I used to believe in being a good neighbor. Then I met Claire.
At first, she seemed harmless—a single mom who needed to borrow my hose now and then. Then I made the fatal mistake of saying, “Sure, use our grill when we’re gone!”
We came back from vacation to a nightmare. Trash everywhere. Grease stains. My grill looked like it had been through a food truck battle. Claire’s reaction? “Adam had friends over. No big deal.”
I gave her three fair rules: Clean up. Don’t wreck my stuff. Parent your teen.
Her reply? A printed list on my door with her rules for my property, including:
- Banned seasonings (because Adam “hated the smell”)
- Shared lawn equipment (without asking)
- Automatic cleanup duty for Adam’s messes
Then came the TikTok reveal—Adam’s videos bragging about the party in my yard, complete with footage of the destruction. Game on.
@sir..keith
I posted the evidence. The internet rallied behind me. A fence went up within days.
Claire screamed about “her rules.” I shrugged. “Not my problem anymore.”
Adam, now a school joke, begged me to remove the videos. I did—after a stern talk about consequences.
The final scene? Claire, defeated on her porch, whispering, “You win.”
Moral of the story? Nice fences make better neighbors. Especially with Claires.
