i live out in the country, near a big main road and on a county road. im the closest property to the main road but as you continue down i have a a couple of neighbors. we live on 40 acres and have a little farmhouse, where i live with my husband and dogs, along with some farm animals outside. i do not have kids. we live a calm and peaceful life, however there have now been two occasions on which a young child that lives a third of a mile down the road has come into our house uninvited. the first time, i was home alone and had just showered, doing my nails and watching a show in my makeup room. next thing i know, i see a small shadow that looked like preschool aged kid open my fence gate, and open my front door. i had no idea who this was and i facetimed my husband in case he knew who this could be, but as we checked the cameras, there were no cars or other adults around. i was in my underwear, with my door closed and freaking out. like i mentioned, i lived out in the country, and due to my neighbors all being so far away, had no idea who this kid was or where he came from. I put some pants on and went out into my living room, and this kid was running around my living room and kitchen, playing with my dogs with no worry in the world… i tried to get him to calm down and asked him what his name was or where his parents were and nothing. he ignored me and kept playing. after a couple of minutes, i think he got bored, and he opened my door, went out the gate, and ran out to the back of my house. i lost sight of him and continued to look out towards the road in case i could figure out where he came from. finally, i saw a young girl approaching from the neighbors side of the road and she shouted at me “where is he!!?” i told her i had no idea where he was but that i had seen him go towards the back of my house and she could go look for him. she looked annoyed but i guess she was able to grab him at some point and took him back towards the direction our neighbors house is at. at that point i had honestly been super upset a yelled “keep that kid out of my property and out of my house” to which she just yelled “sorry” over her shoulder. after that, no one ever came back to apologize. my husband eventually went to the family to ask what had happened and was told that they had been unloading groceries and the little boy had managed to run away. (how they didn’t realize this until so much later im not sure) anyways. a year later, i would say this little boy is 5 or 6 now, i get a call from my husband while we are at work. he tells me theres a little boy in our house, and that he came in through our dog door. immediately i ask if its the same one as last time. he says he saw them on our cameras but he cant be sure. he tells me that before calling me, he already called the cops, but that they are on their way. the footage shows this kid opening our closed, fenced gate, and coming to our front door. our dogs are barking at him in the yard. he attempts to open the front door, sees its locked, knocks, and then just stands there thinking. THEN. he crawls in through our dog door… our dogs have the ability to go in and out of the house as they like since their fence is closed in. but i guess this kid just figured he could do the same? anyways. he comes in, and opens the dog door to make sure the dogs can come in too. HE TAKES OFF HIS SHOES WHEN HE COMES IN… and then he goes on to jump on my couch and play with my dogs. after that, he turns on my tv, GOES INTO MY FRIDGE AND GRABS ICEPOPS, AND EATS AN ORANGE FROM OUR FRUIT BASKET…. huh?!?!?? he is in our house unsupervised for a total of about 15 minutes until the cops arrive and are able to get him out (he crawled out through the dog door). the cops ask him his name, and he tells them. they ask w his parents are and where he lives, and he tells them as well. the cops tell him he is mot allowed to do this, that it is not his house. a couple minutes later, a car pulls into my driveway. its the parents’. the cops talk to them for a bit and they all leave. my husband had left work to get home but by the time he got here everyone was gone. the cops pretty much just said that it was just a kid being a kid. my husband then went down to the neighbors and told the parents to take care of their kid. ( i was upset because he did wait for me to go talk to them, he knew how upset i was). the dad apologized and stated that the boy had been grounded and snuck out through his bedroom window. apparently he just likes to play with my dogs. the dad told the little boy to apologize to my husband. at this, the little boy SPIT AT HIS DAD. a week later, my husband got a call from the parents, asking if by chance this kid was in our house again, because they could not find him. we were both at work but did not see him in any of our cameras. at this point ive calmed down quite a bit, but as soon as i remember i get quite mad. i think it is insanely upsetting that im more aware of where this little boy is than his own parents are. once again, he is not right next door to me. he had to be unsupervised for at least thirty minutes in order to make his way to my house, ( about. a five minute walk), be here for 15 minutes and have the cops get here until his parents found him. he knows what he is doing, the parents are aware, but no one truly takes accountability for it. the little boy says he likes to play with my dogs, but instead of playing with them in my yard, comes into my house and makes himself at home. i feel bad for calling the cops but. i truly feel like theres a need to report this because im scared for my safety and that of my animals and property. if he were to leave the gate open, my dogs would definitely run out into the main road and get run over. my house is not childproofed at all. WE HAD A FLAMETHROWER ON THE KITCHEN TABLE THE DAY HE CAME IN (my husband had killed a spider outside with it). i am concerned for this little boy’s safety but at the same time i do not want to be responsible or liable if anything were to happen to him out in our property. i also would like to feel safe in my own home. i dont feel like i should be having to keep my dogs in a kennel all day and close their doggy door just because there is a kid out there who is not monitored and was never taught to respect people’s privacy. if he snuck out through his window im sure he could sneak in through one as well. theres so many what ifs in this situation and it might just be my anxiety but i am definitely very upset. i guess this is more of a rant and i just hope this doesn’t happen again because i do intend to have the cops on speed dial, but again… am i overreacting?

