Good neighbors can feel like a gift – and this is especially the case when you’ve had a new baby.
Whether it’s welcoming the little guy to the neighborhood, donating things from their own children, helping out with childcare, or even just being there with a smile and a listening ear, your neighbors could be a lifeline during one of the most challenging times in your life.
However, it’s important not to take neighborly kindness for granted – something that the woman in this story learned the hard way.
Read on to find out what she did to destroy her relationships with her neighbors.
I am 28 and live in a very large neighborhood. We have a neighborhood Facebook group and people sell and giveaway items on there very frequently.
I have two small children that grow out of things quickly, so I’ve grabbed a few bags of free clothes, shoes, and toys. Once my kids grow out of those, I sometimes sell them on Facebook Marketplace.
Recently a neighbor saw my listing and reached out to ask if this was the item she gave to me for free.
I said yes.
This was just the start of some real neighborhood drama.
She said that I should have posted the item in our neighborhood group for free first before trying to sell it.
She called me a scammer and said what I was doing wasn’t very neighborly.
I told her that I used the item for several months and wasn’t scamming anyone. I didn’t see anything wrong with making a few dollars here and there.
I have given away several things to our neighbors that I didn’t want to go through the effort of selling and I honestly don’t care what they do with them.
Read on to find out how this woman continued to justify her actions.
I understand that it may be the “neighborly” thing to try and find someone that can use them first before selling but I don’t think I’m bad for doing so.
In my opinion (which may be wrong) if someone gives away something for free, it’s out of their hands once someone picks it up.
AITA?
She says it herself: what she was doing really wasn’t very neighborly.
While technically, once a gift has been given it is yours to do what you want to with, there is also a moral code to be considered here.
Read on to find out what Reddit made of this.
This person agreed, while explaining the spirit of paying it forward.
While another comment pointed out that this woman would have lost the neighborhood’s goodwill once and for all.
And this person labelled the behavior for what it was: greedy.
Sure, she’s not crossing any legal or contractual boundaries here, but she’s definitely not going to make any friends with this behavior.
Profiteering from someone else’s goodwill is never a good look.
If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.
