'Yes ma'am, I will destroy your lawn': Woman flips out over tire tracks left on her lawn by volunteer workers

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 27, 2024 11:00 AM EST

This woman was very upset at the state of her lawn. She did not hold back while scolding the people who caused it… but they were a little confused about why she was so upset in the first place. 

The OP of this story, u/Emergency_Reason_242, has an important job as a disaster relief volunteer. These are the people who show up after a town has been demolished by a hurricane, a devastating flood, or a tornado. For residents of these towns, life transforms overnight. Instead of living their lives as usual, many of them are suddenly left without a house or car. Others may lose all of their belongings. Some manage to keep their property intact, but their houses might have such bad water or structural damage that it will take months to repair. It's a difficult situation for everyone involved. That's why it's so helpful to have volunteer organizations to take on some of the burden. The quicker people can get back to living their lives in safe homes and clean properties, the better. 

The town that the OP describes has been through a rough period. They had a tornado sweep through and destroy swathes of the town! The residents were left with almost nothing in some cases: as the OP notes, in the area they were working at, there was almost nothing left untouched by the tornado. 

Check out their whole story below, then read 15 super satisfying tales of instant karma. 

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  • 01
    'None of my diversions worked... She wanted to speak to my manager' MARK
    via Daniel Helpiansky on Unsplash
  • 02
    Yes ma'am, I will destroy your lawn. M OC A few years ago, I worked as a full time volunteer for a disaster relief organization building houses in a Midwestern town in the US that had recently been decimated by a large tornado. I was a site supervisor, essentially a general contractor and overseeing
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 03
    volunteers for a single project, beginning to end. Above me, I had a project manager (PM) who would oversee several houses, make sure we had what we needed, make sure we met deadlines, etc.
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 04
    So one day as I'm wrapping up my current house, my PM calls to tell me that one of the other supervisors has been having kind of a hard time with their volunteers and asked me to go help out on thier site for a few days. As I show up to the house, currently just a foundation and frame, a supply truck is pulling out of the back yard. It has apparently been late getting there, because there's a crowd of bored looking volunteers sitting out front and the site sup is looking pretty antsy. I go
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 05
    up and introduce myself to everyone and start game planning with the other sup when a very angry lady starts screaming at us from next door. We go ask her what's up and she is absolutely spitting, because we drove all over her lawn, killing all her grass. Now, you have to understand that when I say this town was decimated, I mean that not a single house, not a single tree in this entire part of the town had been left standing. Enough time had passed that many houses had been rebuilt, but
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 06
    my point is that as far as you could see in any direction was still an ugly mess, and her grass wasn't making a lick of difference. Admittedly, when she pointed out where the edge of her giant double lot was, it did look like the truck had left some light tire tracks. Other site sup said he really needed to get back to the volunteers and so I told him I would take care of this. I apologized, and explained that was the only way that we could get to the back yard, but that it wouldn't happen again
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 07
    about how awesome it was that all these kind volunteers had driven hours and were giving an entire week to help build her neighbor a free house, and weren't people just beautiful, and wouldn't it be great to have the area property value go back up. None of my diversions worked and she just kept frothing herself up. She eventually said that she wanted "to speak to my manager."
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 08
    Luckily he was only a few blocks away, and when he got there I explained the situation. He seemed pretty irritated and told the lady flat out that we were a volunteer organization, building her neighbor a house, and that it was pretty petty to get so I about us driving along the edge of her property. Well, you can imagine how that went over, and she said "I demand that you completely reseed and mulch my yard."
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 09
    I smiled and said "how about we use straw?" Edit: for those who don't know, this is me offering an out. Mulch is used in landscaping to prevent grass and weeds growing. Strawing after seeding protects the seed and doesn't prevent growth.
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 10
    My PM looked at me dead pan and said "don't be a cheapskate, Anon. She said mulch."
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 11
    The self satisfied smile she gave me is something I will treasure for all my life. We spent the rest of the day seeding, then mulching her entire double lot. PM even made a call and got someone who supported our noble goal to donate several truckloads of mulch. We worked next to her for the next two months, all of her grass died, and she never said a word about it. Tldr: a Karen demands that I seed and mulch her lawn, so I do.
    via u/Emergency_Reason_242
  • 12
    ronlugge Not all of us know much about gardening. All I know is 'mulch is something you do for plants'. Might be worth adding how that ruins a yard.
    via u/ronlugge
  • 13
    B2Rocketfan77 Sounds to me like it was all mulch to do about nothing. I'll see myself out.
    via u/B2Rocketfan77
  • 14
    MT10inMA That's awesome. Good job lol
    via u/MT10inMA
  • 15
    Elegant Demerits Looks like the grass is greener on the other side. 9 Reply Share dabomerest. Well not in her neighbors case
    via u/Elegant Demerits
  • 16
    Firetigeris hmmm... maybe that what she actually wanted... no lawn, no lawn care- blame the volunteers at X org for it, never fix it.
    via u/Firetigeris
  • 17
    Hoosierdaddy-6942. Reminds me of an old Three Stooges episode (aren't they all old) where Moe tells one of them to put on his shoes and socks and not out of MC but simply doing as told he put on his shoes then pulled socks on over the shoes. OP was simply following the rules, brilliantly.
    via u/Hoosierdaddy-6942
  • 18
    littlehappyfeets I do understand a little bit why she was upset. She lost everything, and then some strangers pull up and cause even more damage to her property. Yeah, she definitely didn't handle it well AT ALL and she had no idea what she was demanding, but like I said. She lost everything. Big oof.
    via u/littlehappyfeets

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karens seeds lawn malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit demanding yard karens in the wild volunteer karen story malicious compliance reddit karen grass
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