I thought it was "Love thy neighbor" not call the cops on them?! Which is what happened to me last week. We just moved to this really quaint neighborhood a few months ago, it's everything I thought I wanted in a home, including 1 of 8 houses at the end of a cul de sac, access to parks & trails, within walking distance to a good school and preschool, not to mention a Starbucks and martini bar (hello heaven!) So when I had some friends over for brunch one Tuesday morning, I had forgotten about the NO PARKING on Tuesdays due to street sweeping. So my next door neighbor says "just use my driveway" which I thought was a great idea and since she was so generous, I thought everyone would be this nice. So I proceeded to use other neighbors driveways since most of them work and are gone all day they wouldn't even notice. So I had 6 vehicles parked randomly in people's driveways. I left notes on the cars and on the front doors explaining it was me and to let me know if they need their driveways.
Not 5 minutes later, a knock at the door. It's the not-so-neighborly neighbor from across the street is fuming, smoke from ears & hands on hips et al... so I apologize profusely and move the car to the other end of the nearby school (5min walk back home). 20 minutes later, another knock on the door. This time 2 police officers are standing there. Initial panic subsides when they ask if the note they pulled off of "someone's"door belonged to me. I confess and explain the situation which they kindly suggest I warn the neighbors next time. Which I agreed shouldn't be a problem if I hadn't just moved in and had everyone's phone numbers. Which is why I left the notes to begin with. They took my personal information and moved on with their day. Sorry to waste your time Officers! It's a really nice, typically calm and quiet street. Today, there are 2 Sheriff SUVs and nosy neighbors from 2 streets over walking by to see what the fuss is about.
Now what? I am über annoyed but seriously can not believe this happened. Who does that? What kind of person calls the police when she finds a strange car in the driveway, but not just any strange car, ready? A Mercedes (gasp!) What is my next step here? Do I ignore the whole thing? What do I say/do with the not-so-neighborly neighbor? Egg her house? Hmmm... tempting. Alas, my husband calms me down with a martini and I decide to take the high road. I march over, yes, march and knock at the door and ready for this? She doesn't answer! She's clearly home, her car is now on one side of the driveway, not even where my friend's car was parked so I march back home. 10 minutes and another martini olive later I stroll back over there. This time she answers the door. But not in a friendly manner, she quickly closes the door behind her and crosses her arms just looking at me with this look. Pure disgust in her eyes. Ugh. Meanwhile, I'm thinking, WTF? But I'm proud to say I kept my cool. I killed her with kindness, apologized over and over again about the HUGE inconvenience this caused her and that it would never happen again. Her response? "You wouldn't like it if my friends parked in your driveway". At this point I am stifling a giggle. But I just smile and tell her "Actually, I wouldn't mind, but that's me. And I am truly sorry for this whole thing."
What I learned from this... there are just some really crabby people in every neighborhood. I just choose not to be one of them.
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