Imagine hearing your doorbell ring, and you see that it’s a neighborhood kid you’ve never talked to before. If the neighbor wanted to enter your house to look for something they lost, would you let them, or would you refuse?

In this story, one man is in that exact situation, and he refuses to let the neighbor inside. Now, he’s wondering if that was the right decision.

Let’s read all about it.

AITA For Not Letting a Neighborhood Kid Search My House

My wife and I live in a secluded suburban neighborhood in NE Austin.

Our house is situated on a cul-de-sac that is also near a community trail that extends behind our house. The trail is small and circles a natural detention pond, but many of the the neighborhood residents use.

Our backyard can see everything and we have interacted with many people walking because we are so close.

They weren’t expecting anyone.

So, last night at 9:15 pm my wife and I are playing a card game. We have been busy lately and ordered in food, watched the Killing Eve finale and wanted to play some games.

As we are playing, our doorbell rings.

We both look at each other confused, and our dogs go crazy barking at the front door.

My wife and I have the same thought, it’s probably one of our neighbors we are close to and needed something or whatever.

It took him a minute to recognize the person at the door.

I walk up to the front door and peep through the hole and am surprised to see a teenage kid my guess is he’s about 16 years old.

I hesitate to say anything or open the door.

I look at him again and recognize that I have seen him on the trail walking all the time with his dog, usually on his phone.

Having recognized him, I open the door. Here is our conversation:

The boy got right to the point.

Me: Hey what’s up?

Him: My airpods are in your house.

Me:……….um what’s that?

Him: My Apple airpods are in your house.

The boy had an odd request but a good explanation.

Me: I don’t understand what you mean, why would your airpods be in my house. You have never been in my house and we have never interacted before.

Him: Can I come in and look?

Me: No, why do you think your airpods are in my house?

Him: I lost them while walking the trail, and the ap says there are in your house. [He shows me]

He refused to let the boy inside.

Me: [Not understanding how the ap works because I don’t have any of my own] Look, I don’t know why they are showing to be in my house, but they aren’t. They are probably still on the trail somewhere. I am happy to let you look around my yard if you want, but you’re not coming in my house.

Him: [Aggravated now] Can I ping them and see if I hear them?

Me: Sure, go for it. [He does, shockingly no sound occurs] There aren’t here dude, they must still be on the trail.

He’s wondering if he was too harsh.

Him: So I can’t come in and look.

Me: No, there aren’t here. Goodnight. [closes door]

Am I a jerk for not letting a 16 year old teenager search my house at 9:15 at night after being accused of basically finding his airpods, and lying to him that I had them instead of returning them to their rightful owner?

I can understand why the boy thought his airpods were in OP’s house, but they probably are outside on the trail near the house. He should look there instead. OP does not have to let the boy search his home for something that isn’t there.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say about this situation.

It couldn’t hurt to look for the Airpods.

This person wouldn’t have let him in either.

It’s not like the app gives an exact location.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get cameras.

It was okay for the boy to ask, but it was also okay to say “no.”

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.