Recently we had an altercation with our next door neighbor over the fact that he continues to let his dog defecate in front of my house and does not pick up after her. His family just moved into the neighborhood a couple of months ago and we have suspected for awhile that he was the culprit that was leaving behind little surprises for us on our front sidewalk. Obviously we couldn’t accuse him without first having some kind of proof so we embarked on a full scale detective investigation to see exactly what was going on.
Let me preface by saying that I had a bad feeling that this particular neighbor was going to be a problem when I realized that he was a crazy nut with no boundaries. You might think that this is a harsh way to categorize him but I bet you will change your mind when I describe to you some of the things that he has already done since he moved in…
The first thing he did was to jump into another neighbor’s car while he was warming it up and drive the car around the neighborhood without permission. Yes, you understood correctly, he jumped into a complete stranger’s open car and took it for a spin around the neighborhood. The shocking part is that the owner of the car did not press charges against him because he felt sorry for this man as it is apparent how mentally ill he is.
His second crazy act involved going to my backyard with my hose and cleaning off the plunger to his toilet back there without my permission. I immediately made it clear that I paid for water and that I did not want him on my property at all. It seems that he did not heed my warnings because, shortly thereafter, my husband had to advise him against turning on my hose to have a drink of water because it was “hot outside and he was thirsty.” If he was thirsty, he should have walked the ten steps into his own house and had a drink there.
All of this craziness brings us to the night when he passed by my husband and asked him what was going on. My husband responded that what was going on was that we are tired of having to pick up after his dog because he refuses to curb her and clean up her excrement. This crazy man then had the nerve to proceed to tell my husband that he does not understand why “you Spicks always want to fight about something.”
For those of you who are not aware of what this racial epithet means, let me enlighten you. A “Spick” is defined as an ethnic slur and offensive term for persons of Latin American descent. You might say that it is the equivalent of using the “N” word towards African Americans. Latinos are just as offended by the word “Spick.” Needless to say, my husband was livid that he had the nerve to say this to us and it took every ounce of his self control to not punch this guy right in the nose.
We don’t resolve conflicts through the use of violence no matter how warranted it might be. As a result, my husband advised this crazy guy that it was a good time for him to go inside his house if he wanted to keep his teeth. Crazy Guy complied with my husband’s request as he quickly excused his actions by stating that he was “just kidding” and that he “jokes this way with all of his Puerto Rican friends.” Now you understand what I meant when I stated that he has no boundaries.
The next day, I met with his perfectly normal and wonderful wife. She promptly begged for forgiveness and admitted that their 21 year old daughter had indeed admitted to letting their dog defecate and urinate in front of our house and not cleaning up after her. I expressed my concerns over the fact that I work hard to keep the outside of my home clean and that my children play there where I am constantly having to pick up after her dog. She was apologetic and I think she kicked Crazy Guy out of the house because he left with a suitcase a short while after our conversation.
To make a long story short, she eventually let him move back in at the end of the week and he approached my husband to apologize for the racial remark that he made. I can’t really call it an apology because he maintained that it was all a big joke and that we shouldn’t have been that offended by his words. He also went on to say that he is seeing a Psychiatrist and that he takes prescription medication. Surprise, surprise…
© 2011, Tough Cookie Mommy. All rights reserved.
I am beyond disgusted. Even leaving aside his shady antics (“stealing” the neighbour’s car, using your hose), I firmly believe that using a racial epithet means it’s something that is at the forefront of your mind. So I don’t buy the “I was just joking” spiel. And to insinuate that you were just overly sensitive…Reason 487 why people suck…lol
Chela, I completely agree with you. People who use racial epithets know exactly what they mean and how they feel when they use them. It just publicizes how they have always felt deep down inside. This guy definitely sucks big time and he does not know how much he offended us by even going there.
Wow! That’s a level of crazy neighbor I can’t even conceive of!
I feel your pain. Really, how hard is it to just stay on your own property? We have a set of neighbors with 4 boys. It’s as if they let them out at sunrise and don’t let them back in until it’s dark. Those kids are all over. It drives me nuts.We have 2 boys of our own and we never let them out of our yard to wander all over.
Fences make good neighbors… not the best but good is better than nothing.
