Man fed up with tool-hoarding neighbor “borrowing” and losing his equipment, so he asks to borrow his lawnmower and "forgets" to return the keys, neighbor never asks to borrow anything again: 'I left them with Jimmy. He said he’d mail them to you'

Author image for Emma Saven
Emma Saven
Dec 1, 2025 3:00 PM EST

Losing is often just 'borrowing' with minimal care and consideration involved…Well at least that's how this man sees it! His neighbor's daily hobby seems to be walking on over to his side of the fence, requesting new items to borrow. Except his definition of borrowing has forgotten the part when one returns the items. So yes, as you'd expect, there are a lot of awkward morning 'hello, do you still have my screwdriver back there?'

I guess that's the price you pay when you know that your neighbor can't keep your tools safe, lending them to other people without your permission, yet you still lend it to them! It might just be showing them that you don't really care about whether or not they treat your belongings like precious gold, or some of Tuesday night's left-over Pad Thai…But that's a boundary for him to decide on…And the boundary he has chosen seems to be in the form of petty revenge…many people's go-to! 

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  • He wanted to give his neighbor a taste of his own medicine, asking him to borrow his lawnmower. When his neighbor eventually demanded it back, he informed him that he left the keys with another friend, and that he would mail them back to him when his grace looks like a picture torn straight out of a Dr. Seuss children's novel. Mr. Neighbor wasn't too pleased, but on the bright side, he seems to have gotten over his tool-hoarding habit! 

  • Man building in his garage
    via Mario Spencer

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Neighbor kept “borrowing” my tools until I returned the favor

    This happened a while back, but a Reddit post jogged my memory. I used to have this neighbor who treated my tool collection like his personal rental service; except the part where you actually return the stuff.
    via HeatApprehensive1263
  • Most of the time I didn't care, because I didn't use the tools often, but I always ended up having to wander over days later to reclaim my own belongings.
    via HeatApprehensive1263
  • One time I actually needed a tool back... only to find out he had "borrowed" it and then loaned it to one of his buddies.
    via HeatApprehensive1263
  • That tool vanished into the void forever. Granted I should have handled this better, but a few days later, to make this end, I asked to borrow his lawn mower.
    via HeatApprehensive1263
  • I made the excuse I always let you borrow my tools. I used it and put it back exactly where it belonged.
    via HeatApprehensive1263
  • Tools hanging up on the garage wall
    via gettysignature

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I just "forgot" to return the keys. When he came over the next day demanding them back (granted I was always friendly when asking for my stuff back) "Oh!
    via HeatApprehensive1263
  • I remembered last night. I left them with Jimmy. He said he'd mail them back to you." After the neighbor left, I actually went and put the keys in the mail.
    via HeatApprehensive1263
  • Weirdly enough (and at this point thankfully), he never asked to borrow anything from me again.
    via HeatApprehensive1263
  • Ok_Present_54 If he lent your property to someone else and it wasn't returned then he should have paid for a new replacement.
    via Ok_Present_54
  • Puzzled-Mushroom8050 My ex used to loan my tiller to people he worked with--without my knowledge, until the day someone knocked on the door and asked for him. I told him he wasn't home and he said, "he loaned me his tiller and it doesn't work." I was too shocked to say anything to the guy. I was upset with my spouse for loaning it without asking me and told him he needed to pay for the repair. That was probably 10 years ago...my tiller is still broken. Wise of you, OP, to demonstrate the proper
    via Puzzled-Mushroom8050
  • Subject-Driver8127 I'm glad you put an end to being taken for granted... ...especially when it escalated to him treating YOUR property as if it was HIS! And then loosing it permanently!
    via Subject-Driver8127
  • Gardenia Frangipani You've given me a great idea. A friend often borrows the same item from me and I always have to go get it back. I just realised that I really, really need to borrow something from him. I just don't know yet what I need to borrow.
    via Gardenia Frangipani
  • Man mowing his lawn
    via gettysignature

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Moon_Pye My ex-husband lent out so much of my stuff to his parents that I never got back. I said loan your own stuff, leave my stuff alone! He just didn't get it. I guess he thought since it was his parents it was ok. It was NOT ok with me, and he never asked me beforehand either. So I divorced him. Actually there was a lot more that went into the divorce, lol, but I'm sure you get the idea. He just didn't act like he respected me. So I left.
    via Moon_Pye
  • jjeezak This is why I don't loan tools to anyone, and I don't ask to borrow them. I make do with what I have or buy the tool I need.
    via jjeezak
  • rageofa1000suns My childhood at school taught me not to lend someone something unless you are prepared to have them lose it or break it. Got to a point where I wouldn't even lend someone a pencil sharpener because they would drop and lose it in a bin full of shit.
    via rageofa1000suns
  • toxcrusadr I never loan borrowed tools to another person unless the owner approves.
    via toxcrusadr
  • Beowulf33232 I don't loan things out anymore. I'll bring my tools over and help with a project. But they're going home with me.
    via Beowulf33232
  • Pubcrawler1 I've upgraded tools over the years. Won't lend out anything new or only have one of. Any of the old stuff extra stuff can be lent out or given away.
    via Pubcrawler1
  • Crouching_Stoner Sometimes you just need to hold up a mirror to their face by matching their energy. Unfortunately many only learn this way.
    via Crouching_Stoner
  • Mysterious-Cat33 I started acting like an airhead who doesn't know where the item is even though I would like to help them out by loaning. Too many people didn't return items or returned damaged.
    via Mysterious-Cat33

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neighbors drama petty revenge tools lending lost
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