Man's petty revenge against prankster lawn menace becomes unexpected friendship.
'WIBTA for spraying some kid with my garden hose daily after he walks all over our lawn'
I (37M) live with my wife (37F) and son and daughter ( 9 and 11 respectively).
Recently, there has been this kid who comes by our house after playing soccer and either rides his bike or walks over the lawn with his cleats on his way home.
It started out as me giving him stern looks whenever I saw him, then it slowly progressed to me asking him to just go around.
The last time I asked him to stop he made a point to stomp extra hard and twist his feet in to the grass to piss me off.
Since then I've just been hosing him. The first time I sprayed him with the hose he ran off, but then for some reason he just started standing there while I hose him like he enjoys it.
It's now progressed to me sitting on my lawn chair pointing my hose at him, and him just staring at me while he does so. Sometimes we even make small talk.
I'm not going to lie, it started off as a really bitter relationship, but I've actually gotten to know the kid quite well, we talk for maybe 15-20 mins everyday, and he doesn't seem to mind being hosed down after sweating hard playing soccer. It's become kind of a routine and I realize the kid isn't so bad.
He comes by daily and we just shoot the sh*t while I hose him and he stands there for a bit. My wife told me I need to stop, even after I explained it to her she said I'm making us look like childish idiots.
I guess I could stop, but honestly it's really funny waiting for him to come by and I see no harm in it. WIBTA?
Here were the top responses to the OP:
Ok this is hilarious. I was going to say you were the a**hole and get a fence, but I see nothing wrong with what’s going on now. NAH.
I agree OP should continue this to see if their life turns any more into a Wes Anderson movie.
Sometimes you just have to spray the hate away.
Hose
Coming this fall.
I mean the kid sounds like kind of an AH. But I guess NAH haha. Kid is obviously deprived of attention and is weirdly getting something bizarrely meaningful from this incredibly strange relationship haha. Has he stopped trying to damage your lawn?
The OP responded here:
he still steps on the lawn but not as recklessly as he did when we first met lol, he also parks his bike when he rides it on the sidewalk but im not sure if hes doing that to be nice or because he doesnt want his bike getting wet.
Inter-generational friendships can get a lot of bad rep simply because there are creepy people out there who befriend children for creepy reasons.
But.. they can be so wholesome and sweet, like OPs. A truly different kind of friendship.
Get another chair, ask the kid to come sit with you. That kid rather gets hosed down by a stranger than go home, something's up.