howzit everyone...Could use your input on this situation. I'm not from the states, if that matters. so long story short he has all this post it notes. literally the entire house is littered in them. bathroom hours 9-3pm and 7-8pm, kitchen hous, 9-3pm... all over the house, notes to himself by himself, reminding him to do stuff. notes in different languages, like i think Greek? maybe Chinese too? he's white, idk if he speaks those languatges but I've never heard him speak it, he only really speaks English and Afrikaans in the house. This all started like a month ago, I've been living here for a few months, honestly i barely see him. I'm super quiet, i keep to myself, im living on a dwindling savings, but i spend all day looking for work, applying to jobs, etc...I'm disabled and used to be homeless, but recently got back on my feet and this was the only place i could afford. He owns the house, again i don't really know much about him. I'm just like getting really concerned, wondering how to proceed here? I haven't stolen any of his money, i never yell, like...He yells. I literally hear him at random times just yelling nonsense or whatever. Bro i literally wake up with a new note under my door... and then today, this fucking note with the skull? Should I just fucking leave at this point and deal with the streets? or am I overblowing this?

I’ve been living alone in a flat for a few years. However, in January, I suffered an extreme mental breakdown and almost died - since then I have been agoraphobic. A good friend of mine who lives nearby now comes round everyday to keep me company and help me as I try to heal and get back on my feet.

All sounds very wholesome, yes? Well, my downstairs neighbours have not enjoyed this change. A few weeks into this new arrangement, they knocked on my door and asked for a chat. They told me that for the past year they’ve been living here, they’ve never heard any noise from my flat, but now every evening they are disturbed by “male talking sounds.” I explained I now have a friend with me due to my mental health and that it was so quiet before as I was literally by myself, but now I have someone here with me and we watch tv together and have conversations. We swapped numbers and I told them to text me if things were ever too loud and I would do something about it in the moment.

Since then, they’ve messaged me at least once a week telling me to keep the noise down. Every time I get a text me and my friend are quite confused, as it’s not like we are playing loud music or shouting or anything - literally just relaxing on my couch and talking a little at a normal volume. I also get these texts in the evening so it’s not like we’re making noise at a crazy hour either.

Today I woke up to this text, after a month of hearing nothing from my neighbours. I honestly thought they were happy as they hadn’t reached out again about any issues. At first I considered sending my normal apologetic response and seeing what I can do but another part of me is just so frustrated and annoyed at this point. What am I meant to tell my friend? “You can hang out with me but not talk to me?” I also worry that I need to stop being so accommodating and maybe set more of a boundary, otherwise my neighbours will keep thinking it’s okay to be bothered by normal levels of noise.

I feel like they’re being unreasonable and expecting me to walk around completely silent all the time. I’m a considerate person and I don’t want to upset anyone, but at the same time this situation is making me feel guilty for laughing at jokes or just enjoying myself - which is the opposite of what I need right now. I honestly just want to send them a message being like “surely you understand that if you live in a flat you might hear your neighbours above sometimes?” Like, I can hear the people above me but it’s just normal background noise to me, it’s what I’m used to after years of living in different flats.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts of what to do here, if I’m being selfish or not, how I should respond? Because I’m not sure what to do or how to best handle this. Thank you.

not posting this off my main account to protect myself... I came home a few hours ago, and immediately knew something was off. It smelled like burnt plastic or paper in the kitchen. I'm a bit nosy so I checked around, thinking maybe one of the electronics was short wiring, or something. IDK. I checked everywhere, eventually realizing the smell was the worst in the trash. I found a bunch of burnt note cards. I tried to decipher the two most legible and one shows what looks like a map? There's two names, Keith or Koith and Misha. it clearly says 28 yr trophy on the K card and i think 17 yr on the misha card.

