Suburban Property Fallout: Family Finds Genius Technicality After Neighbor Reports Inflatable Pool
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Laws that require proper fencing around a pool can be annoying at times, but they are important for keeping neighborhood kids safe.
What would you do if your parents put up a small inflatable pool in your yard for the summer, but your nosy neighbor called the police about it because your fence was only three feet high rather than the required five feet when you have a pool?
That is what happened to the teens in this story, so they found out exactly what the law required for the fence to qualify, and they built exactly that. The fence was a huge eyesore that the neighbor hated, but since it was in line with the law, there was nothing she could do.
I sure hope that they don’t plan to leave that ugly fence up forever, but at least they got to enjoy the pool for the summer. Read through the full story below and see what you think about how they handled this annoying neighbor.
Angry neighbor and Village Codes
Background: I grew up in a very white bread village/town of about 15k outside of a small city of 110k in middle America. This came with all the petty little problems that come with small town Midwest life.
Kids like to walk the fine line between having fun and getting in trouble.
My twin brother and I would hang out around our best friends house, and their neighbors loved to stir the pot and cause problems.
I have two specific instances of malicious compliance with them, specifically the wife, Mrs. Nelson. I don’t really blame her for being an angry person tbh. I probably would be too if I had to raise 4 kids while working and trying to go back to school. I digress.
A fence is very important for pool safety.
The summer before 7th grade, my best friends family decided to put up one of those 3-4ft tall inflatable pools. Our town has a code where any yard containing a pool must be completely enclosed in a minimum 5ft tall fence.
My friends fence was only the regular 3 foot chain link fence, and the gate had recently been broken by the Nelson’s kid.
Well, she is not entirely wrong.
So, as soon as they put the pool up, Mrs. Nelson called the police because the pool violated code and present a drowning danger to her children (mind you they have a permanent above ground pool that their kids swim in unsupervised all the time).
The officer arrives and tells us we either need a taller fence or to get rid of the pool. Here’s where the MC comes in.
This would look awful. I’m shocked that the parents would allow it.
The code states that the fence just needs to be 5ft tall, not contiguous, made of the same material, or good looking. So, me and my brother went around collecting sticks while my friend and his mom went to the fleet farm to buy chicken wire and zip ties.
We then spent the next hour zip tying the sticks to the fence and the chicken wire to the sticks as well as zipping the gate closed.
Her complaint isn’t for the police.
Mrs. Nelson is of course disgusted by this affront to her beautiful neighborhood, and calls the village again the next day.
The same officer is sent out as the day before and lets the angry lady know that the fence is up to code, and that she should stop wasteing officers’ time with nonissues.
Sometimes, following the letter of the law is a lot of fun.
This was not the first or last issue with her and her family, even in terms of Malicious Compliance, but this one is pretty funny and almost perfectly encapsulates my experience growing up in almost rural Middle America.
While I hope that this fence was not a permanent solution, it was a funny way to respond to an annoying neighbor.
Let’s see what the people in the comments think about the way they handled it.
Honestly, the neighbor of this commenter handled the issue well.
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This could cause big problems.
There are other ways to comply with the fence laws.
It is a small town compared to a big city.
If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about neighbors who intentionally tank an open house sale because they want to buy the property themselves.
Maybe the neighbor wasn’t next door.
She got exactly what she asked for, why is she still complaining? Of course, they knew it would upset her, but that was kind of the point.
In the nosy neighbor’s defense, however, those rules are in place for a reason, and it is important to keep neighborhood kids safe.
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