A Homeowner Generously Returned Every Soccer Ball Dropped in His Yard—Until the Endless Trespassing Pushed Him to Start Holding Them Hostage
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Being neighborly gets old when the same nuisance keeps landing in your backyard.
For four years, this homeowner repeatedly returned balls and shoes tossed over the fence.
Eventually, one abandoned soccer ball inspired a small consequence that finally caught the teenagers’ attention.
See how one missing ball ended the problem.
You’ll never do that again
I live deep in the heart of suburbia in an upper middle class area.
We had a nice semi-private yard until the neighbors directly behind us sold their home and moved.
The new people, who have two teen aged sons and have been there for four years now, cut down all the trees and shrubs on their side of the fence which transformed my nice private yard into a semi public space.
UH OH…
We weren’t happy but there was nothing we could do about it since it was their yard. We did plant shrubs on our side but it’s still not as covered as it was before they moved in.
Now the shrubs at least partially obstruct their view of my yard.
They put a basketball set up on their patio and their two extremely uncoordinated sons are constantly outside playing sports and tossing bricks against the backboard.
That’s INSANE!
They also love kicking soccer balls, tossing tennis balls and throwing crocs around. Again, their yard so, as much as I don’t like it, I keep my mouth shut.
I loved playing sports as a boy and I wasn’t the greatest athlete but I was always respectful of my neighbors and kept my balls in my own yard and, when I didn’t, was nice and apologetic about it.
The kids weren’t expecting that!
The two kids behind me aren’t like that at all.
Once they moved in, their balls, and crocs, were regularly in my yard as well as their next door neighbors yards.
At first, they’d either ring my bell to ask for them or, if I saw them, I’d just toss them back over the fence. But how much is too much? It was happening weekly.
That’s too bad!
Then they’d stop coming over to ask and their balls would just sit in my yard until I tossed them over.
Last summer, I just collected them near my side of the fence behind my shed and let them sit there until late autumn until I finally tossed them back.
This year, a soccer ball was in my yard. Soccer balls aren’t inexpensive.
Finally the cherry on top!
We let it sit there for a good two weeks. When our landscaper came to do the lawn maintenance, we told them they could have the ball.
We haven’t had a ball in our yard since
YIKES! That is some petty revenge!
Why didn’t he just warn the kids about not giving the balls back?
Let’s find out what people on Reddit think about this one.
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This user knows how to deal with the situation!
That’s right! This user thinks the neighbors sound very ignorant.
This user knows the balls are for the dogs!
This user suggests installing a fence!
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a home buyer who was surprised to learn his neighbors were upset about him removing a fence.
This user thinks a fence with a gate might solve the issue.
After years of returning abandoned sports equipment, OP gave the latest soccer ball to the landscaper.
Nothing else came flying over the fence once the teenagers realized their belongings might not return.
Commenters agreed OP had been patient enough and praised the simple lesson in respecting someone else’s property.
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