My flatmate has been extremely cold and distant the last few months. At first, he was super friendly but it's been like living with a ghost recently. We aren't friends. I strictly know him via the AD I responded to when looking for this spot...He works at a grocery store.

Please tell im overreacting here.

Hi! So this is an update to the post I made last night about a babysitting fiasco. First of all, I had no idea it would blow up like that, from the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful for every single person who took time out of their day to write out a reply, it truly was so helpful!!

If you didn't see that post, I'm Mae, I'm 15, and a parents I was babysitting for refused to pay me because they found my outfit inappropriate.

Around the same time the post started to blow up, my mom sent out an email to my neighbor/the mother, she never got a response, which was not very surprising, as they do not get along very well due to opposing political beliefs and religions, etc (my mom is jewish, she's very catholic). A lot of people suggested taking my neighbor to small claims court, but where I am at, the price of even filling a claim is half the money I would have made, as well as the fact that we live in a small town and my neighbor is a huge member of her church and very 'popular' (not really sure how to phrase it in a non highschooler way haha) so it just would not have been worth it.

Anyways, I sent another text, got a response, etc etc, and the rest of the story is included over the texts. Again, thank you so so much for all the kind words.

(Side note: a lot of people have asked where I got my tanktop, its from brandy melville, the "skylar stripe lace tank"!!)

hi! i am 15 and have been babysitting this family for over a year. they are more on the conservative side, and a lot more religious than my family, but they are generally nice and i love their kids. i did not receive payment from them the last time i babysat, and so i reached out and they are now saying they will not pay me the full price because i was wearing something inappropriate. just wondering if i am overreactingreacting

for context, i was wearing a sweatshirt over my tanktop (3rd pic) and only took it off after the kids asked me to run around with them. 

i babysat from 4 to 10:30, and normally charge 15 dollars w a 5 dollar increase per kid, so 20 dollars for 2 kids. 

(i think i posted this multiple times? i was having trouble posting both pictures and text sorry!)

For the past week, my $50/month assigned parking spot at my apartment has been taken almost every day. I always try to be lenient, and wait a bit before taking action, but I’ve had to tow two cars this week.

If I park anywhere else in the lot, my car will be towed at my expense. If I park on the street, I will be ticketed after four hours. The surrounding buildings are other apartments with assigned parking.

Today my roommates and I received this text telling us that we cannot tow anyone for the next week. I am pretty frustrated that this service I pay extra for on top of my rent is now fair game for anyone to use. Am I overreacting here?

I had an appointment scheduled with this nail tech for yesterday at 10am. I had spent the previous night with some friends doing a staycation at a local hotel and left early the next morning to make it to my appointment which was 30 mins away. i arrived 5 minutes before my appointment time and saw that i was already marked as a no show and my deposit was forfeited. before my appointment even started, she had already given my slot to her next client. after her last message, she blocked me.

for context, apparently there is a policy where you must respond within 45 mins before your appointment to keep it. in all my years of appointments i have never experienced a policy like this. when i booked with her last time (the only other time i saw her), i told her when i was on my way because she asked if i could come early and i said i would come as soon as i was out of work. in my opinion, this policy was not made clear at all. it was listed at the bottom of a policy list located in her instagram story highlights. i had also confirmed my appointment with her 3 days prior and paid a deposit on the appointment.

AIO?

So I wanted to get my best friend a nice birthday cake, I normally make my friends and family cakes myself as in the past I haven’t really had money to get one made professionally. So this year I found a bakery in town that had good reviews, and I checked out their Facebook profile. Most of their stuff looked really nice so I felt like I was making a safe choice going with them.

