Autumn’s bounty can sometimes feel more like a burden, especially when it comes to a overly fruitful walnut tree.

The owner of the tree learned this lesson quickly and the nuts soon piled up sky high.

When the trash collector had a less than helpful attitude over their weight, the owner decided to take their directive to “lighten the load” as literally as they could!

You’ll want to read on for this one!

my pettiest walnut revenge

One fall, the walnuts from my backyard walnut tree were dropping, and it was an exceptional year for them.

There were an astonishing amount.

So I went out there, gathered them into piles, loaded them into garbage bags, put the bags on my little trailer, and dropped them by the curb for the garbage company.

It was the two-day dance I had to do every fall to mow my lawn.

Much to their surprise, the trash collector refused to pick them up.

The garbage company came by and left them there.

What!

I called the garbage company.

The conversation got pretty heated.

Words were exchanged on both sides, and the owner said she would come out to handle it. Great!

The owner came in pretty hot, which made matters worse.

She arrived, immediately telling me how mean I had been on the phone.

I informed her of the terrible things her employee had said to me as well.

She explained that they left the bags because they were too heavy.

There were 40 billion walnuts divided between a dozen bags.

Admittedly, they were heavy, but not that bad.

I was able to pick them up easily.

The owner said she would pick them up under one condition.

She pivoted back to calling me an AH for a while, then returned to explaining that the bags needed to be lighter for pickup.

She said she’d take them if I lightened them.

Cue the pettiness.

So lighten the load they did!

After she left, I went into the house and grabbed every plastic grocery bag I could find.

I had learned to hoard those golden bags from the best, so I had a lot.

I took every last one outside and put a single walnut in each bag.

There weren’t enough bags for all 40 billion walnuts, but I made sure to rip open some of the garbage bags to redistribute the load and lighten them all.

I made a big pile at the curb and called the company to let them know the walnuts had been put into smaller bags.

The owner was going to come back out again.

The trash collectors couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

Great!

I saw her pull up, grab one bag with a single walnut in it, and look at my house.

I walked out there with a smile on my face and said, “You wanted the bags lighter. Enjoy.”

Then I started walking back toward the house.

The homeowner made sure to get the last word.

As I was leaving, I heard her say, “So this is what we’re doing now? Should I also grab your garbage bin too?”

To which I replied, “Don’t care, it’s your company. Do what you want after you take the walnuts like the town requires you to.”

Then I proceeded to go back inside.

What a nutty showdown!

What did Reddit think?

Instead of throwing them away, these people found a different way to get rid of the nuts.

Walnut cleanup can be quite lucrative for some.

Who knew such a bounty could make such a mess?

Forget throwing them away – some people are getting rich off them!

The trash collector got their lighter loads and the owner got their petty revenge!

It’s the small victories sometimes.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.