Sometimes, when you’re too kind, people end up taking advantage of you.

Take, for example, this family that OP was talking about.

OP was kind and polite to them the first time they “trespassed” a private neighborhood, but they even had the nerve to go back the second time.

Like, geez! Is a warning not enough?

Read the full story below.

AITA for having a family removed from a private lake neighborhood?

I live in a private neighborhood built around a lake.

Essentially, the lake is in the middle, and a road runs in a circle around it with houses on the road.

The lake is private.

Everyone who buys a house here pays an HOA fee to help take care of the neighborhood.

Fixing docks, stocking the lake with fish, clubhouse maintenance, etc.

Not a big body of water, about 1.5 miles around.

There are lots of signs, including a big one, right when you drive in, saying that the neighborhood is private for members and guests only.

Community members were asked to report unauthorized visitors.

In the past month, all homeowners have gotten letters from the HOA, saying to be on the lookout for people who don’t live here, coming to fish, since a lot of public parks have been closed.

If we see someone who doesn’t live here and doesn’t have lake tags, signifying that they are a guest, we should tell them to leave or call the maintenance guy who will handle it.

You can see where this is going.

OP saw an unfamiliar family fishing on the lake.

A week ago, I leave my house, and see a pickup pulled up to the dock in front on my house.

There is a guy (dad) and two small kids there fishing.

I have never seen them before, so I go up to them and strike up a conversation.

I ask where they live, and they say that they don’t live here, but heard about the lake from one of their friends who also doesn’t live there.

He was kind enough to let them finish.

We talk for a few more minutes, and I tell the dad (whispering, so the kids don’t hear) that this is a private neighborhood, and that they technically aren’t allowed to fish here if they aren’t a member or guest.

I then say that they must not have known that, and tell them to finish fishing for a day.

I even offered to give them lake tags if anyone else hasseles them about being there.

The guy thanks me, says he didn’t know, and continues fishing the next few hours that I could tell after I went back inside.

The same family went back.

Two days later, I am going for a walk around the lake, and I see the same family fishing at another dock (not in front of my house).

I ask the dad if he has tags, and he says he doesn’t, but that his kids want to fish, and they aren’t hurting anyone.

I say I understand that, but the people that live here pay for the lake, the docks, and the fish in it, and it isn’t for just anyone to come here and use.

We get into it, and I tell him to leave.

So, OP called the maintenance guy, and the family was asked to leave.

He refuses, calmly, and I tell him that our maintenance guy will be here in 10 minutes, and he better find some tags in that time period or else he’s getting dragged out.

I get back to my house, call the maintenance guy, and I see the maintenance guy drive up to them from my window, and presumably tell them to leave, which they do.

Am I the jerk here?

On one hand, it is private property and I let them stay and finish the first day, when I could have easily kicked them out. On the other hand, they weren’t hurting anyone.

Let’s see how the people reacted to the story.

This comment justifies it.

Here’s an opinion from a maintenance guy himself.

This user says OP is NTA.

Yup, and this one, too.

To say it differently, the family was taking advantage.

Obviously, they have a problem following the rules!

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.