Man Reminds Neighbor Of HOA Violation For Her Unmown Yard, She Tells Him To Mow It Himself If It Bothers Him

"His response to this was to call me lazy and remind me of HOA violation potential."

Filip

• Published in Interesting
• June 11, 2024

In some circumstances, the line between friendliness and meanness is too thin. Sometimes, you find yourself in a situation where you can't tell if someone is nice or cruel to you.

That situation happened to a Reddit user, too. She was perplexed and decided to ask the Reddit community to help her.

The OP has lived in her home for about two and a half years with her 90-pound dog and two indoor cats. Her boyfriend, who is not yet a live-in partner, stays over several nights each week based on their schedules.

About a year ago, neighbors Steve and Beth moved in with their 9-year-old son. Beth is employed full-time, while Steve is a stay-at-home dad.

The OP works three days at the office and two days from home. During a work-from-home day, while taking a break with her dog in the backyard, she exchanged greetings with Steve.

During the conversation, Steve had been mowing his lawn and asked somewhat pointedly if she planned to mow her lawn soon. The OP told him that she or her boyfriend handles it every two weeks, and informed him that the lawn would be handled the next day.

The OP explained her lawn wasn't overly long. Living in Texas, with sparse rainfall and watering restrictions, there wasn't much grass to maintain.

However, Steve replied that she didn't seem too busy at the moment and said she should do it right away. The OP told him that her workday was not over yet.

Then, Steve labeled her as lazy and hinted at a potential HOA violation. She retorted that a single day would not make a difference and sarcastically suggested he could mow it himself if it troubled him that much.

He accused her of being rude, claiming he was just looking out for her. Conflicted, she shared the incident with her boyfriend, and he thinks she should have just ignored him.

The OP wonders if she was in the wrong for how she handled the situation.

Here is the OP's dilemma

The OP has lived alone in her home for about two and a half years

Recently, while taking a break between meetings in her backyard, she saw her neighbor Steve, who is SATD

The neighbor was mowing his lawn and asked if she would ever mow hers

The OP explained there wasn't much grass to mow

She told him it'd be done later when Steve told her she could do it right away

He called her lazy, and she told him he could mow her lawn if that bothers him too much

A Reditor said the OP was not in the wrong

Another Redditor agreed

"This is why I don't bother with neighbors"

The OP should add a few feet to the fence

The OP explained the fence already has the maximum height

A Redditor said the OP's response was polite

The neighbor was being rude

Redditors told her that her comment, in fact, was very polite. Many of them would have responded to him much differently.

The neighbor is clearly bored and has nothing else to think about, so he bothers his neighbors about things like their lawns. Therefore, the OP was not in the wrong.

Filip