Being neighborly used to mean borrowing sugar or watching each other’s mail. For me, it meant letting Claire use our backyard grill whenever she wanted. I should’ve known better.
Everything changed after we left for a weekend trip. We came home to a war zone—empty bottles, food splatters, and a grill that looked like it had survived a grease fire. Claire’s response? “Relax, it was just Adam’s birthday!”
When I asked her to clean up, she rolled her eyes. “Just spray it off. It’s not a big deal.”
So I gave her three basic rules: Clean what you use. Don’t trash my yard. Parent your kid. Simple, right?
Claire’s response? A four-page manifesto taped to my door, dictating how I should use my own property. Highlights included:
- Grilling curfews (because her son hated smoky smells after 7 PM)
- Mandatory lawn care (apparently, I was now responsible for her weeds)
- Open-door policy on my hose and patio set (because “sharing is caring”)
Then came the TikTok bombshell. Adam had posted videos of his party—complete with him and his friends mocking my yard and trashing our stuff. That’s when I snapped.
Watch on TikTok
I filmed the damage, her insane rules, and posted it. The internet went wild. A contractor in the comments even volunteered to build me a fence for free. Within days, Claire’s free access to my yard was officially over.
She confronted me, furious. “You can’t just ignore my rules!” I laughed. “Watch me.”
Adam came crawling back when his viral fame turned into schoolwide humiliation. I took the videos down but made sure he knew: Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
The final scene? Claire outside at night, cigarette in hand, finally admitting defeat. “You win,” she sighed.
Yeah, Claire. I did.