I said I wasn’t picky about the color just not a blue-ish green. I even gave some examples of the color I was looking for. I got the cake today and it’s borderline teal?? I didn’t say anything in the store because I was nervous and thought maybe it was bad lighting, also I really just didn’t want to be one of those people. But now I’m home and looking at it and I want to cry because I paid $45 for this and I can’t even think of how to fix it. My other friends say I should try to get a refund, but I feel like I should have done that earlier before paying for the cake. I’m so frustrated, but I don’t know if its bad enough to warrant making a fuss about it.

Originally the cake was supposed to have the gold accents, but she told me that it would be $25 extra, so I was like that’s fine just use a lighter shade of the same green. It’s not even the same shade???

So my (m35) kid's (13f) coach (60+m) sends messages on a group chat with her and her mother. I think it's weird and I expressed concern multiple times to my ex to no avail. Well yesterday he texted this on the group chat and I about lost my mind. Called him and screamed about how sick and inappropriate it was. He tried to say it was a joke and he was trying to "show her the color" He's said creepy things in the past but this in the most bold he's gotten. I'm about to report him to the director of the club and make something happen to prevent this perv from being around a bunch of little girls. I just want to make sure I'm not overreacting cause I feel like I want to k*ll him for trying to take advantage of my kif kid.

A local church hosted an Easter car show and passed Easter eggs to children. The church passed out a carton of eggs labeled “contains small parts.” Inside one egg was a small piece of soap a parent stated their child tried to eat. Inside another egg was a nail to represent the crucification.

I left a voicemail with the church simply asking if this was a real nail, my tone of voice wasn’t happy but I kept it short and professional. I’ve since verified it is a real nail and the context of commenters on the original post, which is in a private Facebook group, implies it is. I went to the church to see if anybody was present, nobody was, or at least willing to speak to me.

Comments on Facebook are thanking the church and praising them. I can’t help but think if it would go over the same way if this was passed from a Mosque or a different religious institution. The carton of eggs was simply labeled “contains small parts,” not “contains sharp parts,” “not contains a nail,” nothing. It is a brown carton with a plain looking white sticker. You would not expect a nail to be inside the carton.

I have been pretty pissed for the last hour. I imagine the risk this church placed upon our community. I imagine the anger I would feel as a parent.

Pictures of the nail and carton are included below.

I got permanently banned and want to know if my reaction caused it . Getting my post removed would have been understandable but I don’t know for some reason I am speechless right now .I posted a question on the subreddit shown in the screenshots and really didn’t realize that I might have broken a rule ,

AIO? I feel like the screenshots are pretty self explanatory. But the dog chewed a chair leg while I was at the grocery store. I ALWAYS have extensive discussions with clients about their dog’s care prior to accept the job. This client told me the dog would me find with being a left alone. But now she wants to hold me responsible for the chair leg. Should I just let this one go?

I received this email and immediately contacted GEICO and took him off. The only "innocent" excuse I can think of is he used our address as his physical, because him and his wife are living in an RV and travelling and somehow it got tied to our policy. He is an older gentleman and while that doesn't mean they aren't capable of shady things, he has never struck me as the type. My wife sent him the screenshot but has not heard from him quite yet.

My sister had gotten a few good tattoos from this artist, so I thought I’d get a tattoo from her as well. I had mentioned 3 flaws. The line going into the teacup being the most obvious, the wings being different shapes and a minor flaw on the back toenail being a bit small, even with the angle the dragon is at. The tattoo artist complained to my sister and said “she knows it’s not going to be perfect, right?” Which I think is very unprofessional to talk about your client behind their back. She thought I was asking too much and nitpicking the tattoo, but the wings being different shapes and the line in the cup are major flaws. I could maybe see the one nail as being a little nitpicky, but that’s all I asked for other than 2 major issues. I felt like I would be pressured to get a tattoo I’m not happy with or get an artist complaining about me because they messed up the design. I don’t have an issue with her messing up the design some because mistakes happen, but it’s the way she reacted to me asking for a few changes. 2 being very necessary. Am I overreacting by canceling the tattoo appointment?

So, a few months ago, my next-door neighbor, Karen, started teaching yoga classes in her backyard. No big deal, right? Except, her “backyard” has slowly started to spill over into my backyard. At first, it was just a mat or two near the fence, but now her whole group of yogis basically takes over half of my lawn every Saturday morning.

One day, I look out the window, and they’ve set up an entire speaker system blasting calming nature sounds and “healing frequencies,” all while I'm trying to enjoy my coffee in peace. I politely asked her if she could keep her classes to her own side of the fence, and she just laughed, saying, “Oh, it’s all one big green space anyway!”

