The truth is, he understood it was his fault, and he would also be the first one to admit that he made a mistake. What he did not expect, though, was that his neighbor would be taking advantage of his mistake. Unsure of what he could do, he opened his computer to search for her on the internet. At first, he wasn’t hoping to find anything of use, so he was surprised when he saw these pictures. In the end, he was able to use them as evidence to get back at her for what she did to him. But what exactly did he see in those pictures?
When His Neighbor Sued Him, He Showed The Court Photos She Wanted To Keep A Secret
His Life Was Monotonous
This story revolves around a young man named Kristopher Hess. The young man has been in a routine lately. His every day would consist of him going to work for 16 hours in a local security company, and head home at 8 AM to catch up on sleep. Which is why when his best friend called him to say that he would be around for a while, Kristopher was more than happy to break off his routine. Although he was excited, things went awry during the visit.
His Life Was Monotonous
A Break From Routine
Mark, his childhood best friend, would be around for the Independence Day weekend, and Kristopher was more than excited to meet up with his old pal. Which is why he requested to leave at work as he wanted to spend a lot of time possible with his friend. He also used his savings to make sure that the two of them would enjoy their time together. They simply wanted to lay back and catch up over snacks and drinks. However, Mark had another idea.
A Break From Routine
How To Celebrate The Holiday
It was a hot day when it happened as the area hadn’t experienced any rain for more than two years. The two of them put up some deck chairs and started to talk. After a few beers, Mark had an idea to enjoy their time even more. Mark had a sly grin as he suggested that set off “good ‘ole American fireworks.” Although Kristopher wasn’t fond of the idea, he decided to give in.
How To Celebrate The Holiday
They Bought Fireworks
Before they went ahead with the plan, Kristopher made sure that his dad wasn’t around, and after being able to confirm that it was the case, they went ahead and emptied his savings to purchase fireworks. Kristopher said, “To be fair, I have had nothing but bad experiences with fireworks, so I had no idea how this would be any different. We got home with the fireworks, and we laid them all out on the floor; Sparklers, Bottle Rockets, Cakes, and Roman Candles.”
They Bought Fireworks
It Was Fun While It Lasted
For the two of them, it felt as if Christmas had come early as they made their purchase. “Why don’t we mess around with some sparklers since it’s still not dark yet?” Kristopher asked. Of course, Mark was happy to hear this suggestion, as this was exactly what he had in mind. Unfortunately, things went wrong for them shortly after. What exactly happened when the two of them set off the fireworks?
It Was Fun While It Lasted
Nothing More Than A Huge Mistake
Kristopher lit two sparklers: one for him, and the other for his best pal. They enjoyed the sparklers tumbling down their arms and waved the sticks around as they made patterns and relived their childhood memories. While they were having fun, they weren’t aware that their activity would be a source of headache for Kristopher later on. “One of the little sparkies from mine and my friends’ sparkler made contact with the ground and made two small fires…” Kristopher recounted.
Nothing More Than A Huge Mistake
The Lawn Went Up In Flames
They were not expecting things to get out of their control. Unfortunately, the backyard was so dry that two small fires became a raging inferno. In their fear, the flames immediately made its way to the yard of Kristopher’s neighbor as well. Kristopher said, “I ran as fast as I could to grab the garden hose and quickly started spraying down the fire. It was no use; it was spreading faster than I could spray it.”
The Lawn Went Up In Flames
She Saw An Opportunity
While his best friend did his best to put out the flames, Kristopher called 911. Unfortunately, it was too late for them to be able to do anything about it. Kristopher’s neighbor came out to help by the time that the fire made contact with the flames. Kristopher felt guilty but felt relieved when Patricia seemed to understand the situation. However, he was unaware that it wasn’t the case! In fact, Patricia even had a sinister grin.
She Saw An Opportunity
After A Long Day At Work
Although his break was not what he had expected as it turned to be stressful, he had no choice but to go back to work after that. It seemed like his day off has gone to waste. He was more than ready to rest when he got home after his exhausting shift from work. However, there was a surprise waiting for him as soon as he got home!
After A Long Day At Work
Asking Him For Money
He was surprised to find two quotes from Patricia. One of which was for $4,000 meant to pay for a new fence, while the other was meant to replace her lawn, costing over $6,000. However, Kristopher did not have that money on him as he spent all his money on the fireworks. After showing the quotes to his father, he told Kristopher, “Son, don’t you give that con artist a single dime.”
