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If you have never had a migraine, count yourself lucky. Because this thing that some non-sufferers think is ‘just a bad headache’? It is so much more than that. With symptoms ranging from dizziness and vision problems to vomiting and passing out to extreme pain and pressure, it’s not something that anyone wants to have to deal with – so for those for whom migraines are frequent visitors, any day can be at risk of turning into a painful nightmare.

The person in this story is, unfortunately, a migraine sufferer. But they know all the tricks, have access to all the medications, and are quite well versed in taking their meds and then trying to sleep it off, until the worst has passed. And on this particular day that was exactly what they had planned – that was, until a neighbourhood menace had other ideas.

Read on to find out what happened here.

Courtyard Karen and the migraine

So yesterday I stayed home with a migraine. It woke me at around 1am and I tried over the counter migraine medication at 5am.

I tried diphenhydramine, because you know sometimes sinus migraines mask as other migraines, and at this point in time I’d been hurting without sleep all night.

At 8am I pulled out the big guns RX sumatriptan – also the outside temperature was already 84°F. So pain and a scorcher of a day, wonderful combination (this is sarcasm).

Finally sleep, blissful sleep of pure exhaustion.

But that sleep wasn’t going to be around for long.

And as if on cue I promptly got woken by banging on my door. Mind you, my migraine wasn’t gone, my depth perception is shot, nausea had moved in, and blood was pumping in my veins is a full body battle of the bands between Bruckner, Mahler, and Strauss.

With one hand on the wall and the other pushing sunglasses up my nose I opened the door to a blast of heat and my neighbour – let’s call her ‘Courtyard Karen’ – standing there with a scowl.

She asked me, “What are you doing here?” to which I replied, “Is there a problem?” Then she repeated, louder this time, “Why are you here?”

At this point I was physically cringing from her increased volume and regretting answering the door. I said, “I have a migraine. Is there a problem that needs solving right now?”

But Courtyard Karen wasn’t about to stop with her questioning.

She practically yelled, “I need to know why you’re here.”

By then I was wondering if I puked, whether my depth perception was good enough to aim at her. I replied, “I live here and my schedule isn’t your job. If there’s not an emergency needing my immediate assistance I’m going back to bed.”

By now she was full blown yelling, “Why do you have to be so difficult! I need you gone!”

I shut the door on her and the heat so I could stumble to the bathroom and take care of what her yelling has created. Then, I went to bed hoping it had all just been a bad dream and I’d wake up from it. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t a bad dream.

Read on to find out how Courtyard Karen made this situation even worse.

I wake some time later with the sultry sounds of a large vehicle beeping while it backed up dancing between my ears. Why did it sound like the beeping was on top of my head? I moved the blackout curtain to see a tow truck backing up to my car.

I got out of bed and out of the door using pure determination and absolutely no grace or coordination. The tow truck driver actually helped me not to faceplant in the driveway. At the same time I saw another neighbour, a retired marine, step out and then go back into his house.

The truck driver said, “Whoa there, you ok?” I asked him, “Why are you backed up to my car?”

He said, “It was called in as an abandoned vehicle.” I replied, “It’s not abandoned, and I live here.” I may still have been in pain but I already had a suspicion on who called, so I asked, “Who called it in?”

Of course, we all know who’d made that call.

The truck driver went to the cab to look at the paperwork and Courtyard Karen came out. Remember I said it was hot? Yeah, when I went inside to get my wallet, keys, and phone the thermostat said 102°F.

The truck driver told me, “It looks like it was called in by the landlord, ‘Courtyard Karen’.” I replied, “Umm she’s not the landlord.”

Courtyard Karen came over and chimed in, “It doesn’t matter who called it in, I need it moved.” I ignored Courtyard Karen and asked what the truck driver needed from me to verify that 1. I live here, and 2. the car isn’t abandoned.

All the while she was is getting louder and louder trying to cover up what the truck driver said, or to get us to pay attention to her. I don’t know or care, remember it’s 102° outside.

Let’s see how the situation got resolved.

The truck driver and I got things cleared up – he was actually quite nice and offered me his card and a written note on the back for 30% off a future tow.

During all, this Courtyard Karen sat on the driveway in front of tow truck screaming, “Why isn’t anyone listening to me,” and refusing to move until my car was removed.

The retired Marine also came out and confirmed that Courtyard Karen had lost her marbles – that I live there and my car isn’t abandoned, just home from work for the day.

He also said that he had called the nonemergency police line for assistance and the actual landlord is on their way. Then he asked if I indeed needed an ambulance because, apparently, I looked like ****.

Then the cops showed up – and finally, things started to make sense.

The landlords showed up after the police (it must have been a slow day). The tow truck left after Courtyard Karen admitted she prefers my space because it has more shade then her spot, and I don’t need it when I’m at work.

The cops threatened her with false reporting, while the landlords told her this is her absolute last chance – and I was sent inside after promising to hydrate and to text the retired and the landlords at 6pm with an update on my migraine.

The migraine started to dissipate shortly after 9pm, and I stayed home another day because thinking hurt and I was still suffering from vertigo and lousy depth perception, but there was no pain.

And my car is happily parked in my shady spot giving Courtyard Karen its version of the middle finger. I really kinda hoped she would be handcuffed again. But wishes don’t always come true.

Wow, the sheer audacity of a neighbour to demand that someone leaves just because they prefer their parking spot.

But then to call a tow truck?

This woman is extreme.

Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.

Plenty of people were hugely empathetic with the migraine sufferer.

While others were shocked by Courtyard Karen’s behaviour.

Meanwhile, this Redditor explained how normal, reasonable humans would react.

This would be an annoying thing to have happen on any day, but on a day when you’re bed-bound with a migraine this is downright torturous. It sucks that this neighbour was so rude and entitled to ‘the shady spot’ that she thought that having her neighbour’s car towed was a normal, reasonable thing to do. Especially after they had already told her that they were home with a migraine – the woman clearly has no regard for anyone but herself.

It’s a shame that she didn’t get arrested or evicted, since this kind of behaviour is not just un-neighbourly, it’s also a huge waste of everybody’s time. Not only the tow truck driver, but the cops and the landlords too – not to mention the person who was sick and should have been able to have a peaceful day recovering. All become this woman wanted the shady spot. Some people are entitled beyond belief.