Petty Revenge: Mom Sends Kids To Annoy The Hell Out Of A Hypocrite Neighbor Who Complained To HOA About The Noise
Being neighborly means being respectful and considerate towards other people in the area you live in, establishing good relationships with them, and fostering a sense of community together. But that’s often easier said than done.
A few days ago, Reddit user QueenPotat-the1st shared a story about a guy on their mother’s block — he couldn’t stand the kids making a racket on the street and supposedly complained to the local alternative of the Homeowner’s Association (HOA) in an attempt to shut them up.
But the kids’ parents, including QueenPotat-the1st’s mom, thought that he was being a hypocrite since the guy would often host late-night parties himself, and decided to award the fella with even more noise instead.
Children’s behavior can be a real nuisance to their neighbors
Image credits: DragonImages (not the actual photo)
But after one guy complained about the noise this group of friends were causing, their parents instructed the little ones to act even louder instead
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Gustavo Fring (not the actual photo)
After the story went viral, its author released a few follow-up statements
Image credits: u/QueenPotat-the1st
We managed to get in contact with QueenPotat-the1st and they were kind enough to have a little chat with us. “As far as I know, this guy’s more of a hermit,” the Redditor told Bored Panda. “No one really knows what he does for a living (only that he works from home sometimes), and his aunt doesn’t really elaborate.”
“As I mentioned in a comment, the houses are made of concrete and you can’t hear that much noise unless you’re at the front door,” they added. “I know this because the kids usually play outside my mum’s house. When she does get complaints about the kids, they usually wind down, but it hasn’t happened that many times. I do think this guy was just being a [jerk].”
“Someone in the comments said that one shouldn’t throw rocks in glass houses, and in my country, we have a saying that goes ‘light on the streets, dark at home’, I think people should keep that in mind.”
According to QueenPotat-the1st, after reading the story, most Redditors said horrible things about their family and “forgot the fact that the neighbor was disrupting the whole neighborhood.”
“Also, I am a believer that dialogue can solve anything, so instead of being petty and hiding, you may want to talk to the other involved. If they don’t compromise or change, then, go ahead and be as petty as you may within reason,” they said.
According to a study by Find Law, a popular legal information website, 42% of Americans say they have had a dispute with their neighbors.
But loud noise and kids are two of the most common reasons for these disagreements. The top looks like this:
- Noise 48%;
- Pets and animals 29%;
- Children’s behavior 21%;
- Visual nuisance, property appearance, trash, etc. 18%;
- Property boundaries 17%;
- Suspected criminal behavior 8%;
- Health or building code violations 4%;
- Parking 1%.
86% of people who had disputes said they took some kind of action, usually in the form of discussing the issue directly with the neighbor or sending them a note or email. Only fourteen percent of people with a dispute took no action at all:
- Discussed issue personally with neighbor 49%;
- Called police 27%;
- Notified neighborhood or owners’ association 15%;
- Sent letter, note, or email 11%;
- Went to court 4%;
- Went to mediation 4%;
- Other actions 4%;
- Took no action 14%.
You could argue that the parents have gone too far. Or that they aren’t really winning anything here. Psychologists Kevin M. Carlsmith, Timothy D. Wilson, and Daniel T. Gilbert noted people tend to believe that retribution of some kind effectively releases the tension and anger someone feels toward the transgressor and their action, and that payback helps to assuage negative emotions, supplanting them with positive ones. But, in their own studies, while participants thought they’d feel better after exacting revenge, the researchers found the very opposite.
Either way, QueenPotat-the1st was hurt to see anti-kids people in the comments. “I myself am child-free but I’ll always defend kids’ or anyone’s rights. I get that some kids are a nightmare and bratty, but that’s on the parents.”
“Kids, unfortunately, don’t know better until they’re like 12 and even then, need proper guidance and parenting,” they said. “Just because they don’t know better doesn’t give you a free pass to be mean to them. You can ignore them. I think that if my post were a similar story but without the kids, people would have reacted differently.”
