Dealing with junkies

[Waus]

So, I had a friend coming over the other day and he was accosted by our next door neighbors in our front yard on his way in. Our neighbors have let their lawn go un-mowed for a conspicuous amount of time and they asked him (thinking he lived here) to borrow our lawn mower. I stepped out, sort of embarrassed that he had to deal with them, and offered to roll it out and let them use it.

Mind you, this is technically our landlord's lawnmower.

The neighbor (who I've never seen in the 2 years we've lived here) had pockmarked arms and a burned out demeanor. She offered to pay me to mow it, but as I was just having company over I said she could just borrow it and return it to our lawn.

It's been three days - I've been busy with visiting family and whatnot, but the lawnmower hasn't been returned. I finally had to walk over and ask about it, and she was surprised it hadn't been returned, her friend had mowed and she thought he returned it, she called him and he didn't pick up etc. etc.

So I've come back once since then (the initial follow-up was this morning) and she didn't answer the door.

I can't really afford to replace the lawnmower myself - and although I mostly just feel pity for this woman I don't really want to get too wrapped up in what is probably a lost cause. Does anyone else have experience with dealing with these sorts of things?

[TurdBerglar]

you have better things to do than having to deal with this woman. forget about it. it's up to her friends and family to deal with her. the people that actually care about her. not you. don't get emotionally attached to people that have nothing to do with you. especially those that have dug themselves into their own hole and that would use you in an instant.

[Waus]

you have better things to do than having to deal with this woman. forget about it. it's up to her friends and family to deal with her. the people that actually care about her. not you. don't get emotionally attached to people that have nothing to do with you. especially those that have dug themselves into their own hole and that would use you in an instant.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not emotionally invested. I'm lawn-mower invested. I need it back, or I have to buy a new one for this rental property I live on.

I have a shit-ton of bills to pay and no room in my budget for a fucking mower.

What do.

[TurdBerglar]

report it stolen to cover your ass?


if it's not at their house it's gone for good. I wouldn't deal with them directly. they'll just pull you into their world of bullshit the more you talk to them.

[Waus]

report it stolen to cover your ass?


if it's not at their house it's gone for good. I wouldn't deal with them directly. they'll just pull you into their world of bullshit the more you talk to them.

See, the only thing I'm concerned about is getting myself on the shit-list of a rotating ring of I-don't-know-who comes in and out of that house. We live right next door, and this house isn't exactly Fort Knox if they wanted to steal more of my stuff to sell.

Plus I've never really called the cops on anyone before.

[TurdBerglar]

you just gotta call your local police station and tell them you need to fill out a stolen property report. they'll either show up at your house or tell you to come to the station and fill some shit out. i'd do it just to document your problems with your neighbors with the police and to let your neighbors know you're not afraid to deal with the police.

[Dorothy Wood]

I think that mower is probably long gone. Or they still have it and she didn't realize it...I don't think you'll end up getting it back even if you do call the cops. It's your word against theirs anyway, no proof you even loaned it.

I would probably go over again and ask for the mower a second time, explaining that it wasn't yours. If it's gone or they won't return it, I would call your landlord and apologize for loaning the mower without knowing what you were getting into. Maybe if the neighbors are renting also, your landlord would know their landlord and be able to get them evicted? or investigated?

Honestly, I don't think the cops can do anything. But if you want to call the non-emergency number to report them anonymously, you could at least get the cops to visit and catch them doing shady stuff I guess.

Sorry to be negative, it's just that I've called the cops on crazy neighbors before and they didn't do shit.

Oh yeah, do you have renter's insurance? It might cover the mower if you do!

[Bob]

the lesson is, don't trust your neighbors

either that, or work really really hard to find a way to love them no matter how much they do to make you not want to like them very much

that's life lately

[ms.peachy]

Go over one more time, ask for the mower, if they say they don't have it and don't know where it is, tell them that OK then you have to assume "someone stole it out of their yard" and will go report it to the police, tell them all friendly-like "You don't need to do anything, I'll go down to the station and report it, they'll probably just want to come by and ask you a few questions about when you last saw it and stuff." And walk away. Your mower will either reappear or it won't.

[Waus]

I think that mower is probably long gone. Or they still have it and she didn't realize it...I don't think you'll end up getting it back even if you do call the cops. It's your word against theirs anyway, no proof you even loaned it.

...

Oh yeah, do you have renter's insurance? It might cover the mower if you do!

I can't ascertain whether the girl actually living there intentionally meant for it to be stolen (assuming it's stolen). The only proof I have that I loaned it would be that my friend - who is incidentally an Anglican priest - saw me roll it out for them and put some gas in it. Does that count? I need Bob's advice on what qualifies as evidence.

I don't have renter's insurance anymore. We had it at our last apartment, but this privately owned property didn't require it, so I let the old insurance expire.

[Waus]

the lesson is, don't trust your neighbors

either that, or work really really hard to find a way to love them no matter how much they do to make you not want to like them very much


Well, I didn't really trust them before. It was more that I got caught off-balance when they accosted my friend on my lawn and I had to address the situation without the benefit of reflection. I wouldn't say I'm completely naive or un-savvy, but I don't always have the quick response to crazies that keeps me from getting taken advantage of. I have some cringe-worthy stories from when I lived in Chicago.

That bit earlier I said about pitying the neighbor is kind of the "way to love them etc." part. I mean, I'm not really mad that they stole our lawnmower (presuming they did) - I understand - I just pragmatically have to do something about it.

[abbott]

She's probably mad at you for not mowing the lawn so she's getting back at you by selling the lawn mower for $15.

