Every neighborhood has that one person who treats basic courtesy as optional, and one resident has been dealing with exactly that kind of neighbor for a while now.

Between loud music, near-constant leaf blowing, and a long history of general rudeness, this neighbor had already long outstayed his welcome.

So when the resident caught him ignoring polite signs to clean up after pets, she knew something had to be done.

Fed up, the resident scooped her own dog’s waste and left it in his yard as a pointed response, and now a fresh pile has shown up in the street right in front of her house, tempting her toward round two.

Keep reading for the full story.

Entitled Neighbor

Our neighbor, “Tom,” has always been a jerk. Loud music for the neighbors to hear, leaf blowing about 10x a day, just rude and inconsiderate.

He has a dog and walks him across the street to do his business in another neighbor’s yard and leaves it there.

So other neighbors try to lay down the law, but Tom promptly disrespects it.

We noticed a couple of weeks ago that a sign was put up on a telephone pole: “Please pick up after your dog. Thank you.” Nothing mean or rude.

But we saw Tom walk his dog to the sign, dog does his thing, and he just walks away. A few days after that the sign was taken down.

That’s when this homeowner did something hasty in the heat of the moment.

I got my dog’s poop bag, scooped it up, and threw it in Tom’s yard. I probably shouldn’t have done that, but I was furious.

A couple weeks go by and I noticed that there’s a pile of poop in the street right in front of our house. I’m tempted to do the same thing.

The homeowner can’t understand why Tom is behaving this way, but feels like she doesn’t have any real power to change anything.

He had political signs in his lawn last election and American flags lining up on his lawn. You’d figure for someone who loves America, he’d want to keep it clean.

I’m female and scared to confront him, but I don’t know what to do. We’ve already talked to the police a couple years ago about him because he was letting his kids (10 and under) ride motorized buggies around our neighborhood at a high speed, without helmets, and it was pretty dangerous. You can’t really talk sense to him anyways.

Not sure if there’s anything I can do?

Sounds like this homeowner is being kept hostage by Tom’s awful habits.

What did Reddit have to say?

Sometimes petty is the only response left.

People who defy the social contract make life harder for everyone.

It’s time to start compiling some evidence.

Shame can be a pretty effective motivator.

Tearing down a polite request sign is a pretty clear signal that this isn’t a misunderstanding, it’s a deliberate pattern of disrespect toward the entire street.

Any frustrated resident would consider stooping to retaliation, but it’s also the kind of thing that tends to escalate a situation rather than resolve it.

As with many other neighborly disputes, it’s time to start compiling evidence to build a case.