She’s Tried to Stay on Her Neighbor’s Good Side — But the Behavior Has Turned Reckless and Intimidating
Pexels
No matter what age you are when you encounter them, bullies are never nice people to be around. Because the folk who knowingly hurt others for entertainment or status? They’re only ever a short fuse away from turning on the people that they ostensibly treat well, too.
Why would anyone want to be friends with a bully? Well, perhaps they have a certain status or reputation, are at the centre of a social circle that others are desperate to be a part of. Or maybe those folk feel so intimidated that they’d rather be peripheral to bullying – where they feel safe – instead of potentially facing it themselves.
But when you see someone being bullied, anyone with a heart and morals is likely to see the person who is hurting, the person who is trying to hold it together while they’re being harassed or intimidated, and feel at least a little bad. But those who contribute to the bullying with words or actions of their own? They’re not good people at all.
Fortunately for the woman in this story, she has good people around her. And that is important, since she’s now facing sustained bullying and intimidation from one of their neighbours.
Read on to find out more.
WIBTA for reporting my neighbour to police and our landlord after she almost hit me with her truck, even though she has a kid?
I (33, female) am struggling with a situation involving my neighbour (49, female) in our apartment complex.
Over the last three or four weeks, things have been tense. My neighbour used to ask invasive questions about my financial situation and job search, but laid off after a while.
Since August 5th, when all of this started (a day after I moved in with my two roommates) I’ve been practicing strict non-engagement to keep the peace and focus on my severe physical health conditions (failing liver, seven tumours, cysts/lesions, severe arthritis in all 3 joints of my knee along with poor mental health).
So I completely ignored her when she mumbled I was “lazy” for not doing chores I physically couldn’t do, and are not required for me to do under the lease.
Let’s see how she reacted to the woman’s comment.
The chore was to sweep and mop all three sets of stairs in the apartment building that lead to all the units. I asked my neighbour whose job that actually is, and she told me it’s all of ours, but that she wants me specifically to do it as I am younger.
I politely refused the task and told her that I would let my other two roommates (27, male – my boyfriend) and (33, female – my best friend, and our neighbours father’s girlfriend) know just in case they wanted to help out.
That answer made her upset so she mumbled under her breath. I vaguely reported it to the landlord by not naming names. The landlord told me that is definitely not mine or any other tenants job as it’s the job for the maintenance people employed by the apartment complex.
The landlord also informed me that no tenant has the right to tell any other tenant what they can and cannot do, and then the landlord issued a notice to everyone in the unit with the responsibilities for the tenants.
The landlord also told me that I should show my neighbor the lease and ask my neighbour to point out where in the lease it describes to do this task. I thought that was a pretty good answer and it made me giggle internally.
But this neighbour drama didn’t end there.
Then, I ignored my neighbour when she yelled at me to carry a mattress upstairs, and my best friend told her to stop yelling for me and to leave me alone because it’s not a task I’m able to do.
My best friend was more than willing to help instead of it being me.
The mattress wasn’t meant for me. It was meant for my best friend, but she ended up giving it to me to help give me comfort and more lift during my resting (she’s my knight in shinning armour).
I did not report this to the landlord as I didn’t feel it was necessary, even though it was slighlty aggressive.
And then things got even worse.
Then yesterday things escalated. While my back was turned, she pulled her blue Dodge truck up, with her preteen in the passenger seat, stopping literally two inches away from my body (I would not be able to take a single step backwards without stepping into her vehicle) as I was standing at the mailboxes.
She laughed and claimed it was a “joke.” When I asked her politely to never get her truck that close to me again, she brushed it off (“Oh, I wasn’t that close”). My two roommates witnessed it and backed me up.
My neighbour has been asked repeatedly to leave me alone. If her foot had slipped off the pedal, I would have been run over and physically could not have moved out of the way in time.
There were zero reasons to pull that close to me. I feel harassed and targeted at this point.
And as a result of that action, someone has broken a condition of the lease.
What she did directly violates Rule #9 of our lease (no dangerous, offensive, or disruptive conduct). I have a detailed log, photo evidence of her parking/vehicle, and witness statements. But I’m spiralling with guilt.
Firstly, she has a child who was in the truck with her when she played her “joke” and yesterday was her birthday. I’m terrified that reporting this to the landlord will trigger a lease violation notice or eventual eviction, and I don’t want to ruin a child’s housing stability.
On the flip side, I’m living in constant anxiety. Every time I step outside or hear a truck, my heart races. Ignoring her didn’t stop this, asking her to stop repeatedly didn’t stop this. It escalated to physical intimidation with a 4,000lb vehicle.
Would I be wrong to I file a non-emergency police report for documentation and hand the incident report over to my landlord? Or am I making a mountain out of a molehill over a bad “joke”?
WIBTA?
A joke is one thing, but it’s only funny if others are laughing and no one gets hurt. What this was was bullying and intimidation, there’s absolutely no way that anyone could class this as a joke.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
Honestly, while this woman is around it is becoming increasingly clear that this disabled tenant isn’t safe. And that’s entirely because of the harassment of this neighbour, who is ignorant to her conditions and is showing exactly who she is.
Filing a police report and complaining to the landlord should be the minimum she does.
Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.
This person agreed that she needed to report the woman.
While others pointed out just how cruel the woman’s behaviour was.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a renter who receives a text saying his landlord has passed and asking for checks to go to a different account, but he’s not sure it’s real.
Meanwhile, this Redditor suggested that the child, too, needed to learn that bullying comes with consequences.
Sure, it might not feel good to get a woman and her child evicted. But neither does feeling unsafe to go out to your own mailbox or return to your own home. And while this neighbour’s behaviour keeps escalating, this disabled woman is in greater and greater danger. Like she says, if the woman’s foot had slipped, she would have been mown down by her truck – that’s enough to distress anyone.
What example is her behaviour showing her child? The fact that there are no repercussions for her disgusting behaviour is suggesting that you can treat people however you want to – even in a criminal way – and there will be no consequences. But reporting the woman, regardless of whether or not she is evicted or given a restraining order, at least the child gets to see that their mother has acted unacceptably and has to face punishment or reprimand.
More than that though, this woman needs to put her own safety and security first, regardless of what that means for her neighbour’s kid.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
