Sometimes, it truly feels like no good deed goes unpunished, especially if you’ve tried to be kind and helpful to people only to get treated badly. As important as it is to do acts of charity, nobody should be taken advantage of for their kindness.
This is the exact situation a kind man found himself in after a year of taking a break from clearing the snow from public property. Even though he had thanklessly done it for 35 years, the moment he stopped, an entitled neighbor tried to force him to do it again.
More info: Reddit
Clearing snow and ice from the street is an exhausting task that takes a lot of time and effort, but it makes a big difference as it helps people move around safely
Image credits: vlarvix / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The poster explained that he had been clearing snow from the front of his house and the public street for 35 years, but this year since it had gotten icier, he decided to just clear his space
Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)
An entitled neighbor came up to him one day and complained that because he hadn’t cleared everyone’s ice, their visitor had slipped and got injured
Image credits: Pavel Danilyuk / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The man explained that he had stopped doing it because nobody had thanked him in 35 years, and when he asked the neighbor why they didn’t do it, they said it was too much work
Image credits: shasta59
The demanding neighbor also threatened the poster by saying he’d be sued for not clearing the snow because the person who got injured had to miss work
The OP explained that he had been clearing snow and ice not just from his sidewalk, but from the public street, since 1989. His work was so thorough that visitors could move around safely and could even do a three-point turn there with ease. Despite this selfless work, none of his neighbors thanked him for his effort.
In fact, one of the folks living nearby complained when he missed clearing the ice one time. The neighbor was up in arms over a visitor who had slipped and injured themselves. They believed that the guy had a “duty of care” to clear the snow since he had been doing it for so long.
A duty of care refers to a legal obligation that a person has to uphold a standard of safety to protect people from foreseeable harm. It’s obvious that the OP wasn’t legally obligated to clear snow for anybody on his street and that he had only been doing it out of the goodness of his heart.
His neighbor felt entitled to his time and effort and still expected him to clear the ice for everyone else. Unfortunately, ungrateful and entitled people like this do exist and it can be difficult to deal with them. Experts say that the best thing to do is to communicate your boundaries with such folks, and if that doesn’t work, avoid getting sucked into their negativity and ingratitude.
Image credits: Michael Steinman / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
What was most shocking about the entire situation was that the person who got injured planned to sue the OP for not clearing the snow. The individual had twisted their ankle when they slipped and it caused them to miss work. The ambulance workers also had to cut open their boot to examine the ankle, so they felt it was the poster’s responsibility to pay for it.
Legally, premises liability laws state that property owners must maintain safe conditions for visitors, and if they fail to do so, they can be held liable. In this case, the man had done everything to keep his pavement safe—he just didn’t do it for everyone else. He also wasn’t legally obligated to do so, as that was the responsibility of the other neighbors.
The funniest part of all was when the OP asked his neighbor why they didn’t clear the ice themselves—the person told him it was very hard work. They also expected him to keep doing it for everyone else because it’s what he had always done.
At the very least, the man finally realized how selfish the neighbors were that he had been living next to. He can now peacefully enjoy his snow-free sidewalk and get his revenge served cold by watching the folks next door slip and slide on the ice.
Have you ever had to deal with a neighbor like this, and if so, what did you do about it?
People sided with the poster and could not believe how entitled his neighbors were
