Woman takes neighbor's yard litter to dump, calls neighbor 'Karen' after she threatens court.
There's nothing quite like a neighborly battle of the wills.
In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a woman asked if she was wrong for calling her neighbor a Karen after she threatened small claims court. She wrote:
"AITA for calling my neighbor a Karen when she threatened me with small claims court?"
I don't know if ages matter but I (F30) live with my wife and our two sons. We are homeowners and have had some trouble with our next-door neighbors. They're a young nuclear family, two parents in their 30s with a little baby.
We aren't the type of neighbors to spy into yards or monitor what everyone is doing so we hadn't really noticed that their backyard is a pigsty, at least not until our fence panels had been broken. These neighbors had been piling trash and leaning it up against OUR fence, and eventually, the sheer weight of it had just broken it, causing it all to spill into our yard.
There were old pieces of wood, metal, garbage bags, pieces of furniture and just general clutter and crap. I confronted the neighbors and informed them of what happened. I asked politely that they clear up the garbage and contribute some money towards a new fence. The husband said he'd sort it out, but after 2 weeks of no change, I knocked on their door again.
The wife gave some excuse about how the baby has been crazy but that they would get rid of the garbage ASAP. Another 3 weeks and nothing. I knocked on their door at two different times, left messages on their ring doorbell, and messaged them both on Facebook and it has been radio silence. They've also not given us any money for the fence but to be honest I don't even care.
After no response for another week, I took matters into my own hands. I loaded up THEIR garbage into my car and took it to the dump. They're now angry and said that we have no right to get rid of their stuff and it's still their property. When the wife turned up at our door we got into a small argument as she threatened me with small claims court, saying that we owe her and her husband money.
I called her a Karen and told her if the stuff was so important she shouldn't have left it littered around in my yard where my kids play for over a month. She says that they would've gotten rid of it if they were given a chance, the nearest dump is over an hour drive away and they don't have all the time in the world. AITA?
The internet had a lot of opinions.
meeksworth wrote:
NTA they damaged your property and then they abandoned their items on your side of the fence. That's property damage abs littering that they're guilty of, and it's unlikely that any court would grant damages for property they abandoned on someone else's land. YOU should be taking them to small claims court about the damage to your fence.
CrimsonKnight_004 wrote:
NTA - Legally, I’m not sure how sound what you did is, with property laws and whatnot varying on location. But regardless of legality, they’re definitely the AHs for breaking your fence and leaving their trash in your yard for a month. Before you moved their trash, I think it would’ve been better if you took them to small claims yourself, or contacted the sanitation department.
I think legally that’d help your case. But I also don’t blame you for what you did, and I don’t think any court would fault you for tossing trash that was left on your property.
RAS310 wrote:
YTA. You wouldn't have called them that if they were a man. You would have just called him a jerk, right? Not "a Michael" or some other random male name. If her name wasn't Karen, it was wrong to call her that, and sexist. Karen is a name, not an insult, and there is a reason people in this sub are not allowed to use it in this way.
TraumaTeamTwo2 wrote:
YTA for making a post you KNOW will lead to everyone saying NTA. This sub used to be an interesting exercise in ethics and behavior. Now? Just people looking for affirmation.
Kind_Substance_2865 wrote:
NTA. Take photos and document everything, and dare her to go ahead with her claim. If she does, file a counter claim. And be sure to update us here.