OP feels like she landed on a satisfying resolution — and the neighbors have taken the hint to stay off her property and out of her garden.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