“Just remember, … if you weren’t [a loud kid], that’s fine, but it doesn’t mean that you’re better than anyone. Be respectful. Just because kids can’t defend themselves doesn’t mean adults can mistreat or insult them.”
People in the comments were divided about the revenge; some said it was well-earned
But others thought it was too much
Everyone in this story sounds terrible (apart from the actual kids), glad none of them are my neighbours!
Change "kids" to "dogs" and see how quickly you rethink the situation. It's rude if I let my dog bark loudly and not teach him to be quiet most of the time, right? Parks exist for a reason, the street is not a playground, and there are other people in the world other than you.
You could change it to anything that annoys *them* and suddenly the situation would be different. I worked with a girl who would complain about her neighbors all the time calling the cops on her. Turns out she would blast her music every day until after midnight. She was a closer so she'd get out of work at 12am and then go home and play her music and do housework, etc. When I asked her if she thought maybe that was unreasonable her answer was, "I pay rent. It's my place so I can do what I want." But her neighbors started waking up really early and doing the same thing and she would complain so much, and she didn't see how hypocritical she was being. If you pay rent, you don't own the place. You're renting rooms in the same building and it only works if everyone follows the same rules. If your mom was sleeping in the next room, would you still do that? There's a selfish blindness people have when it comes to their own behavior being 'acceptable' and others doing the same thing isn't.
Load More Replies..."they have to pay fees, mostly for security and surveillance, even though it's very safe". This person has flawed reasoning. It is very safe, because people pay for surveillance and security. This is how you prevent things happening, by supporting adequate countermeasures.
Jerks asking why they have jerky kids. This exact reason right here. Teach them some god damned manners and that they are not the center of the fucken universe. There are others in the world and they don't conform to other peoples expectations. Don't give a s**t if the neighbor is an a*s doesn't excuse you or your kids being one as well.
I've been living in a nightmare sandwich for 3 years. I live on a second floor and the neighbors upstairs were fighting all the time before they finally got evicted. The people downstairs fight so much that the cops have been here over 30 times. The guy beats his girlfriend regularly and the cops come, tell them to keep it down and leave. Then they blast music all the time. The guy just randomly grunts like a crazy person. I can't understand people who live with people, share walls and floors and don't have common courtesy. No, I don't want to hear your music. Kids playing outside... I get it. They're kids. But screaming and playing sports for hours on end should be monitored like any other noise. I work 4am-4pm, and I don't vacuum at 3am or do laundry because I have common sense and know i'm going to bother people. Just don't be jerks and have some courtesy. You aren't alone in the world. You have the right to have fun and enjoy your space, but SO DO I.
Isn't it nice to see that childish ways of handling confrontation are still going strong. "But, but, but he played his music too much." "Yeah, but the kids are loud too" "No, but the neighborhood kids outside time is more important" "but he..." "but she...." etc. Also doing all this while not 100% sure the dude was the one who filed a complaint. Petty in the wrong kinda way.
My downstairs neighbor has, for MONTHS, been playing loud bass-type music. Only between 11.30 p.m. and 5.30 a.m... on week-nights. Not loud enough for other neighbors to be bothered, but loud enough gor me to feel my bed and couch vibrate. I've sent in complaints about it twice. First time, he cut it out. For about a month. Then he ramped it up to three week-nights in a row. I didn't get to sleep and had meetings. After the second warning from the owners that he had to be quiet, he had the audacity to claim I had the wrong apartment. No. I didn't. I've checked multiple times. So my final solution was to STOMP loud enough to get the point through. He tried ONCE MORE after that. It was during daytime, but at this point the bass-sound was so annoying, I seriously considered it psychological torture. So I made it clear I would not be dealing with that anymore. Never went down and talked f2f since I hear earlier from his next door neighbor, that they've had to call the police on him once because he was throwing out and breaking hie ex-fiancès stuff. So I wasn't gonna do that. But it's been quiet for almost a month (minus the times people pound on his front door bc his doorbell isn't working...), but I'm crossing fingers that it stays this way from now on.🤞🤞 sound-war is real and it can be torture.
