moochie neighbor

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

DH's cousin bought a generator to run their sump pump when the power goes out (which it does a lot). She got up one morning to see an extra extention cord plugged in and running across the street to her neighbors house.

Oh my! Our neighbors have a generator and have offered to run a cord to our house for our sump in a jam (power goes out maybe once a year and we havent bought a generator yet) I cant even imagine doing this without asking -- Heck, I wouldnt even ask, but was thrilled when they offered!

 

[manhattan]

If you had said 3 kids, I would have thought you were talking about my boss. She is always smooching off people - yet she lives in a very expensive neighborhood and brags about all the vacations they take and how their house is the biggest and nicest in the neighborhood....meanwhile I make 1/2 of what she makes and she is always asking me to buy her lunch or snacks that I keep in my desk She does this with everyone in the office. She borrows things and never returns them.....I would be dead embarrassed to ask someone to give me 1/2 of their lunch but she does it all the time. I finally found out that all her vacations are actually paid by her inlaws, so she doesn't even pay for that.

Good for you for telling her how you feel!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

I'm retired from an auto factory. Years ago a co-workers girlfriend had a headache, he knew that I always kept aspirin, tylenol, etc on me at work. He asked if she could have some tylenol, no problem I gave it to her. For the next 3 days straight it was a rerun. On day 5 I told them I was out and to go to medical. They never asked again and I didn't care if they believed me or not. I don't mind helping someone out but if you know this is a daily thing stop at the store and buy your own. They both worked overtime everyday so i'm pretty sure one of them could afford a bottle of Tylenol. I would just work my 8 hrs so I could be home as much as possible with my family.

Ahhhh this is such a pet peeve of mine!! I always keep a big bottle of Advil because I have back pain and get migranes. I have, on occasion, given some out when asked. But what I think is SUPER DISRESPECTFUL is when someone asks them.... they tell them, "Oh, Deena has a really big bottle in her desk--go ask her." Why is someone offering my stuff that I paid for?? It's the same people all the time. I've even seen a note in my desk... "Took 3 Advil Thanks!" Ummmm What??? I'm the receptionist--not a dealer.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

My mom had a new neighbor who came by one day and knocked on the door.

Lady: Do you have any quarters? I need them for the community laundry room.
Mom: No, sorry. (glad mom did not say she had a washer/dryer in the house)
Lady: Oh, ok. We should get together for coffee sometime.
Mom: Have a nice day.

I told mom that lady was not trying to exchange money for specific coins, she was bumming money from you.....and the invitation for coffee was a way to weasel her way into a friendship so you will never say no ever again. Mom could not believe it. I told her to wait.....she would be back.

The next week lady comes back. Now she wants a ride to the store. Mom told her she was ill. Lady then says my dad can drive her to the store. Talk about forward. Mom lied and said dad was not well either. Lady then pushes herself on mom and presses why she had not been over for coffee. Honestly lady.......mom doesn't want to be friends with a moocher/someone who is more work than raising children.

Few days later moocher knocks on the door again. Wants another ride. My brother happened to live next door to her, so when mom said no, she bugged my brother. He too, said no. The community is pretty far out of town. Why anyone would move that far out without a car is beyond my comprehension. Anyway, it appeared she made her rounds. She eventually stopped bothering my parents.

The last time my parents had moocher neighbors was in the 1970's and I reminded my mother that she had forgotten the signs of such a person. 1970s moocher was a friend of my mom and I was friends with their daughter. The mom would send the kids (they had 3) over to get canned milk, eggs, sugar....you name it. They would return the products, but mom always used name brand stuff and the neighbor would return off brand cheap stuff. Mom finally wised up about it and started saving the off brand stuff for when they wanted to borrow stuff again. Would you believe it if I said the woman stopped borowing stuff from us? She was using my parents as a discount way of getting brand name stuff.

 

[Mrs.Malone]

Ahhhh this is such a pet peeve of mine!! I always keep a big bottle of Advil because I have back pain and get migranes. I have, on occasion, given some out when asked. But what I think is SUPER DISRESPECTFUL is when someone asks them.... they tell them, "Oh, Deena has a really big bottle in her desk--go ask her." Why is someone offering my stuff that I paid for?? It's the same people all the time. I've even seen a note in my desk... "Took 3 Advil Thanks!" Ummmm What??? I'm the receptionist--not a dealer.

The receptionist not a dealer...

I suppose, if you were a dealer you'd be getting paid!

 

[mkel34]

sheesh! Asking you to go out to buy something for her to borrow?!? That is insane and incredibly rude!

This +++ You lasted much longer than I would've. My neighbors and I might ask to borrow an egg/couple of milk and we all borrow each others tools but your neighbor is a mooch.

