Neighbor Uses Tenant’s Doorstep Table For Halloween Decor Without Asking, But The Tenant’s Response Sparks Drama
Pexels/Reddit
Nothing tests a neighborly bond like seasonal decorations.
A tenant had a small table by her front door, the kind she used for deliveries and for setting things down while she unlocked up.
Her neighbor piled pumpkins around her own table, then put a handful under the tenant’s table and a huge one on top, which made it effectively unusable.
The tenant politely moved it to the floor, assuming it was a mix-up. But by the next morning, the pumpkin was back where it started.
She was tired and annoyed, and she threw it in the dumpster. Her boyfriend says she’s overreacting. She says putting it there twice was the real overreach.
Fall just got a lot less cozy. Read on.
AITAH Removing neighbors decorations from my front door table
I live in an apartment, the kind where the doors are all lined up next to each other.
It’s been an unspoken thing that people put little decorations or tables and things on one side of their door so the person on the other side can use theirs.
I have a very small white metal table to the right of my door. The neighbor in question has a small table with some sort of fairy decor on it.
This tenant is no stranger to decorating, but soon they felt like their neighbor was encroaching on their space.
Usually, we use our table to put little decorations on (if we have them), deliveries, or when our hands are full, we set something down to unlock the door.
They got a bunch of pumpkins and put them around their little table. They also put a handful under our table and a big pumpkin on top of it, so now we can’t use it.
To their credit, the tenant didn’t overreact or jump to conclusions.
Thinking it was an honest mistake, I simply took it off and put it in front of the table, so it’s still a decoration, but now we can use our table.
But their neighbor soon made their intentions clear.
Well, I went out this morning, and they put it right back. So, me being half asleep, tired, and annoyed, I threw it in the dumpster next to our apartment.
My train of thought at the time was, “Well, since it’s on my table, they must be giving it to me so I can do what I want with it.”
Now she’s getting mixed signals about the right course of action.
My BF is telling me I am way too upset about this, but AITA when they felt entitled enough to put it on there TWICE, even after I removed it?
Some people are too entitled for their own good.
What did Reddit have to say?
The instinct was right, but the execution might have taken things a bit too far.
This user disagrees about what really constitutes “property.”
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
It’s important to set boundaries with neighbors like these.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who wants peace and quiet by the pool, but finds guests and loud music instead.
If you don’t set boundaries, sometimes there are consequences.
This tenant gave her neighbor the benefit of the doubt, but the neighbor quickly squandered it.
Moving the first pumpkin gently to the floor was the polite move, but the neighbor putting it right back on her table was a message that she didn’t care about anyone else’s preferences but her own. By that point, it wasn’t an honest mistake anymore.
Her boyfriend may think she overreacted, but he wasn’t the one dodging gourds while fumbling for keys.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
