An adage used to say, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Recently, however, a forum user discovered that sometimes even a great fence couldn’t fix a lousy neighbor matchup.
Mending Fences
“Sarah” says that she lives in the home she grew up in after it was left to her when her mother died. She’s resided there alone for about ten years and enjoys the home and property.
She says that new neighbors moved in about four years ago, and since then, they’ve been on bad terms.
Sarah has three cats that she lets out into her backyard on occasion. Her neighbors have a dog who would jump the five-foot fence that separated their properties and chase her cats. She warned them that if the dog did it again, she would call the police.
Split Costs
They asked her if she’d be willing to split the cost of a higher privacy fence, and she refused. They eventually put the fence up anyway.
After that, her neighbors asked if she’d be willing to split the cost of taking down an Ash tree on their property. It had become infected and was dropping limbs on her neighbor’s driveway.
Sarah says her neighbors had a surveyor come out, and he found that ten percent of the tree was on her property. She informed the neighbors that the tree didn’t bother her and they’d have to pay to cut it down.
Mail Mixup
Sarah says that after the tree discussion, she went on vacation to see family and had a friend come by to check on her cats.
During this time, she was notified about a package delivery as she often orders medicine for her cats online. When she got a notice from her ring camera, she was shocked to see her neighbor on her porch and asked him what he was doing.
Packages
Her neighbor informed her that one of their packages had mistakenly arrived at her address. Sarah told her neighbor he needed to leave the package and that she’d have her friend drop it off when she came to check on the cats.
Her neighbor balked at that and, after showing her the package through her Ring cam, said he’d take his package now. Sarah didn’t like that idea and escalated the issue by calling the cops on her neighbor.
Personal Police
Not surprisingly, her neighbor used some colorful language to describe Sarah, telling her she needed to stop using the police as her personal problem-solving service. After revealing that she’s called the cops on them before for throwing “loud” parties that included “bonfires,” forum users are here for the comments.
Selfish Neighbor
One contributor had a thing or two to say to Sarah about her elevated selfishness that was spot on. This comment aptly points out that good neighbors mend fences with kindness.
“Ah, you are the selfish neighbor type. Good neighbors are friendly and kind to each other.
A good neighbor would go 50/50 on a fence because it benefits them both. It also adds to the property value of both.
A good neighbor would go 10% on the tree because it is also on their property and benefits their property value.
A good neighbor would understand that they are grabbing their package.
But if you intentionally foster bad relationships, you can only expect to have harmful interactions.”
Switching Sides
One individual was totally on Sarah’s side about the dog and the fence, but the package situation was different.
“That was pretty mild in the first place. Sarah could have called animal control or, in a lot of the US, shot it. I’m glad she didn’t, but telling the neighbors to control their dog and sort their fence out by themselves if they felt they needed to upgrade it to do so was fine. This package thing is ridiculous and way out of line.”
Overreach
One opinionated person thought that calling the cops for trespassing was a massive overreach on Sarah’s part.
“Call the cops for trespassing? That is still such a HUGE unnecessary overreaction. I would go around my neighbor’s place and grab a parcel if it had been delivered there by mistake. I would assume I was doing them a favor by getting it myself rather than expecting them to deliver it to me.”
British Opinion
A British commentator said that walking up someone’s driveway to knock on their door or pick up a misplaced package should not be trespassing and that UK police would not take it kindly. “Brit here – if I were picking up a package, I’d walk over to their door and knock on it to say what I was doing, but if they’re not answering and my parcel is right there, I’m taking it. I’d expect them to do the same.
“Walking up to someone’s door and ringing the bell is not trespassing. If they ask you to leave, you should do so immediately, and you shouldn’t walk over their garden or anything – but stepping up a path to knock on the door of your next-door neighbor is normal behavior. In the UK, police would tell you to stop wasting their time if you reported a neighbor picking up their package from your porch; I don’t know what American police would say.
The whole situation is toxic, which is why Sarah escalated immediately.”
Porch Pirates
An informed person admitted that ‘porch pirates’ are a problem in parts of the United States but that a misplaced package wasn’t a reason to call the police.
“Yes, we have a lot of package thieves here where I live (in the US). If I knew my package went to the wrong place, I would go to ask for it. I would probably knock or ring the bell to let them know I was taking the package if it was still on their steps. But I would take it and go if they weren’t home because it’s mine. The neighbors sound like jerks, but the guy showed Sarah on the camera that it was his package, so not wanting him to take it was absurd. Calling the cops for that was crappy.”
Child Services
You know it’s bad when no one wants you around. One forum user was quick to let Sarah know just what they thought. “Don’t forget to mention that it’s illegal to use police like Sarah’s been doing. What if a crime occurred and the police couldn’t attend because they were dealing with Sarah? I’m pretty sure police can arrest people for nuisance calls like this.”
“Also, isn’t there a time limit for parties in some countries? Like in Australia, anything after 11 p.m. is a no-no, but until then, it’s free for all. I’d hate to have a neighbor like you. You’d probably call child services on a crying baby because it’s disturbing you.”
Nightmare Neighbor
One poster on this forum pointed out the possible legal moves Sarah’s neighbor could have because she likes to call the cops for the slightest supposed infraction. “It’s also easy for the neighbor to suggest that they didn’t believe she would bring the package over because she’s been so combative. I don’t understand why Sarah is making her life this much harder, and I’m guaranteeing any chance these neighbors have to make her life a nightmare legally, they’re now going to take it.”
Become Human
A recent forum participant let Sarah know that she needed to become a human and try talking to her neighbors before calling the police. “You know, in my neighborhood, when something happens, I talk to my neighbors before I do anything else. And you know what has never happened? I’ve never had an issue where I’ve had to call the police. You are seriously an awful neighbor. I get it, not wanting to pitch in on the fence, but how you handle everything else is rude and aggressive.
“All the problems stem from you, not your neighbors. I feel sorry for them. I feel like they would probably be the type of people writing about you on the Neighbors from Hell forum based on the things you have listed above. Honestly, become a human and start talking to them versus escalating it, especially since it was their package.”
Be the Better Person
One forum commenter was quick to tell Sarah she needed to be a better person if she didn’t want to be known as a jerk.
“They sound like absolutely awful neighbors, and under any other circumstances, I’d side with you in a second. But you called the cops and accused them of stealing THEIR PACKAGE.”
“They didn’t steal from you. They fetched something that belonged to them off your porch. And while yes, they were trespassing, if you get medication delivered, you know that sometimes packages can’t wait, and perhaps this was a situation like that. It doesn’t sound like you cared to listen to anything they had to explain. If you want to be better than your terrible neighbors, you have to BE the better person.”
Finders Keepers
After reading Sarah’s story, our last opinion was straight out of kindergarten. “I don’t blame the neighbors for thinking Sarah would ‘finders keepers’ the package and not give it back.”
How to Win Friends
There’s a reason the “good fences make good neighbors” adage is still around today, but it has more to do with how people act than just physical proximity. One of our commenters was right. If you care about being a good neighbor, be a good neighbor! And in the name of all things holy, don’t call the cops whenever your neighbor does something you don’t like, especially if you haven’t talked to them first.
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