Entitled driver refuses to stop making noise with car, faces payback when next door neighbor decides to move his fire pit: 'I'll do what I want in my own yard'

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Feb 19, 2025 3:00 PM EST

Just like with family, you can't choose your neighbors (at least, that is the case with most places). When moving someplace new or having a house or apartment near you change the occupancy, it's often a case of praying the people who live near you are decent and hoping for the best. Otherwise great living situations are easily ruined by living near others who seem to have their top priority be making your nightmares come true. Even those who are more mildly inconvenient, entitled, or impolite can put a real dampener on your day-to-day life. It certainly doesn't make for a peaceful home.

Perhaps one of the most common complaints that people make about their neighbors is that they are noisy. While a certain level of disruption is inevitable when you are in close vicinity with one another, some individuals seem to do everything in their power to push those boundaries. It isn't pleasant to deal with, and it can leave some feeling they have no choice but to use unorthodox methods to make it stop.

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    Cheezburger Image 10469756672
    via Kevin Woblick

  • This is exactly what one man resorted to when his new next-door neighbor, Pete, wouldn't stop making a lot of noise with his car. Despite multiple individuals living in the neighborhood requesting that he be less noisy, Pete refused to take their concerns into account. Neighbors were despairing until the guy next door realized that he had an easy way he could massively inconvenience the entitled driver. It involved his garden fire pit.

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    "I'll do what I want in my own yard!". Ok, I'll make it impossible to enjoy your air.

    Last Spring, my old neighbor, who was a saint, sold her house and moved away. The people that moved in were awful. The guy, who we'll call Pete, owns some sort of a new black Mustang that sounds like it has no muffler, and he revs it up and down the subdivision streets in the evenings LITERALLY 5 days a week when a lot of people- myself included- sit on the back porch and watch TV during the summer. It is relentless.
    via TitansFrontRow
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    This guy also drives up and down the state highway that is on the other side of my house doing the same thing but LOUDER because it's a 55mph speed limit. You can hear it for miles. And he has friends over regularly in the backyard, and they sit there on the weekends and some weeknights... revving up the car. It truly is so loud that you cannot do anything but wait for him to be done. There was a big Facebook conversation in the HOA group, and a bunch of neighbors politely asked him not to do th
    via TitansFrontRow
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    Road Pete Back Roa d Me
    via TitansFrontRow
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    Well, I know from 15 years of living here that any time I have a fire on the side of the yard next to Pete's, the smoke is guaranteed to travel in the direction of Pete's house. I know this because I couldn't ever have a fire when my old neighbor was outside as it would literally fill her backyard with smoke if ever the wood had even a hint of moisture in it. So, I moved my fire pit- about a dozen years ago- to the other side of my house and towards the road so that I could be a good neighbor. A
    via TitansFrontRow
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    It took me a single weekend to dig up the pavers and blocks, move them back to my preferred spot, and get myself a fire going in my new fire pit. I just need to wait until Pete had people over. I made sure the inaugural fire was a good one... Pete had friends over, it was a nice day, and so I started the fire. Got it JUST about started... and then I added all the wettest, grossest wood I could. And about 10 minutes later, Pete and all of his friends were visibly upset by the stench, so they all
    via TitansFrontRow
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    I kept that up the entire day, and then I added a bunch of grass clipping to keep it going over night. The next day, still smoldering. Still smelling awful. I put out a Facebook post on the HOA website that let people know I'd be continuing to utilize my fire pit as often as possible, so they could bring me their lawn scraps. I had about 20 people respond in a few hours saying their clippings were all mine.
    via TitansFrontRow
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    I kept that fire going. My dogs are good alarms, and they rush outside anytime anybody is in Pete's backyard, so I would hear the dogs scramble, go out, and add more clippings. After about 3 weeks, Pete and his wife came out and very kindly asked me what was going on with the fire pit. She very politely informed me that her hair would smell like a campfire if she went into her backyard for any amount of time, and they could smell it coming into their house through their ductwork. He said I was m
    via TitansFrontRow
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    I looked at him and his wife, and I said that it was clear that sometimes we didn't recognize how big of an effect something could have on our neighbors until they told us about it. But then I said, as objectively as possible that I normally live by the same "I'll do what I want in my yard" thought process as Pete does. I have a right to enjoy my yard. I looked at Pete de d in the eyes and said "and I know you support that because of how the conversation concluded about your car, right, Pete?" H
    via TitansFrontRow
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    I took a gamble and put the fire out right after that. It was the right call. I haven't talked to them much since. I'm not too concerned about that because I haven't heard the Mustang since, Either. All in all, a good little case of "petty revenge".
    via TitansFrontRow
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    Commenters congratulated him on an impeccable revenge.

    rust-e-apples1 Petty AF, but diplomatic when you needed to be. Perfection.
    via rust-e-apples1
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    Vektor0 This is how you do passive-aggressive. You need to make a point, effectively, and without apologizing or feigning ignorance.
    via Vektor0
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    Wow_u_sure_r_dumb Passive aggression without cowardice is always entertaining and can be the right move to avoid a fight with a hot head.
    via Wow_u_sure_r_dumb
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    Objective_Economy281 Let his wife have that fight for you. She's got weeks worth of smelly hair to fuel her.
    via Objective_Economy281
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    ShadowSlayer74 More effective that way too, he can just get mad at his neighbor. He has to live with his wife.
    via ShadowSlayer74
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    Gonna BuyMeAMercury I guarantee she doesn't like the sound of the Mustang either lol. Source: have wife. lol
    via GonnaBuyMeAMercury
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    daisymaisy505 I think you putting the fire out immediately after the conversation helped solidify your point. Great petty revenge!
    via daisymaisy505
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    Vektor0 Yeah, it was a show of good faith. It communicated that his intention wasn't to cause harm or be on bad terms.
    via Vektor0
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    rust-e-apples1 "I've said what I needed to say. I'm gonna give you a chance to respond."
    via rust-e-apples1
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    k5hill Sounds like the wife is tired of his BS too. Well played!
    via k5hill
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    Golbez89 Excellent example of walk softly but carry a big nasty smelling stick while it's on fire. Kudos.
    via Golbez89
  • 22
    sadcrocodile wish I could have been a fly on the wall for the conversation Pete and the wife had afterwards!
    via sadcrocodile
  • 23
    jetkins If the car suddenly became tolerable overnight, that suggests that it has some sort of exhaust cutout, and Pete was simply being an a by not disengaging it in the neighborhood.
    via jetkins

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neighbors petty revenge entitled people karma entitled reddit thread Reddit entitled people hoa car fire driving noise
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