I worked up the nerve to talk to my neighbor like that. I said it was a great song, but the bass was thudding my walls So if he could just turn the bass down I'd be able to sleep. I also complimented his sound system and he was really cool about it.
Load More Replies...My neighbours' kids play in their gardens and between each other's houses and make a lot of noise that disturbs my work because they *start* the noise at 3:30pm when they get out of school, they are 5-8 years old so don't really have homework and one little girl screams like she's being murdered whenever she gets excited. I also live under a flight path, so what I've done is invest in some noise cancelling headphones. I'm not bothered by kids anymore.
Hating kids is as pathological as hating the elderly or hating the visibly disabled. But for some reason, hating kids has not only become normalized, people boast about it, as though hating kids makes them superior beings.
I disagree. Elderly and disabled people don't trample the flowers and scream all day. If you're uncomfortable around elderly/disabled, you can just leave. Nobody lets their grandpa ride his bike in your yard..
Load More Replies...She doesn't actually know it was this guy. I've thought before that I knew who said what by some sort of similar logic and been shocked to find out I was completely wrong.
You know, I just feel like people simply shouldn't be screaming in the streets. I think parents should tell children you cannot simply be as loud as you feel like being in a residential area. Maybe in your room a little bit you can scream your head off, or at a park or the school playground. But just because you live somewhere, or just because you're young, doesn't mean you should completely disrupt everyone else's lives because you have the urge to. I mean my job is stressing me out and I would love to run down the street screaming my head off, but that's just rude.
There is a kid I'm my neighborhood whom I have dubbed "Screamy Kid". However annoying the kid is, he's only out being screamy during the day. I have not complained. And I will not, because, that's life. We must put up with others from time to time, and my neighborhood is pretty quiet, all things considered, so I'll take it.
The mom is super inconsiderate and totally is the ahole and a big one at that.
Everyone in this story sounds terrible (apart from the actual kids), glad none of them are my neighbours!
Change "kids" to "dogs" and see how quickly you rethink the situation. It's rude if I let my dog bark loudly and not teach him to be quiet most of the time, right? Parks exist for a reason, the street is not a playground, and there are other people in the world other than you.
You could change it to anything that annoys *them* and suddenly the situation would be different. I worked with a girl who would complain about her neighbors all the time calling the cops on her. Turns out she would blast her music every day until after midnight. She was a closer so she'd get out of work at 12am and then go home and play her music and do housework, etc. When I asked her if she thought maybe that was unreasonable her answer was, "I pay rent. It's my place so I can do what I want." But her neighbors started waking up really early and doing the same thing and she would complain so much, and she didn't see how hypocritical she was being. If you pay rent, you don't own the place. You're renting rooms in the same building and it only works if everyone follows the same rules. If your mom was sleeping in the next room, would you still do that? There's a selfish blindness people have when it comes to their own behavior being 'acceptable' and others doing the same thing isn't.
Load More Replies..."they have to pay fees, mostly for security and surveillance, even though it's very safe". This person has flawed reasoning. It is very safe, because people pay for surveillance and security. This is how you prevent things happening, by supporting adequate countermeasures.
Jerks asking why they have jerky kids. This exact reason right here. Teach them some god damned manners and that they are not the center of the fucken universe. There are others in the world and they don't conform to other peoples expectations. Don't give a s**t if the neighbor is an a*s doesn't excuse you or your kids being one as well.