Asking Him For Money
Taking Matters Into His Own Hand
Aside from the money that was asked of him, there was also a note saying: “I will also be having you pay my water bill for 3 months because the new yard will need lots of water.” Kristopher was shocked by this, which is why he posted on Reddit, “Now the fence this woman had before was raggedy and falling apart. Her yard? Dead grass, weeds everywhere, never mowed it. Now looking at this paper, she wants a mahogany fence and a brand-new back yard with flowers and trimmed hedges? I said ‘I need to get an estimate myself; this doesn’t feel right…’”
Taking Matters Into His Own Hand
Using His Connections
Thankfully, Kristopher had a friend who works as a contractor. According to him, the lawn was probably in terrible shape for many years before the accident took place. But they had a hard time proving this because of the fire damage. It was true that the neighbor needed a fresh lawn, a mahogany fence, flowers, etc., which is why he was lucky that he knew someone who could do everything for a reasonable price. He even asked the contractor to come over to check out the place and give a quote.
Using His Connections
She Threw A Fit
The next day, the contractor went to the house, but before they were even able to inspect the damage, Patricia interrupted them while flailing her arms as she yelled, “I did not give you permission to get an estimate on my fence!” Kristopher responded with, “The fence separates the property line, so it’s both of our fences.” Another clear sign that she was panicking was that she asked the cops for help!
She Threw A Fit
Giving Her The Estimates
Kristopher shared, “She calls the cops on me for having a contractor, and they ultimately can’t do a single thing because I’m on my property.” “He quickly finishes the estimate off at $1,200.” Kristopher actually has a lot of connections. While he was a grocer, he met a guy who took care of lawns, and he said that he could reseed to the lawn for $800. Kristopher shared on the ProRevenge subreddit, “After I get these estimates, I give copies to the woman, and she is having none of it.”
Giving Her The Estimates
She Made Excuses
After Kristopher sent Patricia the estimates, she replied, “I don’t know these people, I don’t want them near my house, they’re probably terrible contractors.” As a way to make her understand, he told her, “No, I know them personally. They are really nice people and do great work.” It was then clear that she did not try to look at it from his perspective and simply closed the door right in his face.
She Made Excuses
The Last Straw
Kristopher said, “I ended up working a 16hr shift that night and got home at 8 am, and this woman comes knocking on my door at 9 am and demanded I speak to her, I explained, ‘I would really love to do this, but I just got home, and I have to be back at work in less than 5 hours. I need to sleep.’” Her response to that? “What kind of lazy jerk sleeps in until 2 pm?” Kristopher felt that this was the last straw.
The Last Straw
Giving Her An Ultimatum
Kristopher added, “At this point, I had about lost it, and told her: ‘you can either accept my $2000 for my quotes or get nothing.’ She stood there for a while with her mouth open, but she accepted my offer and planned to meet down at the notary the next morning.” Believing that Patricia finally understood, he drew up a contract for her as he got home from work and even gather $2,000 to pay her for the work! However, Patricia had something else in mind.
Giving Her An Ultimatum
She Stood Him Up
The next morning, he woke up and took the contract. He was excited for the ordeal to be over, as he wanted nothing more than to never speak to her again. He went to the notary to meet her, but she didn’t appear until 3 hours later. Kristopher shared, “I get a message from her saying ‘I’m sorry the $2000 isn’t enough, I’m having my guys start work on this project, and you will be paying me the full price.” Kristopher knew he had to come up with something else.
She Stood Him Up
Waiting For An Opportunity
Kristopher went on to say: “After that, I did not say a single word to her, and I watched for a few months as these guys turned her backyard into an oasis, complete with a small pond, brand new Sod, flowers, the whole 9 yards, come to find out she had plans to remodel these things for a long time and was just waiting for the opportunity to go through with it.”
Waiting For An Opportunity
He Looked Her Up Online
Before we continue, it is important to take note that Kristopher knew that he made a mistake. He felt guilty for burning down her yard and even wanted to make it up to her, yet she did nothing but to take advantage of him. He was surprised by what he saw when he opened his computer! He was surprised to see a picture of Patricia on Facebook, and he finally found why she wanted more money from him.
He Looked Her Up Online
The Photos In Question
Kristopher shared with his fellow Redditors, “She used her remodel funds to go on a trip to Hawaii. Do you know how I found out about this? She was bragging about it on the neighborhood Facebook group and didn’t know I was in it.” All this time, she had been partying in a luxury resort in Hawaii! She was having a good time with her girlfriends while he worked hard to pay her. He finally asked the Reddit community, “Are you ready for the revenge?”
The Photos In Question
Taking It To Court
Kristopher shared, “Now, four months after the fire and all the remodels, I get served papers to go to court for $10,300. At 18 years old, I have to hire a lawyer to work in my case. When we finally do get into court, I lay everything out: the quotes, being harassed multiple times, not showing up after agreeing to a deal, not wanting me to get my own quotes (required by law, btw), and her bragging about conning me out of money… and, I have proof of all of this.”
