'My neighbor's daughter just told me I need to park in my driveway again.' UPDATED
"My neighbor's daughter just told me I need to park in my driveway again."
I either don't encounter many entitled people in my day or I am really good at ignoring people, but this one just took the cake lol. So I (40F) just got my driveway replaced 2 days ago. Asphalt, not concrete. The contractor told me I could park my car on it again after 3 days. Google said 7-10. As much money as I spent on it, I decided to listen to Google.
I live on a 2 way, yet 1 driving lane street. On my side, all of the houses are street level and have driveways. While the houses across the street are on a bit of a hill with steps leading up to them.
The only street parking is on my side. Their side has a alleyway/service road behind them where those owners could park. A lot of them chose not to. They'd rather park in front of our houses. Not a big deal. I don't own the street and don't care who parks there as long as they aren't blocking me in. There are 2 spots (sedan sized) between every driveway.
I have been parking on the street in front of my own house for these 2 days now and plan to stay there for at least another 5. I did not park in the middle so that no other car can also park because I'm not an AH.
One of my across the street neighbors has a daughter who is home from college. 19 maybe, I don't know. What I do know is she drives a SUV that is entirely too big and won't fit in front of my car without partially blocking the driveway of the neighbor next to me.
I'm outside this morning watering my flowers, minding my own damn business, and this girl comes over unannounced and uninvited.
The conversion went like this:
Entitled Neighbor: (no hello, no pleasantries) Hey when are you moving your car?
Me: Excuse me?
EN: My truck can't fit with your car there.
Me: (looks over to my driveway that is CLEARLY still roped off with yellow caution tape) I just got my driveway done.
EN: Yeah I see that but it looks dry to me. My dad said asphalt doesn't take as long as concrete.
Me: (smiles and goes back to watering)
EN: You can park your car on it now.
Me: (takes a deep breath; clearly annoyed) Drying and curing aren't exactly the same. I won't be parking on it for another few days.
EN: No you need to do it now. There's nowhere else for me to park! What am I supposed to do?!
(This is where my eye started to twitch because now this little girl telling me what I NEED to do)
Me: (through clenched teeth) What about your service road?
EN: My parents park back there. There's no room!
Me: Well, I don't know what to tell you. I wish you an ounce of luck. 🙂
Poor child turn a few shades of red and stomped back across the street. I am not one of those older millennials who thinks GenZ are all entitled babies, but what the hell was that?! 😂
And in case you're wondering, I work from home and I did all my grocery shopping and errand running a few days ago. I have no plans on leaving the house or my spot again at least until Wednesday. She'll just have to suffer. 😏
Here is what readers had to say in response to the OP’s post:
I'd make a point to park on the street for the rest of the summer 😊
And then every time you're asked about it, you gotta tell them it's still warm to the touch!
SavvyMaverick (OP)
And it's been raining a lot in PA. It's raining right now. Whose to say all the water isn't actually slowing the curing process down? I think to be safe I need to park on the street at least until August :)
Tell her she may have park down the street and walk a little ways! (Poor thing) !
SavvyMaverick (OP)
I think that's what she's been doing but because it's Saturday, there were a lot of landscapers and their trucks on the street. I saw her circling a little while later waiting for someone to leave lol.
This is where having a second vehicle or getting your groceries delivered is great, because I can tell you, I'd leave my car there the entire damn summer.
Anytime I read something like this, in which someone says you need to do something, I feel like yelling, "Who says?!" Good for you.
Personally I would consider parking to block your driveway while it’s curing. This entitled person strikes me as someone who would purposely pull into your driveway, potentially damaging it to make a point. Ounce of prevention.
Last person that tried to tell me what I could do in my own home I had them wait while I got my lease. Checked in front of them and said your name isn’t on this for you to tell me what to do in my home. But if you want to pay my rent then we can talk. Now they walk by and ignore my hellos.
“And that’s why I had to park on the street for the rest of my life just to ensure that little brat is never ever able to park in front of my house.” - engraved on my tombstone (sadly they charge by the word so my kids got $0 inheritance - #stillworthit)
You have no need to do anything to help. Not sure why, at least one of her parents, might have suggested they would park, hopefully their human sized car, in front of your car. She could park the bus at the back of their house.
Two days later, the OP returned with an update.
First, just to address a couple things that came up constantly in the comments.
Why don't you park blocking your own driveway so she can fit?
I considered doing this the day the work was done but not because of her. She nor her space ship ever crossed my mind. I was going to do it so that no one could attempt to use my driveway to do a 3 point turn.