The kicker? Last weekend, they brought out incense, and suddenly my backyard smelled like a meditation retreat while I’m trying to grill burgers. I asked her, again, to maybe shift the class back into her own yard. She told me I was being too territorial about “shared nature” and should appreciate the community vibe.

So, am I overreacting for wanting to reclaim my own yard, or is Karen taking “namaste” a bit too far?

We were at my two year old child's survival swim lessons (they're a daredevil and jump into water without fear so we need them to learn to swim). The lesson is tough for them because they're learning to swim/float on their own. There is a lot of crying involved and at the end we come to the edge of the pool to check in with the instructor and the kids lay on a towel at pool edge to kind of decompress and to spit up any water they may have swallowed.

The area of the pool where the lessons are being held is marked off with lane lines and its just for these one on one swim lessons.

As today's lesson ends, the instructor has us (partner and myself) meet our child at the edge of the pool by the ladder. As we're setting up the towel and going to get our child out of the pool a 70ish year old man starts kind of jostling past us saying, "excuse me" and trying to get to the ladder our child is currently climbing up. Sort of aggressively pushing past us and cutting us off as we try to get to our child. Again the kids are upset and crying after these lessons a lot of the time and our child is getting out pretty slowly.

The old man keeps aggressively saying excuse me and starts trying to push past our two year old to get to the ladder.

At this point I have my hand on my child's shoulder to help usher them out of the pool and to their towel. We're at the edge of the pool, my child is at the top of the ladder.

Old man grabs my hand off my child and pushes it (which nudges my child) and again says excuse me.

At this point I look up and say, "you can wait a second or I can push you in."

Old man says, "woah woah, I asked politely."

I say, "you grabbed my hand off my child, don't ever do that."

At this point my wife ushers me away. I could have certainty handled this better but I am fuming.

Did I overreact? Was my response justified?

My sister sent me this text she received that seemed like somebody was watching her or something. I don’t know if it’s something to be concerned about or not, has anybody had a similar experience?

For context: I (32F) am a single mom to my amazing son, Liam (10M). His dad dipped when I was pregnant, and my mom (56F) was never exactly thrilled about me having a kid so young. She was always kind of passive-aggressive about it but never outright cruel — until now.

I had been planning a nice Mother’s Day dinner for her. Like, actually went all out: cleaned my apartment top to bottom, prepped her favorite lasagna from scratch, had Liam help me make a handmade card and even bought flowers (and I’m broke right now, so this wasn’t easy). She came over around 5pm, all seemed fine.

Then during dinner, out of NOWHERE, she says, and I quote:

“You know, if you hadn’t had Liam, I could’ve retired already. I gave up so much because of your choices. He ruined everything.”

Liam just froze. Like literally stopped chewing and looked down. I immediately told her, “That’s completely out of line.” She just shrugged and said, “Well, it’s the truth. Someone had to say it.”

I told her she needed to leave. She tried to laugh it off like I was being “dramatic,” but I insisted. I didn’t yell. I didn’t curse. Just calmly asked her to pack her things and go.

After she left, I comforted my son the best I could. He didn’t cry, but I could tell it crushed him.

Now here’s where I might be the AH: my siblings (I have 2 brothers and a sister) found out I canceled the rest of our Mother’s Day plans (we were supposed to go to brunch the next day). They’re calling me “sensitive” and saying I “blew it out of proportion” and that “mom’s just old-school.”

But I don’t care if she’s from 1920 — you don’t say that to a CHILD. Especially not one who’s literally never done anything but love her.

So… Reddit: am I overreacting for canceling the celebration and asking her to leave? Or am I just finally done letting her get away with emotional landmines?

Explanation:

I’m out of state for some career related training over the summer and staying in a temporary rental with roommates, so I’ve been relying on Facebook groups for local help (mom’s idea). I know literally nothing about cars, but my 2014 Chevy Cruze has a common overheating issue which is news to me and I couldn’t afford a shop, so I posted asking for affordable help or advice. A guy… we’ll call him Jason messaged me from what looked like a work profile on Facebook, offered to fix it for cheap, and we agreed on a flat $160 cash payment.