Taking It To Court
What The Judge Told Her
Kristopher also added to the post, “The judge looked at her and said ‘Ma’am with all due respect, you’re out of your dadgum mind. Not only did this young man tell the truth of what happened, but he also offered to pay you more than he was supposed to, ‘Your lawn was already dead before the fire occurred. Therefore, he is only responsible for the fence of $1200. I will also deduct from this his lawyer fees.’”
What The Judge Told Her
He Got The Last Laugh
Kristopher concluded his story by saying, “She took a huge financial loss from this, not sure how much the Hawaii trip cost her, but she was in serious debt. She ended up having to sell the house because of it and moved into a smaller house. I haven’t heard anything from her since. To this day, I still do not use fireworks because we could’ve really hurt someone. What I have learned through this, though, is its best to take responsibility for your actions from the gate.”
He Got The Last Laugh
Neighbors Are Not Always Pleasant
If the woman in this story is outrageous, wait until you read the next one! One could never understand how a terrible neighbor feels without one. How do you handle someone like this? Speak calmly, have a mature, polite conversation? That’s not always possible! It’s hard to live next to someone you don’t want to see. There’s still an option, though, and this guy definitely showed bravery and encouraged us all. You wouldn’t believe what happened here!
Neighbors Are Not Always Pleasant
Going Too Far
He was furious when he was in his driveway parking his car. He has seen a lot of things during his career because he’s a police officer. Yet what he saw that day was different from everything else. When he saw what his neighbors had done, he was furious! To calm himself down, he closed his fits as soon as possible. He said: “This is war” under his breath.
Going Too Far
The Officer Of The Law
Let us have the hero of our story introduced. For 40 years, David Ellis was a police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. His job primarily consisted of capturing people involved in drugs and theft. He lived in a small private neighborhood and always complied with the law no matter where he goes. After so many years, he found a hobby to do on weekends, working on his garden.
The Officer Of The Law
The Last Straw
As usual, he took care of his lawn as if it were the most precious treasure in the world. For all the weekends that he spent cutting the lawn, watering the trees, and taking care of his little oasis, something unexpected was about to happen that would set him off. He loved tending to his lovely garden to relax after a rough week at work to cool off from work.
The Last Straw
The Crux Of The Drama
Soon enough, those mean and arrogant neighbors made sure to spoil all that David had been focusing on. They were somehow related, but they were not getting along and kept their distance for a while. As he didn’t want to look into issues, David didn’t mind the neighbor. This all changed one day because of the problem that revolved around a road that enclosed his house.
The Crux Of The Drama
“A Complete Nutjob”
For some reason, many potholes would appear for no reason, but because no one cared or put in the effort to fix it, David decided to fix them himself, and this went on for a lot of years! The police officer was worried that this might cause an accident and hurt someone. Unfortunately, not everyone was the same as him, and the neighbors had different plans.
“A Complete Nutjob”
Passing The Responsibility
As no one was willing to pay the money required to do so, David always refused the neighbor’s plan to change the road from gravel to asphalt. This is also the origin of the two parties’ quarrels, which go back centuries ago! David’s daughter said she couldn’t recall when there was no fighting between the two sides. It was like the two sides have been fighting for all their lives!
Passing The Responsibility
A Gesture Of Goodwill
Although he didn’t have to do it, David was the only one taking care of the gravel road. Instead of helping, the neighbors would laugh at him for doing so, which enraged David’s daughter because of the unfairness, leading her to ask her dad to do something to end the quarrel finally. His neighbors were so ungrateful that they took advantage of David’s good act rather than being appreciative.
A Gesture Of Goodwill
Enough Is Enough
However, they’re simply people who are hard to reason too, and this could be said for David’s neighbors, who blamed him for the situation. How was this fair? How did they even have the guts to complain about how David was taking care of the gravel? Everyone in the community used the road every day! There simply wasn’t any reason for them to be treating him like this, especially with all that he had done!
Enough Is Enough
Protecting What Was His
You have to take note of to understand this story fully because the gravel had just a square meter of David’s private yard. It was made like this to prevent any type of accidents and mishaps from happening to anyone and let drivers pass through his property without the risk of damaging his property. David was even nice enough to negotiate with his neighbors.
Protecting What Was His
Inspecting The Damage
If that wasn’t enough, David even offered the 3 square feet of his land to make the turnaround easier for them! All David wanted was for all the people in their area to be happy. However, the neighbors simply wouldn’t accept any compromise and badly wanted their way. They rejected David’s proposal and drove closer to his property, which could easily cause damage. Very selfish of them, right?