I've been living in a nightmare sandwich for 3 years. I live on a second floor and the neighbors upstairs were fighting all the time before they finally got evicted. The people downstairs fight so much that the cops have been here over 30 times. The guy beats his girlfriend regularly and the cops come, tell them to keep it down and leave. Then they blast music all the time. The guy just randomly grunts like a crazy person. I can't understand people who live with people, share walls and floors and don't have common courtesy. No, I don't want to hear your music. Kids playing outside... I get it. They're kids. But screaming and playing sports for hours on end should be monitored like any other noise. I work 4am-4pm, and I don't vacuum at 3am or do laundry because I have common sense and know i'm going to bother people. Just don't be jerks and have some courtesy. You aren't alone in the world. You have the right to have fun and enjoy your space, but SO DO I.
Isn't it nice to see that childish ways of handling confrontation are still going strong. "But, but, but he played his music too much." "Yeah, but the kids are loud too" "No, but the neighborhood kids outside time is more important" "but he..." "but she...." etc. Also doing all this while not 100% sure the dude was the one who filed a complaint. Petty in the wrong kinda way.
My downstairs neighbor has, for MONTHS, been playing loud bass-type music. Only between 11.30 p.m. and 5.30 a.m... on week-nights. Not loud enough for other neighbors to be bothered, but loud enough gor me to feel my bed and couch vibrate. I've sent in complaints about it twice. First time, he cut it out. For about a month. Then he ramped it up to three week-nights in a row. I didn't get to sleep and had meetings. After the second warning from the owners that he had to be quiet, he had the audacity to claim I had the wrong apartment. No. I didn't. I've checked multiple times. So my final solution was to STOMP loud enough to get the point through. He tried ONCE MORE after that. It was during daytime, but at this point the bass-sound was so annoying, I seriously considered it psychological torture. So I made it clear I would not be dealing with that anymore. Never went down and talked f2f since I hear earlier from his next door neighbor, that they've had to call the police on him once because he was throwing out and breaking hie ex-fiancès stuff. So I wasn't gonna do that. But it's been quiet for almost a month (minus the times people pound on his front door bc his doorbell isn't working...), but I'm crossing fingers that it stays this way from now on.🤞🤞 sound-war is real and it can be torture.
I worked up the nerve to talk to my neighbor like that. I said it was a great song, but the bass was thudding my walls So if he could just turn the bass down I'd be able to sleep. I also complimented his sound system and he was really cool about it.
Load More Replies...My neighbours' kids play in their gardens and between each other's houses and make a lot of noise that disturbs my work because they *start* the noise at 3:30pm when they get out of school, they are 5-8 years old so don't really have homework and one little girl screams like she's being murdered whenever she gets excited. I also live under a flight path, so what I've done is invest in some noise cancelling headphones. I'm not bothered by kids anymore.
Hating kids is as pathological as hating the elderly or hating the visibly disabled. But for some reason, hating kids has not only become normalized, people boast about it, as though hating kids makes them superior beings.
I disagree. Elderly and disabled people don't trample the flowers and scream all day. If you're uncomfortable around elderly/disabled, you can just leave. Nobody lets their grandpa ride his bike in your yard..
Load More Replies...She doesn't actually know it was this guy. I've thought before that I knew who said what by some sort of similar logic and been shocked to find out I was completely wrong.
You know, I just feel like people simply shouldn't be screaming in the streets. I think parents should tell children you cannot simply be as loud as you feel like being in a residential area. Maybe in your room a little bit you can scream your head off, or at a park or the school playground. But just because you live somewhere, or just because you're young, doesn't mean you should completely disrupt everyone else's lives because you have the urge to. I mean my job is stressing me out and I would love to run down the street screaming my head off, but that's just rude.
There is a kid I'm my neighborhood whom I have dubbed "Screamy Kid". However annoying the kid is, he's only out being screamy during the day. I have not complained. And I will not, because, that's life. We must put up with others from time to time, and my neighborhood is pretty quiet, all things considered, so I'll take it.
The mom is super inconsiderate and totally is the ahole and a big one at that.
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