Is this petty? An argument with the neighbours

by needproof 41 Replies latest jw friends

  • needproof
    needproof

    I'd like to ask you all whether or not you think that we are being petty here.

    The house next door to us has been empty for a while now. The last person to use it was a Chinese doctor who used to house illegal immigrants which looked after his little Cannabis factory. After the police raid, the house went back to being empty and on the market for lodgers.

    So a few weeks back we had Russians move in.

    Now annoyingly they seem to have Barbecues every night, and they put on so much lighter fluid that the whole area stinks. They dont seem to want to integrate either and have loud conversations in Russian with large groups of people.

    Every week, the bins get emptied. We have a scheme in our city where green bins are used for recyclable rubbish. After having our bin stolen once or twice in the past, we painted huge numbers on the side to identify which house it belongs to.

    We noticed that the Russians have a old, battered green bin and the other day we both put our bins out. After the rubbish had been collected, we went out to get our bin, and the only one left was the Russian battered up old bin. So we obviously wondered, 'where is our bin'.

    Well, the Russians have taken it, and left us with the old one. So the old one is still out on the street, and since yesterday has been involved in a tug of war between our house and the Russian house. He keeps putting it behind our car and we keep putting it behind his car.

    I know this sounds really petty, and no words have been exchanged, it is only a bin, but why the hell should we put up with that?

    Comments welcome.

  • Confession
    Confession

    I can't think of any other approach than having a specific conversation with these people. Do they speak any English at all?

  • Kudra
    Kudra

    No that's not petty- in fact, it makes me pissed off for you. I would give a friendly wave over the fence and tell them that "I believe we have our trashcans accidentally switched up, as I'm sure you will notice our house number on the side of the can you now have."

    If that does not work, firmly do plan two:

    Call the police -they have stolen property that is not theirs. I would not worry about the location of the battered trashcan for the time being and just deal with it with the police.

    To have registered a complaint NOW will lend more credence/evidence to your side if things ever escalate into something more than just this trashcan incident later. And it kind of sounds like things have a potential to.

    Best of luck to you- keep us posted!

    -K

  • trevor
    trevor

    Russians claim to believe in socialism and that what is yours is theirs.

    Leave Russia and come to the West.

    Here we believe that what is ours ours and what is yours should be ours.

  • aSphereisnotaCircle
    aSphereisnotaCircle

    Nope, not petty at all.

    If you let them get away with so blatantly stealing your stuff, what are they going to take next?

  • needproof
    needproof

    I had no idea that the Russian slob spoke English until the other night, where I heard him mix Russian with English on the phone, so he obviously speaks a little. They must have been here for a while because they seem well set up.

    I have thought about calling the police; but over a green bin, it all sounds silly. I mean, I don't want to start arguing with our new neighbors. I do not however wished to be walked all over by some jonny-come-lately who thinks they can do what they want.

    I guess speaking with them is the best alternative, but when you consider that when we pull up in the car they all seem to scatter, or just turn their backs. This is what I mean, they just dont want to integrate at all. I don't care who people are living next to me so long as they integrate.

  • ninja
    ninja

    have you ever thought of building a big wall between you and them....seemed to work in Europe for a good while.....maybe the cold war was started over a bin.............hmmmm...food for thought........ninjski

  • needproof
    needproof

    Haha or rather...an iron curtain?

  • Tara
    Tara

    No, it is not petty. It is the principle of the thing. They obviously know they took something that was not theirs. I agree with whoever said to have a polite conversation about it. If they don't return it, report them to the police. They stole something of yours. I would also keep a written record of everything they do. I was unfortunate enough to live next door to a very disturbed person who loved to creat havoc with her neighbors. Little, small, " petty" things escalated into her trying to run down a neighbor with her car.

  • jaguarbass
    jaguarbass

    Needproof, I dont think its petty. I would take Kudras advice.

    If you dont then you have to grin and bare it.

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