~ Mona 🙂
Mona, I completely agree with you. I don’t understand why people feel that they are entitled to certain liberties just because they are your neighbors. We value our privacy and don’t just befriend anyone who passes through. I hope he has gotten the message.
That is bananas! I had horrible run ins with my neighbor and got desperate enough to do some back room voodoo to get rid of her…she moved out last week 🙂
You are a lucky woman, Lori. I don’t know if this crazy neighbor will be moving out anytime soon. The good news is that he is renting which means that he will hopefully be leaving at some point. Maybe that is just wishful thinking.
O WOW!! That’s terrible! Good luck.
New follower from blog hop, pls help our community to teach poor kids and women by following us at
http://seemask.blogspot.com
http://potspansandspices.blogspot.com
http://confessionofascrapaholic.blogspot.com
Also follow us on FB and twitter and leave msg so we can return the favor
Thanks
Hi I’m doing a Giveaway on my blog and would love to give you a chance
to win some adorable 4th of July Hair Clips! They’re great for baby
girls & toddlers!
Come on over and check it out:
http://www.forloveofcupcakes.com
Wow that’s ridiculous. I have had a few neighbors that would put this guy to shame though lol.. thankfully not anymore. Although I must admit it is really boring in our new neighborhood without all the craziness. I sort of miss it but it’s not something I admit to many people. As far as the dog using your yard.. that would put me over the edge.. I hate that! People were letting their dogs do that in my yard when we first moved here. Unfortunately it was more than 1 and I had no idea where they lived.. it was just as they walked by. I stood outside after that and gave lots of dirty looks and eventually it stopped.
The “Spics” comment is not cool. I have to admit that I have used that word but only because they called me equally offensive words and we actually were joking. He probably was joking but as you say, he has no scruples so therefore doesn’t know his boundaries. I would never go and say that to a neighbor I barely know or a stranger. Speaking of that.. I had an immediate neighbor who was a drunk (1 of several) and mean.. one day we were sitting outside chatting and our other neighbor was there with her kid. Her kid is mixed. The guy starts going on about black people and using the N word and I couldn’t believe it!! She just sat there and acted like it didn’t bother her. If that had happened to me I think I would have went ballistic. There is never any need to talk like that around children.. or even talk like that in general, although around here it’s very commonplace unfortunately.
Your neighbor definitely sounds like he shares way too much! Maybe you should suggest a lobotomy instead of his pills 🙂
Monica, the thing that killed me is that we have never given this man any indication that we were friends or that it was ever appropriate for him to “joke” around this way with us. He definitely has some personal issues beyond the mental illness issue and I suspect that it has something to do with some kind of substance abuse problem. In any case, he has definitely been firmly put in his place and I hope that he is wise enough to stay there because my husband is not a patient man.
Wow, what a miserable experience that must be to have to confront an annoying neighbor. When we lived in CA our neighbors never really spoke to us {not a very social neighborhood} except for the one to the left of us and I swear the woman was a total nut job. She complained about us all the time and yet we always kept to ourselves. She thought she owned the street in front of her house and so if any car was parked in front of her house on the street, she’d go up and down the street knocking on doors until she’d figure out who’s car it was and ask them to move it somewhere else. Not because she needed the spot for her own vehicle {that was in her garage} but because she was bothered that someone had the nerve to park in front of her house. That’s just one example of her craziness. I’m a very nice person who avoids conflict at all costs and I finally had to go a little crazy on her myself one day. I just couldn’t take it anymore. Hopefully you won’t have an ongoing problem with your neighbor.
Many blessings,
Rosann
http://www.christiansupermom.com/
Rosann, I also tried to avoid this neighbor at all costs. It was immediately apparent that he was one of those people who take full advantage of any situation. He seems to have calmed down a little bit since we had this confrontation so maybe he just needed someone to put him in his place. It is unfortunate that people have no boundaries and drive us to a point that we seldom want to get to…
Whoa. That’s…inexcusable. I hope the meds work, because otherwise I have a feeling he’ll be missing teeth soon.
Amber, I was actually surprised that my husband didn’t just punch him out. I guess we were both in shock that he actually had the audacity to say such a thing out loud to both of our faces. It is so good to see you here!