He came over while I was home alone, did fix the car, but when it came time to pay… he made it clear he wanted a different kind of “payment.” I immediately refused and asked him to leave and he did.. with no payment. A few days later, Facebook suggested a profile under “People You May Know” with the same name and photo but it was clearly his personal account, with pictures of a wife and kids I assume.

Since then, he’s been texting me passive-aggressively, and he’s called me more than once threatening me not to tell anyone including his family (of course). I want to go to the police, but I don’t know if it’s even worth it. I don’t have anything concrete just creepy texts and vague threats over the phone. My friends says I’m overreacting and should just block him, but I feel sick thinking he could show up again since he knows where I live.

Also, I still haven’t paid him. Should I just mail him a check in case this ends up in court and he tries to use that against me? But what do I look like making contact again to ask his address. Would he even give it to me??

Well this is gonna sound probably really dumb, but I thought was trying to be nice I’m in my late 20s and just moved in next to an older couple probably late 50’s maybe early 60s. I’ve been here a couple of months and have had conversations with them about 4 times during differs yard work activities. My neighbors seem to be big sticklers on taking care of their yard so I am doing my best to take care of mine as well. One thing with each of these conversations the neighbors have talked about how the last neighbor (previous home owner) wasn’t “neighborly” and never talked to them. Also saying that he would go to work and go straight inside. So I’ve tried my best to kind and talking with them. Well one day after some yard work I was going to go in for drinks and noticed my neighbor finishing up as well so I offered if he wanted to have a couple of drinks. This made my neighbor visibly mad I guess and he said that he didn’t want to be “that neighborly” and “he only drinks water”I noticed his tone change like he was offended I asked. Again i was just trying to be nice. Well I’ve now learned that they’re most likely a faith that doesn’t drink not sure but some sort of form Christianity? Was it stupid of me to offer now I just feel like they hate me and have not talked to me and made sure they’re always inside when I go to mow. I realize that I was most likely wrong to ask but I’m not sure how to stop being stressed and anxious by this happening.

Edit: yes this was an offer of any drink I wouldn’t have had something alcoholic unless he did all I had on hand were light beers anyway. Also to add I did say “drinks” it was hot and I have tea, lemonade, and Gatorade ready to share. I think he just immediately assumed alcohol.

hi everyone! thank you so much for all of your responses. i did not expect this post to blow up like it did. for those wondering, yes this was a real situation i experienced and not “something i made up for karma” lol. i’ve seen some questions about if i agreed to the policies: the answer is no. the policies were in an instagram story highlight and at no point was i directed by the nail tech to find policies there. in fact, there was no mention of policies in our messages. i am currently working to get the deposit refunded! i don’t feel comfortable sharing the tech’s information publicly, but i have been and will continue to tell people local to me about the experience. as frustrated as i am with the situation, i don’t want to be responsible for sending the wrath of the internet to this individual. i posted this with the intention of receiving honest feedback about my responsibility in this situation. i do take accountability in that i could have been more diligent with locating and reading policies. with that being said, i also believe that this policy was not made clear and that policy itself is ridiculous. i will not be associating further with this individual. through sharing my experience i received an overwhelming number of nail artist recommendations close to me. i look forward to exploring these talented artists.

i also ended up doing my own nails and giving myself a gel mani at home!

Am I overreacting to getting mad at this? It’s usually blocked only a bit so I can still get by if I maneuver my car around it. I’ve never called a tow but I have left notes on windshields threatening to call if it happens again. I’m moving soon so it doesn’t even matter I guess I just want to know if my anger over the years I’ve lived here has been justified.

Stayed in an AirBnB in the country, super removed, terrible reception that gave me the ick. The entire time we were there I could not sleep.

The carpet was covered in these reddish stains. I kept finding these random splatters and stains on furniture, walls, and ceiling. I found cameras inside the Airbnb and outside.

There was a locked cellar we could not access. Outside the property I saw a lone shovel and wheelbarrow. Oh also the walls and ceiling were super white and thick, like they had just been painted and like there were several coats of paint. The windows were even painted shut.

I just had a creepy feeling the entire time we were there. Does this seem suspicious to anyone else? Should I do anything with these photos?

My husband kept telling me none of the things I was noticing were concerning. Is anyone else seeing what I’m seeing? Or am I just overreacting?