It usually pays off to be nice to your neighbours, as being in their good books can be handy later down line. But one woman was left regretting being nice to her next-door neighbours after they started taking advantage.
She has a small vegetable and herb garden in the corner of her backyard, which two of her neighbours can reach, and have permission to snip off from when they need.
However, when her neighbour's girlfriend started snipping off almost all the leaves from all the herbs it made her "livid".
Taking to Reddit, the anonymous woman explained that the girlfriend had "happened to introduce herself while I was planting the herbs", so she had offered her some "once they have a chance to grow a bit".
Two weeks after she had planted them, the woman had snipped off "all but a few leave off every herb".
Her boyfriend, who she said was "much nicer than I am", had gone over to the neighbour and explained that it was too soon to take them, because the plants weren't ready.
The neighbour had "apologised profusely and say the girlfriend wouldn't be going anywhere near the herbs until I specifically allow it".
Unfortunately, a week later, she caught the girlfriend out by her herb garden with a pair of scissors.
In the forum post, she explained: "Apparently, she can't make meatballs without parsley and the grocery store within walking distance is too far to go.
"We looked at each other for a few seconds and then I just said, 'Please get your herbs at the store from now on.' I can't believe I managed to think of that! Usually I think of a great comeback 10 minutes after the fact."
The mortified woman turned "bright red" and went inside the house, and the herb garden owner hoped she was so embarrassed she'd stay away for good.
Since her post, the woman said the "over-snipper" hadn't "harmed" any of her herbs and "everything is growing back nicely".
She added: "My boyfriend is still convinced that she'll be causing more problems in the future. I'm hoping embarrassment continues to be a deterrent."
The Reddit post received hundreds of comments, with many sharing their own neighbour issues.
One woman explained her cheeky next-door neighbour had used a ladder to climb over her seven-foot fence to steal all her cheery tomatoes.
Another forum user explained that his dad's neighbour, who didn't have a fence, realised someone was stealing all his vegetables. He tried to speak to her, but as she "didn't understand English" he resorted to putting a fence up.
The commenter added: "One day he found her there, holding onto the fence, giving him nasty looks while he was working in his garden!"
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