Cranky, old neighbors have been around since the beginning of time…

And they’ve also been stealing stuff from kids since then, too!

It’s true!

So, what’s a kid supposed to do when they have a neighbor like this?

Let’s take a look at how this clever kid handled things…

Steal my dog’s favourite ball? I’ll give you hundreds.

“This happened about 6 years ago, when I was 12, and my brother was 10. We lived next to an older lady, lets call her Jane, who we never really interacted with.

We used to play with tennis balls and cricket balls in our back yard, and occasionally, they would go over the fence. When they did, however, Jane would keep the balls and not give them back.

Sounds like The Sandlot…

She would always say “Any ball that comes into my yard is mine, and I’m keeping it”

One time we were playing with my dog and her favourite ball went over the fence.

I sucked it up and went to talk to “Meany Jane” as we called her, only because it was my dogs favourite ball, but obviously she didn’t give it back. He was so sad and kept looking for the ball everywhere, and wouldn’t play with any other ball. That was the final straw.

Time to play hardball.

I found a shop online where you can bulk buy sports equipment, usually for schools, and with my dads help bought 200 tennis balls. Once they arrived, my plan could begin.

Step 1. Ask her for my dogs ball again. No surprise, she was mean and wouldn’t give it. “Any ball that comes into my yard, is mine and I’m keeping it.” Fine then, time for step two.

Step 2. Every day, go into the yard and throw a tennis ball over the fence. Each day, increase the amount. Day 1, one ball. Day 2, two balls. Day 3, three, etc. And each day before doing this, ask for my dog’s ball back, each day getting a no.

By the time we got to day 19, we only had 10 balls left, and that’s when step three came into play.

Step 3. She had an old rubbish bin she kept all our balls in, and at this point it was overflowing. So that week’s bin night, we watched her haul out two large black bin bags.

Boom!

Once it got dark, me and my dad went put, and low and behold, it was every single ball of ours that had gone over the fence in the past few years. In total around 300 balls, including the 200 balls. Even my dogs ball was in there!

To say my dog was really excited is an understatement, she would’nt put the thing down and even started sleeping with it.”

Let’s see what people had to say on Reddit.

One person shared what they would do…

Another person had a lot to say.

This individual spoke up.

Another reader talked about their dog.

And this Reddit user has been there…

Nice work!

That was epic!

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.