'AITA refusing to check ring footage for my neighbors car getting scratched?'

Nothing spices up daily life quite like a neighbor spat.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, the OP asked if they were wrong for refusing to check ring footage to help their neighbors. They wrote:

"AITA refusing to check ring footage for my neighbors car getting scratched?"

I live in a nice neighborhood, the driveway has room for two cars, its reserved for my dad and his girlfriend, I park on the curb in front of our house that fits two cars comfortably. My neighbor constantly has guests over, and the guests constantly park on that curb in front of our house, which wouldn’t be an issue if they parked properly, but they don’t. They never do.

They park directly in the middle of the curb leaving no room for other cars, and I work a closing shift as well, so I've been forced to find parking in the next street or park and walk back home in the cold rainy nights lugging 10-20lbs worth of items. My dad has talked to them several times, telling their guests to leave room for other cars to park as well, but they don’t care, the same thing just happens the next day.

My neighbor got a new truck and someone dinked it, he came over today to ask if we can check our ring footage to see if it caught anything on camera, only I was at home but I just said no and shut the door on him, he never had any neighborly courtesy over me having to walk the next street over or from a park to get home at like 12am in heavy rain so I did not care if his car got a scratch.

My dad saw the ring camera and asked me what happened, I explained to him and he told me I shouldn’t do that because it made us look bad, but we did check the footage and our cameras never caught anything anyways so it isn’t our issue. AITA?

Redditors shared all of their thoughts on the situation.

mtngoatjoe wrote:

NTA. But you did miss an opportunity.

“Oh, you’re here to request something. I see. I’ve been there myself. It’s nice when neighbors help each other out, am I right? Well, no problem, I’ll check the footage for you. But give me a week. I’ve been busy at work and I’m really tired because when I get home, I often have to park several blocks away because people park in front of my house and don’t leave enough room for a second car."

"There’s plenty of room for two cars, but some people just don’t care to think of others. So, come back in a week and if I’m able to park in front of my house, I should be able to find the time to check the footage. See you in seven days. Goodbye.“

Choice_Mongoose2427 wrote:

Yes, YTA. How we treat other people is about our character, not theirs. If he wants to be inconsiderate, that’s on him and indicates his poor character. When you decide to retaliate and be petty, that’s speaking directly to your character.

Imagine if you would have done him a good turn there. Greeted him warmly, been extra helpful and empathetic. Don’t you think he’d be a bit more receptive to your request after that? It was an opportunity to create leverage and you missed out on it.

EDIT TO ADD: Is it so hard to believe that being kind and helpful can change how people interact with you? Of course not. We’ve all experienced that. Or that actively choosing to be the bigger person is an actual flex, and is not passively becoming a doormat? It’s not. I live that truth. Compassion is the gold standard of responses.

Being a person of good character is the key to real happiness and success. Karma is the natural law of cause and effect. Act negatively-you’ll cause negative consequences to come your way. If you don’t agree, ::shrug:: ✌️

And OP responded:

You’re right, I am petty. I would walk 100 more streets in pouring rain to get the opportunity to deny him closure on how a scratch ended up on his car and shut the door in his face again.

aladdinsanity1 wrote:

Just curious, if you work the late shift why wouldn't your dad or his gf park in the street in front of your house? Is it that it is not a driveway that is wide (side by side situation) but more of a one in front of the other? After your interaction with them, they probably think it was you that dinged it. ESH.

OP responded:

They own expensive cars and the other neighbors let their kids play unsupervised in the streets so parking their car would risk being damaged, which is probably the same reason why his car was damaged. Even if I said yes, there is nothing to show.

Our ring cameras and motion activated and he lives across the street, whatever happened happened at a distance and wasn’t big enough to activate the camera so it didn’t record anything.

parker3309 wrote:

I would tell the neighbor that you didn’t catch anything on camera. It’s just the right thing to do. regarding the parking issue I would also at the same time have a conversation about the parking issues. Be upfront and tell him you weren’t helpful because of the parking issues get it all out there instead of harboring all of this.

Longjumping_Bite_138 wrote:

YTA it is not your house. It is your dad's house. He has to deal with neighbors etc. You created an issue that your dad will have to smooth over with neighbor.

thisismyburnerac wrote:

You do realize that the curb in front of your house isn’t yours, right? Like, sure… people should just be cool and leave room for another person to park. But you’re not entitled to park there any more than any other citizen. You’ve already admitted you’re petty in a comment, so you know you don’t deserve any NTAs you’re getting.

You refusing to show the footage is your choice, but just know that you’re signing up for them to continue to park how they park, and perhaps do other stuff too.

Clearly, the commenters are divided on this one, but the votes lean strongly toward OP being TA.