Inspecting The Damage
A Series Of Barrels
David was able to handle the situation until, one day, something happened that made him decide that it was enough. A neighbor who ordered wood was attempting to get a truck through David’s house, which contributed to one of his fences collapsing. You would presume that the damage would be accounted for, of course, but no one was willing to do so! “We had to replant these plants and add a new metal barrier,” according to David’s daughter, Miha.
A Series Of Barrels
Aggression
David’s daughter said, “My father told me this was not the first time this happened, but the third. I couldn’t believe it when I heard this.” After David had finished fixing the fence, to protect his property, he decided to take matters into his hand. He thought his neighbors were dismissive to him in an entirely different stage. The police officer said, “This is war” because of the ungratefulness of their neighbors.
Aggression
Thinking Up Other Ways
The day he saw that the cypress trees had been destroyed, he snapped and determined that complete revenge was the only way to change the situation. He wanted to plant huge barrels around his section of the gravel meant to pass by his neighbors. At first, they did not understand what David had done with all these barrels, but then they would discover that they were not just plain barrels.
Thinking Up Other Ways
Petty Revenge Turning Pro
In fact, the story is not over here yet! 3 neighbors angrily knocked at David’s door as their cars had been damaged, 6 hours after they hit the barrels that David had put around his property. The neighbors were unaware that the barrels were filled with rocks, which is why it could easily damage any car that hits it. This wasn’t the end, though, as David had more in store for them.
Petty Revenge Turning Pro
Cement And Poles
His angry neighbor threatened him and said he would call the cops, and even worse, he warned him to look out, or he might get a “pickaxe to the back.” No one understood the rules better than David, but he held his cool and warned the neighbor that he had all the right to put the barrels there because it was his property. But the war was still far from over.
Cement And Poles
The New Solution
Initially, the barrels were effective and did well in protecting his property, but it’d eventually break after being hit by many passing cars. As expected, the barrels broke down and weren’t effective anymore after a year of being in service. David knew that he had to do something different; he knew that this war isn’t one that can be won easily, so he took his next step to an even higher level, which is why he did something that would finally teach his neighbors a lesson.
The New Solution
A Lesson Learned
As they didn’t realize what was coming, the first person would learn what David had done when they went home. He will pass through David’s house, as he normally did, without looking twice and not realizing that a flowerbed was laid across his property. The neighbor was angry while he had a long talk with his insurance agent. Meanwhile, this time around, it seems as though David’s strategy was successful.
A Lesson Learned
Perfectly Legal
David can no longer tolerate his neighbor’s disregard and came up with a perfect plan. “My dad was furious; he cut some wood to use it as a mold. He bought cement, sand, and metal poles. One peaceful afternoon, my father and I cemented that whole part of the land and placed some lovely flowers on top. So when they hit the concrete, they can smell our flowers of victory/defeat.” Miha wrote on the r/ProRevenge subreddit.
Perfectly Legal
Going Viral
David put a small concrete concealed by the flowerbed right on the area where the neighbors would turn or (some) cut right through the land. After the first victim encountered David’s new plan, he understood his plan was working and that his neighbors could no longer touch nor destroy his property anymore. But did the other neighbors learned from the experience of the first one? And most importantly, did it stop them from doing the same thing?
Going Viral
Other Ideas
While cutting through the corner without paying attention, some of David’s disrespectful neighbors damaged their cars! They knew that they had to stay away from David’s property, but they did not know that they would learn it the hard way. The angry knocking on his door finally stopped, but the war isn’t over as one of the neighbors hired a lawyer to stop David from doing what he was doing!
Other Ideas
Serious Damage
As it is natural, many cars got damaged, which led David to prove to the insurance companies that what he had done was legal since it was his property. He had done his homework and knew the risk of planting that cement wall. But no one could tell him anything because that piece of land belonged to him. What do you think? Did David do the right thing here?
Serious Damage
Satisfying Revenge
“I’m very amused by the logic some people go by, for example, If I intentionally hit your property and it damages my vehicle, it’s still your fault (the owner of the property) for trying to protect your property and not letting me just destroy your property… and you should compensate me for the damage caused by my stupidity.” A Redditor’s comment on David’s revenge story as it got viral on Reddit.
Satisfying Revenge
Realization
Adding on to the post was another Redditor who said: “They ran over your trees? OHHH BOY, If they run over any more of your trees, look up your local laws about trees. People have been sued for TONS of money over the destruction of trees because they take so long to grow, so they have a lot of value.” How about you? Do you think that David may have taken things a bit too far?
Realization