 

[elcodfish]

This is just reminding me of how awesome my neighbors are. I think I need to make them a pie...

 

[vek239]

In the mid-80's DH was stationed in Germany and we lived in a "stairwell"; kind of like an apartment complex; American housing so all neighbors were also active duty military. In those days it was common for the commissary to be out of items so it was commonplace to borrow from each other. Brings back fun memories of knocking on every door to see who might have whatever it was we needed. Nobody ever took advantage, though. When we returned to the states it was a shock to have so many choices at the grocery store!

 

[pigletto]

Adding in that I totally agree that a reciprocal and respectful lending relationship with neighbours is great! I have a friend up the street and we share things and borrow from one another all the time. The thing is we would never take advantage of one another, and we are friends, so a cup of sugar or an egg is really no big deal.

 

[MineMail]

This is just reminding me of how awesome my neighbors are. I think I need to make them a pie...

ITA - we have a lot of nice people in our cul-de-sac and no one borrows like that. I made Minestrone soup a few months ago and sent the couple next door a jarful because I had too much and they had just come back from a trip. They returned it filled with their homemade chili. Since then, the Mason jar's gone back and forth a few times. They bring over cookies and cake for my kids after parties and we return the favor.

I think the only thing anyone has borrowed from us is our extension ladder and it's always returned promptly. I have no complaints.

 

[cornflake]

Ahhhh this is such a pet peeve of mine!! I always keep a big bottle of Advil because I have back pain and get migranes. I have, on occasion, given some out when asked. But what I think is SUPER DISRESPECTFUL is when someone asks them.... they tell them, "Oh, Deena has a really big bottle in her desk--go ask her." Why is someone offering my stuff that I paid for?? It's the same people all the time. I've even seen a note in my desk... "Took 3 Advil Thanks!" Ummmm What??? I'm the receptionist--not a dealer.

This totally may be because they're moochers, but I've worked places in which the receptionist had the minor-league first aid type stuff in the desk. Like there was a part of a drawer with Advil, band-aids, Rolaids or whatever.

When I got to the sentence where you said what you do, it just occurs that some people may think the company provides the big bottle of Advil, hence they send people to use it, or people just take without asking you as that is how some places work (because it's easier to provide the little stuff to the reception desk as everyone knows where it is and it's usually staffed) Or, if they know you buy it, they're really rude.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Regarding the hose.. our outdoor faucets also have an indoor shut off which I make sure we turn them off before we leave for vacation. A long time ago I had heard that if kids knew you were away on vacation they would turn your outdoor faucets on and leave them run!!! So this has been added to our vacation list of things to do before we leave.

DD's friend came over one day when the girls were about 10 and said "Mom cancelled our internet because we can get yours so why pay for it?!"

Last time we went to Disney I paid a friend to watch the cats and water the plants. She said at least 3 times she came over to find my hose stretched into my neighbours yard, and she was watering her flowers!

She's also has ZERO boundaries in a million other ways, and some major dramatic conflict brewing with practically everyone.
It's crazy making.

OP.. I can't believe it took you this long to completely lose it. Like others have said.. if you had a zillion dollars and sat around all day... you still don't OWE her anything.

ETA) Our internet is password protected now. Learned my lesson.

 

[JoiseyMom]

OP, I am glad you put a stop to it.
As I was reading all these posts I was thinking...wow...no one every borrows things from us then I was like..hey...they did (or used to). DD's old bff lives across the street and her mom used to borrow DH. DH is a computer guy. So he has spent hours over there cleaning up virus's from their computer due to the usage of their teen son. He warned them about it, and it happened again, and again. They once asked what restaurant DH liked, so I figured hey...they eant to get him a giftcard. Well nothing ever showed up. Now during this time period DH was self employed and he charged 40.00/hour for these services. Now the parents new this.

Needless to say I put my foot down. Whenever they would ask I would say, DH is busy working and gets home to late, and would repeat as needed. They finally got the hint when I saw the Geek Squad car in front of their house.

Now, his parents to it all the time to him and his brother...but they are parents so what are you going to do. My brother also did for my DN usually, but sometimes for his computer. It go to the point if we went over there for a bbq or party I said DH was sick, since everytime DH walked through the door, he was asked to work on a computer. I got PO'd. The straw that broke the camels back was when we were there sitting Shiva for our eldest brother. I mean seriously?? I really would like to have my DH sitting next to me and not in the basement for 4 hours!

Now my DH tells them to drop the cpu at the house and he will get to it when he can!!

