'AITA for snapping at my neighbor after he insulted my aunt?'

"AITA for snapping at my neighbor after he insulted my aunt?"

So. I (26F) live with my aunt (52F, we'll call her Linda) and my cousin aka her daughter (30F, we'll call her Sara). Linda also owns a Labrador named Smoky, very sweet but gets to excited with new people.

Both Linda and Sara have lived in the neighborhood for about 28ish years and they make friends with anybody they can. A couple lives next door: Wife - Molly Husband - Tom Child - Andy Dog - idk a small one.

Basically, tom has never liked my aunt or my cousin. He's not a fan of the fact that my aunt is divorced or the fact that she and her daughter have done weed. (Despite the fact the jackahole literally grows special plants which his dog has broken into in the past and been hospitalized).

Molly on the other hand is an angel, when my aunt was going through the divorce she was one of the few neighbors who came to check up on her. A couple of years back, Andy (their son) was playing in the front yard and Linda's dog saw him. The dog broke the leash and ran up to him all hyper-excited, and scared the crap out of Andy.

Causing him to break his favorite toy. (A little more context, apparently he's on the spectrum and that toy was very important to him). Linda was very apologetic and offered to buy a new toy and Molly was really accepting of the whole thing and accepted the apology, however Tom was an absolute d, going around and calling her a disgrace and a sad excuse of a pet owner.

About a week ago I had a private phone call and I took it outside of the garage on the side. Even though it's our property, you can see into our neighbor's backyard. Their dog was messing around outside and saw me and just started barking like no tomorrow, I tried my best to ignore it.

It was all going well until, you guessed it, Tom stomped out. When he saw me? He started losing it saying that I was intentionally provoking his dog and causing the dog to wake up Andy. I didn't give him much attention, but he took that disrespect and then said. "Seeing how your ahole acts, no wonder your aunt is such a failure, can't keep a husband or her dog controlled so I ain't shocked."

When I tell you I was shocked? It's an understatement. I saw red and told him: "Considering you can't even keep your dog from eating your plants, my phone call and my attitude shouldn't be a concern. Also, don't you ever come after my aunt. You clearly eat more than you talk, so get your crap together before touching others."

I know that last comment wasn't mature, but people have no right to comment on other people's business if they don't have theirs together. My aunt says even though he shouldn't have been rude to me I shouldn't have stooped to his level so I guess AITA?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

spymatt said:

NTA and you called Tom out. People like him don't like that. Most of the time, I wouldn't stoop to someone who is beneath me in terms of respect and attitude, but in this case, it was definitely warranted.

Pale-Bear-2205 said:

NTA I lowkey feel so bad for Molly, having a husband like Tom has too so hard on her. hope she is ok with that asshole of a husband.

ChaoticCrashy said:

NTA. You stood up to a bully. Well done!

flynena-3 said:

NTA, if someone's going to talk crap, they should be prepared to receive it back. Don't even sweat it.

Special_Acadia247 said:

Nta but Tom is.