Resident takes dresser from street after neighbor throws it away, only to be confronted by other neighbor who claims the dresser is hers: ‘[I] wanted it first’

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  via Faruk Tokluoğlu

  Woman happy about her dresser.

  _{Representative only.}

• AITA for refusing to give my neighbor a dresser I had already found and almost finished moving?

• A military family recently moved out of a house in our neighborhood and left a bunch of their furniture outside for people to take. It was really nice furniture as the couple had two kids and a fairly big house, so there was very expensive looking furniture, and there was a lot of it, multiple chairs,tables, dressers, 2 TV’s, a full bedroom set.

• My sister (15) has been asking our father for a new dresser for a few months now because she thinks hers looks like something for a very young kid. today, she went outside to take the trash out and noticed all the furniture. she came running inside begging me (19) to help her bring in a dresser and matching nightstands she had spotted.

  prefacing this by saying I had just woken up so I already had very low energy, we went outside and started moving everything. the dresser was taken apart, extremely heavy, and had glass mirrors on some of the drawers, as so did the nightstands. so we had to be careful. we spent around 2 hours carrying everything inside and putting it together as we went. by the time we were almost done, we already had most of the dresser inside.

• then ankther neighbor came outside yelling at us to stop. I thought something was wrong, so I asked her if everything was okay but she started demanding that we give her the nightstands and dresser because she had been waiting for that family to move out specifically because she wanted their furniture. I forgot to put this earlier so I’m typing it now, this family had a yard sale last week and told majority of people in my neighborhood they planned on leaving all their furniture out for people to take once they moved.

• When you find something someone else threw out, for all intents and purposes, you can now claim it as your own. I know people who find complete wardrobes outside, and some who even fix old furniture and make a profit by selling it to others on Facebook Marketplace. I haven't heard anyone argue with the concept of “finders keepers” since kindergarten, not until today, at least.

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  via Pressmaster

  Selling Things at a Yard Sale

  _{Stock photo unrelated.}

• I told her it was sitting outside for anyone to take, for hours at that. she said she had wanted it first and that we should’ve waited to see if anyone else was going to come out because maybe other people could’ve wanted it. she kept telling me after this to give her the remaining pieces we were bringing in and give her the dresser because she has wanted it since she visited the family’s house.

  I told her we weren’t giving her the dresser after spending all that time bringing it inside. She started calling us selfish and saying my sister didn’t even need it that badly because she could always get another one.

  My sister was initially happy about getting the dresser but she came to me and told me she feels bad and thinks we should’ve just given her the rest to avoid drama, but I don’t think we did anything wrong. The furniture was free, nobody had “owned” it, and we were the ones who actually went out and got it and spent time bringing it inside.
  
  ^{u/Winter_Two_7042}

• If I were neighbor three, and I really wanted that dresser, I would have made sure that neighbor one knew and put it aside for me. They were already happy to give out their furniture to other people; they wouldn't have minded setting something aside if they knew it meant a lot to someone. As soon as neighbor three didn't do that, she couldn't possibly fight against the finders keepers ideology. 

  That doesn't mean she wasn't going to try, right? She still confronted the other neighbors, still made them feel guilty, and now they are not sure whether they should keep the dresser they rightfully found or let it go and give in to her demands.

  I believe in kindness and helping people when I can, but when someone acts like they are entitled to something or has a bigger right to something “just because”, then they can kiss my kindness goodbye. Why would I go out of my way to help someone, or give up something, for someone who would never do the same thing for me? People like that only take from others, and if you ask me, it's time someone finally taught them how to accept ‘no’ for an answer.

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