“[Am I The Jerk] For Refusing To Sleep Inside My House To Make My Neighbor Less Uncomfortable?”
It was a hot summer evening, one of those evenings when the air literally stands still and there is not the slightest breath to ease the heat. A respectable lady went out on the porch before going to bed, threw a fleeting glance at the neighbor’s house – and a few minutes later she called the police. The thing is that some unfamiliar man was sleeping in a hammock near the house…
Or something like this is how the user u/sleepinghammock started getting to know his new neighbors. And from that evening, the story of their confrontation began, which the author told about in the AITA Reddit community, and which rightfully scored almost 4.2K upvotes and nearly 1K various comments. Enough to investigate it in detail.
The author of the post once bought a house and the very first night found it rather stuffy sleeping inside
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Image credits: Brian Hart (not the actual photo)
The guy found a hammock in his backyard and decided to sleep there – yet the neighbors called the cops, mistaking him for a homeless man
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Image credits: sleepinghammock
Since that first night, the man decided to sleep outside regularly, but the neighbors weren’t happy with this idea at all
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Image credits: Ian Burt (not the actual photo)
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Image credits: sleepinghammock
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Image credits: Nicolas Vigier (not the actual photo)
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Image credits: sleepinghammock
The neighbors complained that seeing him sleeping in the evening makes them feel uncomfortable, but the guy was adamant
So, the Original Poster (OP), a man in his late twenties, recently bought a house, and from the very first evening, he realized that he could not sleep due to the stuffiness. The air conditioner did not work in the house, and the author, in his own words, was too lazy to do some repairs. The new homeowner found a non-trivial way out of this situation.
No, the owner didn’t want to sleep with the windows open for fear of thieves, so another idea came to his mind. There was a nice hammock hanging in the backyard, so the man simply climbed into it and fell asleep. It was cool and quite comfortable. The guy had been sleeping just fine – until he was awakened by the police, who were called by a vigilant neighbor, mistaking him for some homeless dude.
Of course, the situation was quickly resolved when the cops found out that the OP is the new owner of the house, but you will agree that this is not the best experience for the first meeting with the neighbors. Moreover, it turned out that the neighbor was accustomed to getting up early in the morning on her porch with her friends, and the sight of a peacefully sleeping guy in a hammock not far away, obviously, was not conducive to friendly teatime conversations…
The neighbor tried to talk to the original poster, urging him to sleep inside the house, sent her husband with admonitions, but the author of the post had already gotten a taste for sleeping in the fresh air and actually stood his ground. Moreover, according to the guy himself, he has the right to do whatever he wants in his own backyard, and sleeping in a hammock, in his opinion, in no way should make the neighbors uncomfortable.
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Image credits: Ken Mayer (not the actual photo)
In addition to the ethical component of the issue in this story, we will most likely also be interested in security issues. Firstly, the safety of a regular night’s sleep in a hammock for health, and secondly, safety in terms of crime. Because locking the doors and windows in the house, for fear of thieves, and sleeping outside the house can be quite a risky decision. But later in the comments, the original poster reasonably noted that he uses a keypad for the back door.
Well, let’s assume that we have figured out the measures against theft, but what to do with the possible harm to health? Although sleeping in a hammock is considered beneficial by many doctors, if you sleep in this way regularly, it can also affect your health in a negative way. “For most people, occasionally napping in a hammock is considered safe. But if you’d like to do it nightly, talk to a doctor first. The practice might cause side effects like back pain or poor posture,” the Healthline writers note.
Of course, the original poster is a young guy who probably doesn’t have any health issues. But to avoid similar troubles in the nearest future, experts advise, for example, to use a pillow for neck support and to lie diagonally across the hammock, as this should create more space for your body. And finally, doctors strongly advise, if you often sleep in a hammock, just place a pillow or maybe rolled-up blanket under your knees for additional back support. Perhaps these tips will be educational for the author of the post, or for someone who wants to follow his example.
As for the moral side of the issue, people in the comments almost unanimously sided with the original poster. After all, this is his house and his backyard, and since he just sleeps and does nothing immoral, then it’s just the neighbors’ problem. “If they care that much they can pay for a fence,” some of the folks in the comments noted. However, neighbors, as we well know, like to shift their problems onto other people’s shoulders… So what do you actually think about this story?
People in the comments, however, massively sided with the newly minted homeowner, supposing his neighbors could just make their fence taller
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“As the new kid on the block, maybe don’t pick this as your hill to die on.” Nah, definitely do choose it.
And how do the neighbours know he didn't get up at 6am to enjoy his hammock in the morning the same way they are enjoying their back porch for breakfast in the morning? This is so selfish and entitled of the neighbours, they have zero self awareness.
Credit where credit’s due: If they had any self-awareness they wouldn’t like themselves, or each other, very much. When you’re selfish, entitled and rude, it’s useful to lack self-awareness.
Load More Replies... So basically she's not objecting to the hammock but to him being in his own garden where he could hear her talking to her friends? He should also ask them to explain explicitly, in clear layman's terms, why sleeping in his own hammock, in his own yard is "inappropriate"?
Makes you wonder exactly what—-and who—-she and her clique are talking about during their morning tête-à-têtes.
Load More Replies... “As the new kid on the block, maybe don’t pick this as your hill to die on.” Nah, definitely do choose it.
And how do the neighbours know he didn't get up at 6am to enjoy his hammock in the morning the same way they are enjoying their back porch for breakfast in the morning? This is so selfish and entitled of the neighbours, they have zero self awareness.
Credit where credit’s due: If they had any self-awareness they wouldn’t like themselves, or each other, very much. When you’re selfish, entitled and rude, it’s useful to lack self-awareness.
Load More Replies... So basically she's not objecting to the hammock but to him being in his own garden where he could hear her talking to her friends? He should also ask them to explain explicitly, in clear layman's terms, why sleeping in his own hammock, in his own yard is "inappropriate"?
Makes you wonder exactly what—-and who—-she and her clique are talking about during their morning tête-à-têtes.
Load More Replies...
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