MY NEIGHBOR REFUSED TO PAY ME ($250) FOR CLEANING HER HOUSE AS WE\u2019D AGREED \u2014 I PAID HER A HARSH VISIT LATER.<\/p>\n
So, the other day, my young neighbor, who\u2019d just moved into the neighborhood and loves throwing parties, came to me with a favor. She\u2019d had another one of her wild parties, and then she got called out of town for work.<\/p>\n
She asked if I could clean up the mess at her place and, of course, offered to pay. I agreed. Extra cash is always nice, right?<\/p>\n
Cleaning up her disaster of a house took me a solid TWO DAYS. When she got back, I went over to get paid, and she had the nerve to say, \u201cWE NEVER HAD ANY AGREEMENT!\u201d We argued for a good half hour, but she wouldn\u2019t budge.<\/p>\n
Alright, she wanted to play dirty? No problem! I left her place, but I came back 20 minutes later!<\/p>\n
I came back 20 minutes later, but this time, I wasn\u2019t knocking on her door for a polite chat. I brought a large, black trash bag with me, one of those heavy-duty ones, and I was ready to make a statement. If she thought she could get away with not paying me, she had another thing coming.<\/p>\n
I walked straight to her backyard, where she always left her trash cans. It was dark, but I knew she wouldn\u2019t be home for a while \u2014 probably out with her friends, partying it up again. I took a deep breath, opened the trash bag, and started pulling out all the stuff I\u2019d collected while cleaning her house. Dirty plates, plastic cups, half-eaten pizza slices, empty beer cans\u2026 everything she had left behind after her last party was now being strategically placed around her backyard. I made sure to spread it out, a little trail of garbage leading right to her back door.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d spent two days scrubbing her kitchen, picking up after her friends, cleaning stains off her carpets, and throwing away all kinds of junk. And now, every bit of that junk was back where it started \u2014 except worse. I knew it was petty, but the thought of her coming home to find her yard littered with her own mess gave me a sense of satisfaction that was hard to describe. She didn\u2019t want to pay for cleaning? Fine. She could have her mess back.<\/p>\n
As I was finishing up, I heard someone call out, \u201cHey, what are you doing?\u201d I turned to see another neighbor, Mr. Thompson, watching me from his porch, his eyes squinting suspiciously.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust returning something that belongs to her,\u201d I said, giving him a casual wave.<\/p>\n
Mr. Thompson, who had lived in the neighborhood for years and had seen this girl\u2019s parties more times than he cared to count, nodded knowingly. \u201cShe still owes you for that cleaning, doesn\u2019t she?\u201d<\/p>\n
I shrugged. \u201cYep. Said we never had an agreement, so I figured she could have her trash back.\u201d<\/p>\n
He chuckled, shaking his head. \u201cWell, good for you. She\u2019s been driving us all crazy since she moved in. Maybe this\u2019ll teach her a lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n
I finished my little task, feeling a mix of pettiness and justice, and headed back home. I didn\u2019t expect her to come knocking anytime soon, and I was fine with that. She could clean up the mess herself this time, and maybe she\u2019d think twice before trying to stiff someone again.<\/p>\n
The next morning, as I was getting my mail, I heard a loud, shrill voice echoing from down the street. Sure enough, it was her \u2014 standing in her backyard, hands on her hips, staring at the chaos I\u2019d left behind. She looked like she was about to explode.<\/p>\n
I saw her storming down the street, and it didn\u2019t take a genius to know she was headed straight for my house. I stood there by the mailbox, waiting, as she marched up to me, her face red with fury.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell is this?\u201d she yelled, jabbing a finger in the direction of her yard.<\/p>\n
I crossed my arms, keeping my expression calm. \u201cOh, that?\u201d I said, pretending to think about it. \u201cThat\u2019s all the trash I cleaned up from your party. I thought you\u2019d want it back since you refused to pay me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t do that!\u201d she shouted, her voice rising. \u201cThat\u2019s vandalism or\u2026 or trespassing or something!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it?\u201d I said, raising an eyebrow. \u201cI mean, I just returned your property. You said we didn\u2019t have an agreement, so technically, I wasn\u2019t hired to clean it. It\u2019s your stuff, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n
She opened her mouth to argue, but she quickly realized she didn\u2019t have much of a leg to stand on. She must\u2019ve known that if this escalated, she\u2019d end up looking pretty bad. After all, no one in the neighborhood had much sympathy for the girl who kept everyone awake until 3 AM with loud music and random strangers stumbling around.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, I don\u2019t have time for this,\u201d she said, her voice less aggressive now, almost pleading. \u201cCan\u2019t you just\u2026 clean it up again? And I\u2019ll pay you, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her for a moment, letting her words sink in. I could tell she hated having to say it, and that made it all the more satisfying. \u201cI\u2019m not cleaning it up again,\u201d I said firmly. \u201cYou had your chance, and you chose to be dishonest. But if you want to pay me the $250 we agreed on, I\u2019ll consider this matter settled.\u201d<\/p>\n
She clenched her jaw, clearly struggling with the decision. Part of me wondered if she\u2019d just storm off again, but after a tense moment, she sighed and reached into her purse, pulling out her wallet. \u201cFine,\u201d she said, practically spitting the word out. \u201cHere\u2019s your money. But don\u2019t expect me to ask for your help ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the cash from her, counted it to make sure it was all there, and then nodded. \u201cThat suits me just fine. Have a nice day,\u201d I said, flashing her a smile as I turned to head back inside.<\/p>\n
As I walked away, I could feel her glaring at me, but I didn\u2019t care. I got what I was owed, and she got a taste of her own mess. Hopefully, she\u2019d think twice before trying to cheat someone again. And if she didn\u2019t\u2026 well, I had no problem paying her another \u201cvisit\u201d if needed.<\/p>\n
Later that afternoon, I saw Mr. Thompson again, this time watering his lawn. He gave me a thumbs-up and a grin. \u201cHeard she finally paid up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYep,\u201d I replied. \u201cI guess she didn\u2019t want to deal with her own trash after all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, good for you,\u201d he said with a chuckle. \u201cSometimes people need a little reminder that they can\u2019t treat folks like dirt. Looks like she got the message loud and clear.\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t help but laugh. \u201cLet\u2019s hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with that, I went back inside, feeling a little lighter, a little more victorious. It wasn\u2019t the way I\u2019d planned on handling things, but sometimes, you had to get a little creative to get the respect \u2014 and the payment \u2014 you deserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MY NEIGHBOR REFUSED TO PAY ME ($250) FOR CLEANING HER HOUSE AS WE\u2019D AGREED \u2014 I PAID HER A HARSH VISIT LATER. So, the other day, my young neighbor, who\u2019d just moved into the neighborhood and loves throwing parties, came to me with a favor. She\u2019d had another one of her wild parties, and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-random-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4573,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4572\/revisions\/4573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}