We all know the famous Maya Angelou quote, “When someone shows you who you are, believe them.” However, some people are very good at projecting the image of who they're not. Linda seems to be one of those people. She has an inherent idea of what it means to be a decent neighbor, and as such, has accumulated a steady group of friends in the neighborhood.
It's possible that this network of other residents in the area was created from a genuine place, but it's also equally possible that Linda wanted to gain social currency over time. That social currency would most certainly come in handy when she starts to cross boundaries with other folks in the neighborhood. Unfortunately for her new neighbor and her 71-year-old father, who lived with her, they became the victims of Linda's duplicitousness. Here's what the neighbor had to say about Linda:
“[Am I wrong] for telling my neighbor to stop or I'd throw away whatever she leaves on my property?
Okay, so this has been going on for a few months now, and I finally just need to know if I handled this wrong because, honestly, I'm still not sure. So my neighbor Linda, she's lived next to me for like 6 years. late 50s maybe. We were always fine, nothing special but fine. She once brought over tomatoes from her garden when I first moved in. I work a lot and keep to myself so I was never really part of the whole street friend group she has going on, but no bad bl**d or anything.
My dad (71) moved in with me about a year ago after he had a stroke. He's okay, still gets around, but he uses a cane now and mornings are rough for him. he uses the side entrance to the house every single day because there's no steps there. Linda knows this. She's literally waved to him from her yard before.
Anyway, at some point last summer, I started noticing Linda's garden stuff slowly creeping into my yard. ceramic frogs, stepping stones, a little wooden border. I didn't say anything for months because, honestly, I didn't want the drama. But then I needed some drainage work done on that side because water was pooling near my foundation, and the contractor told me her decorations were like 2 to 4 feet into my property.
So I went and knocked on her door. I was calm, genuinely. Just told her I needed to do some work on that side and that strip was actually my property, gave her a heads up, even offered to help move everything. She said, ‘Okay thanks for letting me know, ’ and that was it. I walked home thinking, ‘Alright, sorted.’ That was a Tuesday.
Friday, my dad opens the side door for his morning walk, and there's one of her ceramic frogs sitting right in the doorway. He didn't see it at first. He caught himself on the door frame before he went down. He's 71. On a cane. A fall is not nothing. I told myself it probably just rolled there or something. moved it back to her yard.
Monday, I come downstairs, and there's two frogs. same spot, right in the doorway. Okay, at this point I'm pretty annoyed, but I'm also like... am I reading too much into this? moved them back, didn't say anything, gave her the benefit of the doubt, I guess.
Then Wednesday. I wake up, and my dad is already gone for his walk. He'd had to get past the entire wooden border she had in the yard; she'd propped it up against the side entrance. in the dark. by himself. He didn't wake me up because he didn't want to start anything between me and Linda. I keep thinking about that. He didn't want to cause trouble.
So I went over, knocked, told her straight that anything left near my entrances from now on gets thrown away, not returned. She just looked at me and shut the door. nothing. That honestly bothered me more than any of the frog stuff. Then, within like a week, three different neighbors come up to me separately. One said I was being aggressive. One told me I should've spoken to her more nicely. One actually said I should respect that she's lived here longer than me, which like... okay. I don't know. Maybe I should've just gone to the landlord from the start, my partner thinks so too. But my dad is out that door every single morning, and I just wasn't going to sit around waiting to see what came next. So was I wrong here or not, genuinely asking." - RajeshFromUpmetrics
Several members of this online community weighed in on the neighbor's conflict with Linda. The vast majority were in agreement that Linda needed to be caught in the act. Many folks suggested that the neighbor install a ring camera so that she could obtain footage of her trespassing.
This commenter pointed out that Linda's behavior is not just passive-aggressive. It's genuinely dangerous. After all, the neighbor's father said it herself. He's 71 and uses a cane. By placing ceramic objects all over the place and outside of his field of vision, Linda could end up being held responsible for way more than she is bargaining for.
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