Unless your parents were very wealthy and happy to hand you all the cash you wanted, the chances are that as a teenager you wanted to find ways to earn yourself a little extra cash. And if you’ve got kids now, most likely at some point they’ll be the same too.

Whether it came in the form of a job in a shop or a fast food restaurant, a part time side hustle, delivering newspapers or walking dogs, a lemonade stand or washing cars, kids can be very resourceful when it comes to making themselves a bit of cash. And if you’re walking around the neighbourhood on a hot day and appreciating some fresh lemonade, or hiring the services of a local teenage babysitter, there’s no doubt that these young people can be an asset to their local communities too.

That is, unless they get a little greedy and hike their prices too high. Because then you’re put in the awkward position of having to say no to a literal child. And that’s never nice.

Nevertheless, that’s the position the homeowner in this story found himself in recently.

Read on to find out what happened.

Kid who mows my lawn tried to gaslight me, so I mow my own lawn now

Some time last year, a neighbourhood kid came to my door and asked if I needed anyone to mow my lawn.

I actually did because I was (and still am) dealing with chronic pain.

His rate was $40 for the front and back with weed whacking.

My yard isn’t huge, but it is annoying to maintain because of the way the fence is placed, so I told him he could cut it.

Let’s see how the kid’s garden services turned out.

He always did a great job, so I had him keep doing it for the rest of the summer and into this year as well when the grass started growing.

To show my appreciation, I thanked him for his hard work and gave him an extra $5 in early May.

Two weeks later, when he cut my lawn again, I paid him the normal $40 – but when I went back inside and he went home, he texted me that I owed him $5 more.

I told him I already sent him exactly what I owed him, but, instead of just saying he’s changing his rate or whatever, he lied and tried to gaslight me into thinking it was always $45 as if I didn’t have to ability to see my transaction history.

Yikes! Read on to find out how this homeowner dealt with the gaslighting.

After that, I decided to try and overcome my chronic pain and just mow the lawn on my own. I didn’t have a super hard time, thankfully.

He texted me this week asking if I needed him to mow any time soon, and I told him that I’d be mowing my own lawn for now.

I’m also unemployed, so I should probably be saving the money anyway.

Take that, kid.

This kid really was being cheeky, thinking that he could get the full amount plus the tip every time.

And fair enough, if the homeowner is happy to do his own lawn and save the money.

But really, the kid is probably just naive and without business sense (as you might expect from a literal child) – just a quick chat might have set him straight.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who got creative with his parking after his neighbors started using his extra spot without asking.

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

This person was no stranger to sudden price rises.

While others said they would have done the same.

Meanwhile, this Redditor agreed that the kid might just have been naive.

Let’s be real, this is probably the kid’s first job – and he’s earning that cash and working hard for it, using the skills that he has. Apparently one of those skills is not good business sense, or he would have known not to take advantage of his good customer’s generosity – but we all make mistakes as adults, let alone as kids. He was naive and likely meant nothing bad by it, he just didn’t have the business acumen and decency to own up to his mistake.

It’s no excuse, of course, for trying to rip off his customer – and he will learn very quickly that behaviour like that doesn’t go down well. But we all have to learn somehow, and this was likely the mistake that taught the kid a lesson. Really, now the homeowner seems like he’s missing out too, because he has to mow his own lawn – being firm with the kid would have probably been a better solution for both of them. As it is though, this kid definitely learned his lesson.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a townhome owner who is at his wit’s end with the noise from next door.