If there’s an Airbnb on the street next to your house, be prepared for a lot of fun, or “fun.” While your relationships with neighbors who’ve lived nearby for years tend to stabilize, whether good or bad, here the “neighbors” will change every couple of days. And some of them might even be downright weird.
For example, the author of our story today was driving home from work one evening when two new guests cut her off to steal her parking space. They were, of course, new to her. However, there’s a silver lining too: you can arrange some “petty revenge” for each new neighbor anew!
More info: Reddit
When you live next to Airbnb, there could always be various unexpected situations with the new temporary "neighbors," and sometimes these situations are far from pleasant
Image credits: ImageNet / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author and her husband live next to an Airbnb, and one evening, returning home from work, the woman got cut off by a guest's car, only for another one to take her parking spot
Image credits: senivpetro / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The offender made a smug face at her, so the woman strongly decided to take some kind of petty revenge on him and his pal
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
One day, the woman noticed that the offender's car was parked next to her husband's vehicle, so she just moved it a bit so that the guy couldn't drive out
Image credits: Petro Seniv 888 / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The man ended up calling the cops, but after the author told them the whole story, they just went away, giving her no ticket
Image credits: rslashwtfrichard
The drivers even tried to puncture the author's car's tires soon after, but the cameras around made them flee in panic
The Original poster (OP) is a 23-year-old woman, and she and her husband live next door to the Airbnb. One day, while returning home from work, she saw two men running to their cars and thought it might be unsafe. However, the reality proved much simpler. One of their trucks blocked her path, and the other parked right in front of her house.
After parking, the guy made that smug face at the author and, leisurely, obviously pleased with himself, walked back to the Airbnb. But our heroine wasn’t about to let this go unpunished. She spent the entire evening considering revenge options, but she couldn’t decide on any - if only because only the most bloodthirsty ones came to mind…
But then, a couple of days later, returning home, our heroine parked in her spot and then saw that same work truck parked next to her husband’s vehicle. The woman grabbed the spouse’s keys and backed up so hard that there were no more than a couple of inches between the bumpers. Now the hapless guy couldn’t get out, no matter how hard he tried.
The dude then started knocking on her window, but there was no answer. They called the police, and the officer tried to reason with the woman, calling parking like that petty and childish, but the author told him the whole story. The cop listened to her, asked her not to call him again, and drove away. Revenge - petty and childish, perhaps, but still accomplished!
However, a couple of days later, one of the guys tried to puncture a tire on the OP’s car in secret, but didn’t account for Airbnb's excellent surveillance cameras or our heroine's friendly relationship with the staff. In short, both hapless “avengers” had to flee in a panic, and the original poster never saw them again.
Image credits: nomadsoul1 / Freepik (not the actual photo)
In fact, despite thousands of years of evolution, certain instincts remain strong within us, particularly the instinct for territory. So, for many people, attempting to take someone else’s parking space isn’t just about being entitled; it’s also about prehistoric motives that drove ancient people to, for example, claim someone else’s cave and fight for it.
For example, this dedicated post at Snag Parking blog explains that many parking dramas are caused by the fact that a driver, having “set their sights” on a particular spot, subconsciously considers it theirs, at the same time, when another driver, even one who owns the spot, parks there, the so-called “loss aversion” is triggered, prompting competition or revenge.
Apparently, in the described case, the Airbnb guests were unaware of the cameras; otherwise, they might have behaved differently. This study, published at PubMed Central, notes that people are generally more likely to commit minor offenses when they know or believe they will remain undetected and unpunished. When the rules are lax, surveillance is low, and fines are small or nonexistent.
People in the comments also shared several similar stories from their own experience, but some of them cautioned the original poster that petty revenge is certainly quite enjoyable, but is it worth risking your property for? Well, our heroine definitely thinks so. And what do you, our dear readers, think about this?
Many commenters praised the author for such a witty revenge, but some folks warned her of being overly childish here