It's kinda your fault for loaning it to her and acting nice in front of you priest friend. Your priest friend was probably thinking "why the fuck is he giving a junkie his mower."

I use to get mad at people for never retuning my stuff or never paying me back so I have learned not to loan shit out. I have a few people I trust, but that's about it.

[Waus]

It's kinda your fault for loaning it to her and acting nice in front of you priest friend. Your priest friend was probably thinking "why the fuck is he giving a junkie his mower."


I wasn't intentionally "acting nice" for the guy - not consciously anyways. I realized it was a bad idea as I was doing it, but I was kind of committed.

[Waus]

Go over one more time, ask for the mower, if they say they don't have it and don't know where it is, tell them that OK then you have to assume "someone stole it out of their yard" and will go report it to the police, tell them all friendly-like "You don't need to do anything, I'll go down to the station and report it, they'll probably just want to come by and ask you a few questions about when you last saw it and stuff." And walk away. Your mower will either reappear or it won't.

I'm taking this advice. We'll see how well it goes this afternoon.

[Waus]

Welp - neighbor claims her friend was on the phone and said he returned it to our yard. This seems unlikely - I work from home and would have seen it.

Then she went on about how her house had been broken into recently and she lost a TV, Xbox etc.

I said that was too bad, and hopefully the police could find it.

I'm trying to file the report - but I never wrote down what model or brand (and I never pay attention to these things like I should). Trying to find out from my landlord.

What a mess - I can't wait to hear the landlord voice his surprise at how dumb I was for letting them borrow it.

[Freebasser]

On the one hand, it sounds highly unlikely you're going to see the mower ever again. It's probably already been stripped down for precious metals and its motor is probably being adapted for use in a redneck's speedboat as I type this.

On the other hand, you won't have to mow the lawn again for a while.

[TurdBerglar]

it's kinda funny how the brits seem to think that there's rednecks with tractors and shotguns everywhere. that's mainly a southern thing. I think our rednecks are more like your northerner sheep people(if im even remotely correct about this) confined mostly to a certain area.

[checkyourprez]

wtf. never let anyone you don't know borrow anything of yours.

the risk / reward is too great.

think about it, a lot of people wont even let their own friends borrow shit, let alone a junky you have never met before that day.

like wtf.

[cosmo105]

I totally understand being frozen in a moment like that and trying to do the nice thing - that means that your nature is to be nice, and that's admirable. You weren't in any danger or anything so even though there were glaring "THIS WILL NOT END WELL" alarms probably going off in your head, you stuck to it to try and just get the situation over with and make your friend (and yourself) less uncomfortable.

Stop criticizing him for panicking and loaning it out, people! That's not the point here.

Hope you can get it worked out, and at least now you know to never ever ever interact with them :(

[Bob]

i feel obliged to say that my "the lesson is, don't trust your neighbors" thing was less of a "how stupid are you for trusting your neighbors waus" comment and more of a "neighbors in general are not to be trusted and for better or for worse there's a reason that people in big cities don't talk to them anymore" commentary

i'd have probably done the same thing if i had de facto lawn mower access

[abbott]

im not saying being nice and giving your stuff to junkies is bad, but I am saying you should learn not to give them your stuff, unless your trying to feed them or give them medical attention.

Don't be mistaken, I got scammed just this month, so Im not perfect.

this is a classic bait and switch much like the "I will work for food" sign

"Hey Ill pay you to mow my lawn."

Great, give me $20,

"naw fuck you, I just want your mower."

or

"Hey a want to work for some food"

Great here are my old fries

"don't you have any change?"

[Waus]

At least they actually did mow their lawn.

Last year the whole neighborhood got notices in the mail that the city was none-too-pleased with our lack of mowing.

[Waus]

i feel obliged to say that my "the lesson is, don't trust your neighbors" thing was less of a "how stupid are you for trusting your neighbors waus" comment and more of a "neighbors in general are not to be trusted and for better or for worse there's a reason that people in big cities don't talk to them anymore" commentary

i'd have probably done the same thing if i had de facto lawn mower access

The funny thing is, the neighbors on the other side live in a giant mansion (compared to the rest of the surrounding 2 square miles) and are the friendliest people ever. They have a party the whole neighborhood is invited to on every major holiday. They even just gave us money in an envelope to give to other people and let them know how we spent it.

It's a weird neighborhood.

[checkyourprez]

im not saying dont be nice and cordial to people.


just dont act like a rent-a-center.



that being said, go to the cops and fucking hand these junky fucks their ass.

[Waus]

Update.

So, our landlord was really cool about it and hooked us up with a new mower. I think he realized what the neighbors were like and blames them more than my stupidity.

They had the audacity to knock on my door a couple months later and ask if they could run an extension cord from my house because they quit paying their electric bill and needed to charge their phones. I said no.

A few weeks later our (rich) neighbors on the other side noticed the shady neighbors were running an extension cord connected to the mansion's christmas lights. The sweet old lady through our backyard told us that they'd been asking everyone in their immediate proximity if they could plug in, and this 89 year-old had to ask someone's help to talk to them to ask them to disconnect after she let them "charge their phones." They proceeded to connect to another lady's garage outlet without her consent (actually, ignoring her demands that they stop).

The last month or so they've had various cars with opened hoods and doors in their driveway and the street - and the speculation is that at least one of them is an under-the-table mechanic.

I'm not going to miss this neighborhood when we move.

[Echewta]

This all started because of some grass.

See what I did there?

[checkyourprez]

TurdBerglar's point proven.



:p