A man has sparked a debate after refusing to take in his neighbour’s parcel despite having no problem with it for months.
The 33-year-old explained how he shares custody of his son, aged five, with his ex-partner and currently lives in a two-bed rental in a quiet street.
With only five houses on his road, he knows his neighbours quite well and stops to chats with them when they’re outside.
However, he believes one of his neighbours has been taking advantage of him and he has now had enough. He said on Reddit: “About six months ago, I took in a package delivered for the house at the other end of the row.
“The package was a heavy box, containing a bag of dog food. Later that evening, the neighbour, 38, came to pick it up. I know she lives alone and offered to carry it for her.
“She accepted the offer and thanked me, and as I carried to hers she kept commenting on the fact that I was being a ‘gentleman’ and it was good to see a ‘big strong man’ in action.
“When I got it to hers, she insisted I come in for a glass of water and kept me there for an hour, just chattering on.”
Since then, the same delivery has arrived at his door every month and each evening, she comes to collect it.
He added: “I carry it over to hers. Each time, she will try to chatter away at me.”
However, last month, he was unable to take the parcel over when she knocked on the door because he was in the middle of his son’s bedtime routine.
He said he would drop it over later on in the evening – but she wasn’t happy with his and “huffed” away.
He said: “Half hour later she posted a note through the door with her mobile number on it and asked me to message when I could bring it.
“I had to feed my son, give him his bath, play with him, put him to bed… Once I’d done all that, I finally messaged her.
“She didn’t reply until the next day, telling me she had been tired and fallen asleep. Then a few hours later she sent through a long, rambling tirade.
“She told me I should have helped, that I was selfish, that I obviously hadn’t wanted to help her as I could have asked her to stay with my son while I carried it (fair point, though it just didn’t occur to me in that moment), and that if I really wanted to help her I would have messaged her earlier. This was all sprinkled with some very colourful language.”
Shocked, he apologised for upsetting her and said he would drop it over shortly after, which he did.
But when the parcel this month, he refused to take it in entirely – no longer wanting to interact with his nuisance neighbour.
He added: “She came banging on the door later in the evening and screamed at me for not taking the package, that she now had to find a way to get it from the company depot and that it was going to cost her a fortune.
“Now everyone along the street knows about it. Another neighbour, 58, has made it clear that he thinks I’m the AH and has threatened to complain to my landlord about my ‘un-neighbourly behaviour’. I really don’t think I’m in the wrong here.”
Commenting on his post, one user said: “She purposely is having the package delivered to you. You don’t work for her.
“At first, I thought she was trying to date you. You should never leave a stranger with your child or in your house. To be honest, she sounds unhinged. Also any neighbours complaining are free to come and bring the package to her.”
Another user added: “The audacity of this person to demand that you help her every time because you were kind enough to do it once.
“She’s acting like an entitled brat. If she wants to buy the dog food she can carry it herself. Just goes to show you that sometimes no good deed goes unpunished.”