But I decided not to. Not to be vindictive. I just simply didn't think it was necessary. I genuinely didn't see an issue with me parking on the street. Also despite the arguing in the comments, in PA blocking a driveway, even your own IS illegal.
I live in a suburb where the PD has nothing better to do than just drive around. I don't actually believe they would enforce it or ticket me for it though unless they were truly bored.
However, after that exchange, I wasn't going to do a single damn thing to accommodate her. If that makes me the entitled one, then I'll be that. Taking up 1 space in front of my own house seems, idk, perfectly reasonable.
You CAN park on it now, Google is being over the top.
I actually agree. 7-10 days is a little outlandish. However my concern is my car sitting there for prolonged periods. If I were leaving everyday for 8+ hours, I would be more inclined to start parking on it now.
However, I really don't leave often for more than maybe 2 hours at a time a couple days a week. My car is a 2018 and only has 24K miles on it. I'm a homebody for real lol. Also my driveway previously was crumbling but also sinking in exactly where my tires lined up. Coincidence? I think not!
I hope you have cameras! She's gonna vandalize your car!
I do have cameras. In plain view. I also have a motion detection dash cam. But I am not too concerned about that. Like I said, its a 7 year old car that's been paid off for 2 years. If she's dumb enough to have to buy me a new one, that's on her.
Also, her father is pretty high on our districts school board. (I didn't go looking for that information. He told me that years ago.) I don't think he would take too kindly to his daughter tanking his reputation over something so trivial.
Lastly, thank you to everyone for all of the petty suggestions. I got a laugh out of those. I won't be buying a clunker to sit in front of my house until the dawn of time but I appreciate the dedication. I hope that context helped because the update is not juicy at all.
Earlier today (Sunday), I was outside on a video call with another contractor showing them my fence that needs replaced. My neighbor (the father) was also outside doing yard work. He waved and I gave him a polite smile and continued with my conversation.
When he saw that I had hung up, he waved again to get my attention and came across the street. He started by asking me my version of events yesterday and I told him. He kind of looked mortified and just shook his head and mumbled, "That's her mother."
He then proceeded to tell me how his daughter got all of his good traits and all of his wife's bad ones. I don't know what that meant and didn't really care. I will say that I have owned my house for 9 years and have never once had a single interaction with the wife. Only with him. She's never acknowledged me and I'm ok with that.
He also cleared up a few things:
She's 21 not 19. Not that it matters. I just got that wrong. The Suburban she's driving isn't hers. If you live anywhere in PA you know we've had some pretty destructive storms over the last couple of months.
Well, one of them claimed the daughters normal sized Hyundai by dropping a tree on it. She's renting the Suburban because she's going on a 6 week road trip with friends to CA. Not the most fuel efficient choice, but ok. The important part is she leaves next Saturday!
He never sent her over here to say anything to me and didn't tell her about asphalt drying time with the intentions of her bringing it up to me. Apparently he was just making small talk about the work that was done because he was home that day and she wasn't. She brought up that I wasn't in my driveway and he told her why.
He apologized and said he would have her do the same. I told him that wasn't necessary. (I really don't want to interact with her again for any reason.) He's now parking in front of my house so that she has room for her school bus behind their house.
That's it. She's leaving on Saturday and while I am not leaving my car on the street until Christmas, I am still leaving it there until Wednesday. Be kind! :)
Here is what readers had to say in response to the OP’s post:
Sounds like Little Girl (because that's how she's acting) is going to get a wakeup call someday about her sense of entitlement. It's pretty funny to think about too - I'd LOVE to be a fly sitting on the wall when that happens. LOL
I can only imagine what it's going to be like on her road trip, if something similar happens and she can't park that beast of an SUV somewhere due to size, especially in CA. And the gas prices to fuel that thing?? 😂
SavvyMaverick (OP)
The dad did mention that she feels like she made a mistake and should have gotten a smaller SUV but is too stubborn to take it back lol.
I'm so glad this didn't turn into a neighbourhood war.
Thanks for the update.
SavvyMaverick (OP)
There's a show on the ID Channel called Fear Thy Neighbor. It has definitely impacted the kind of relationship I have with mine. I have the 2 I'm really close with and that's it. I don't need to accidentally cross a psycho lol.
I don’t even care about asphalt drying any of that. Whether I’m renting or own, newly moved in or been there 20 years. Nobody has the right to tell me where I can or cannot park, unless I’m using their driveway or blocking it, or using their designated parking space. You ain’t my mum or my dad soo piss off really!