 

[cornflake]

OP, I am glad you put a stop to it.
As I was reading all these posts I was thinking...wow...no one every borrows things from us then I was like..hey...they did (or used to). DD's old bff lives across the street and her mom used to borrow DH. DH is a computer guy. So he has spent hours over there cleaning up virus's from their computer due to the usage of their teen son. He warned them about it, and it happened again, and again. They once asked what restaurant DH liked, so I figured hey...they eant to get him a giftcard. Well nothing ever showed up. Now during this time period DH was self employed and he charged 40.00/hour for these services. Now the parents new this.

Needless to say I put my foot down. Whenever they would ask I would say, DH is busy working and gets home to late, and would repeat as needed. They finally got the hint when I saw the Geek Squad car in front of their house.

Now, his parents to it all the time to him and his brother...but they are parents so what are you going to do. My brother also did for my DN usually, but sometimes for his computer. It go to the point if we went over there for a bbq or party I said DH was sick, since everytime DH walked through the door, he was asked to work on a computer. I got PO'd. The straw that broke the camels back was when we were there sitting Shiva for our eldest brother. I mean seriously?? I really would like to have my DH sitting next to me and not in the basement for 4 hours!

Now my DH tells them to drop the cpu at the house and he will get to it when he can!!

 

[Cin]

Good luck with just saying no. I had a neighbor like that once and she would literally hang out on my front porch and wait for us to come home. Or worse, she would just walk in so I had to keep the doors locked. Her daughter and mine played together and I felt bad for the little girl as it was clear that the parents weren't "right". It was so bad that all the neighbors would scatter if they saw her coming and avoid her. I always wondered what happened to her, I guess she had 3 more kids and moved to your neighborhood.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Thanks I so love those!!

 

[Kitzka]

YIPES! Makes me LOVE my neighbors even more now!

I can't believe someone would beg a $20 off of a neighbor you barely knew! Even the homeless in San Francisco won't do that!

I did have a roommate who wanted to charge me to print one 10 page research paper in college (20 cents per page). I was funding my own way through college, my parents couldn't afford to buy me a computer, and I sure couldn't afford one. Her parents paid for her college, gave her a monthly "fun money" account, and paid all her other expenses. My other roommate gasped at her and said "You can print all you want on my computer, I'll even let you type"

I once had another roommate who took a pair of brand new short-alls-yes short-alls they were IN STYLE, that I hadn't worn yet. She BLED IN THEM AND HUNG THEM BACK IN MY CLOSET!!!!! Ya, I lost it on her a WEEEEEE BIT![/QUOTE]

OMG!!!

College was the worst for this. I know there were times i forgot to pay someone back but I like to think I did something for them that lessened my debt to them, but I was the 'rich' roommate. Meaning i worked 2 full time jobs during the summer for my expenses (parents did pay for my tuituion and rent) and i budgeted. So becuase i was precieved as the one with money people felt they could borrow cds without asking, try to get my to pay for meals etc. the straw that broke the camel's back was i had purchased a CD for a friend at another schoo. I left it in my room, in the bag, under my bed. well, when i got home from class my roommate had opened it and was playing it. I was so pissed and when i told her it wasn't for me that it was a gift she meekly put it back in the case and gave it back. didn't offer any apology or anything. our relationship was never the same and we didn't live together again.

Lara

 

[cornflake]

Thanks I so love those!!

They're from ThinkGeek if you actually want one. Tshirts here, check in frustrations and IT dept. wear.

There's also this one (which is currently on sale!) -

 

[Ephany]

Regarding the hose.. our outdoor faucets also have an indoor shut off which I make sure we turn them off before we leave for vacation. A long time ago I had heard that if kids knew you were away on vacation they would turn your outdoor faucets on and leave them run!!! So this has been added to our vacation list of things to do before we leave.

When we were gone once, one of the neighborhood kids did this. Thankfully the guy across the street noticed the water and turned it off. Now we remove the wheel part of the faucet, it's super easy to do and you can't turn the faucet on unless you have pliers.

 

[LUVMYTINK]

This is just reminding me of how awesome my neighbors are. I think I need to make them a pie...

Me too.

They are wonderful neighbors since the day we moved in and the husband helped us move our oldest boy's bed in the house.
The day before our last Disney trip our dog sitter backed out and thankfully they said "no problem" and came by everyday to let our dog run around in the back yard and feed her.
The husband, knowing that DH works 2 jobs, will off and on mow part or all of our yard and never ask for anything in return, though we do buy him a 6 or 12 pk of his favorite beer when he does help out.

This Thanksgiving they were out of town and her mother was staying at their house (just had shoulder surgery and was house sitting). She came over one day asking if I could run to the durg store up the street for something since she couldnt drive. I did and even though she told me to keep the change ($10 left from the $20 she gave me) I declined cause that's what neighbors do.