AITA for mowing my lawn at midnight?

You won’t BELIEVE what happened when one man decided to take revenge on his neighbor for disrupting his sleep. The story starts innocently enough, with two friends enjoying a simple life until a change in work schedule tore them apart. But what happened next? It escalated into a bizarre midnight lawn-mowing war that had the police scratching their heads.

My neighbor and I used to be good friends. We would shoot pool together and drink beer. We didn’t really get drunk, but just enough to have some fun and relax.

I got a job working night shift about 5 months ago and our friendship fell apart. We were never joke together so we just stopped talking. While we were still friends, he always respected the fact that I had to sleep during the day and would mow his lawn in the afternoon.

As of about two months ago, he started mowing it early in the morning again and keeping me wide awake for an extra 2 hours. He does this once a week.

To retaliate, I started mowing my lawn at midnight on my days off. I have a Cub Cadet mower with headlights, I crank it wide open and hit the yard. He took exception to it and called the police on me, but theres nothing the police could do about it since I’m not doing anything illegal and there’s no noise ordnance in place.

Since then, every Monday night at midnight I’ve made it a point to go mow my yard.

Am I the asshole? He can’t respect my sleep schedule so I chose to not respect his.

Here’s how people reacted:

Sno_Jon

YTA you’re pissing off all your neigbours to get back at 1 neighbour. Nothing wrong with mowing your lawn in the morning. You having to work is your problem.

The majority of people will be asleep at midnight

OGMamaBear

YTA. For the sake of argument, let’s say he IS mowing at whatever time in the morning just to piss you off (and, let’s be real here, he isn’t). Mornings and afternoons are both socially acceptable times for people to mow their lawns. Midnight obviously isn’t. So you’re doing something a little nuts just to retaliate against someone, and that almost universally makes you an ahole.

JayConz

Yeah, YTA. Mowing the lawn in the afternoon is normal. Mowing at midnight is douchey. YTA.

Deathscua

There are other people in your neighborhood, right? Technically, depending on where you live, you can’t mow your lawn after a certain time.

Loathor

You think he was the asshole for mowing his lawn when you were trying to sleep, but you’re not an asshole for doing the exact same thing except at an even more insane level?!?

Huge asshole… gaping, even.

Ezra_Blair

Why on earth would you “retaliate” against anything before having a conversation, especially with someone you have history with? Regardless of whether or not you’re an asshole, you’re an absolute moron for turning a fixable problem into a stand off that is now likely your’s for the remainder of your time living there.

MommaBearJam

YTA I work night shift too. It sucks when someone mows their lawn while you sleep, but it’s fucking life. I also have 3 kids. So I get home from a 12 hour shift to my husband walking out of the door. I get a 2 hour nap when the younger 2 nap, then I’m up until my husband gets home from work. I can not tell you how many times during that 2 hour window is someone mowing, construction, kids playing the court directly outside of my house, or other loud shit that keeps me up. But guess what- I choose to work night shift because it fit our lives better. You choose night shift as well. If your neighbor was the one who switched to nights could you imagine him asking you to change your schedule?!? Holy crap I couldn’t imagine that. Your suppose to get over the world revolving around you by your teen years. Grow up.

WakeNikis

All I have to do is read the title of the article- and I already know everyone will tell you their the asshole. And their right.

Gandalf-the-Bae

I understand your reasoning, but YTA because this affects all your neighbors, not just your ex-friend.

TattyBear

YTA. Laws are not morals; just because there’s not an ordinance on point doesn’t mean you’re the Golden Rule paragon for retaliatory mowing. You’re going out of your way to bother him, but have you tried asking him to mow in the afternoon?

lunari_moonari

YTA. You shouldn’t even need to ask.

Damdamfino

~~Everyone’s the asshole~~ No, YTA. It’s not automatically an asshole thing to mow your own lawn in the morning – that’s when most people do it for many reasons, especially weather. I understand you sleep during the day, but you can’t just ask the world to stop what they’re doing for you. YTA for not knocking on his door and talking to him instead of getting passive aggressive and petty. Go fucking talk to him or send him a letter to find a middle ground.

Aurion7

Yes, duh.

centrafrugal

You’re both assholes. mowing the lawn when it’s covered in dew is stupid.

StrongWithin76

Grow up. YTA. 2 wrongs never make a right.

KLizayers

Do you only have one neighbor? Yes YTA for mowing your lawn at midnight. Are there families with kids nearby? So not cool! Maybe his schedule changed and he can only mow his lawn in the afternoon now. You don’t know why he switched, you just assume it has to do with you. Spoiler alert? It probably doesn’t! Stop mowing your lawn at midnight. If your county had a noise ordinance past a certain time, as many do, it may even be illegal.

helsquiades

Get some fucking earplugs. YTA

knife_at_a_gun_fight

What’s next? He’s going to start chainsawing in the day. And then you’ll start hosting raves at midnight I guess.

I’m sure the middle finger to him felt good in the moment but fuck, just let it go. I’ve seen people war with neighbours, friends and family for decades. They schemed about the next way they were going to get one over on the other party. It never seemed to make them as happy as they thought it would.

simplegifys

I mean YTA but, I find this funny

trakang

YTA. Grow up, dude.

Conclusion

So, who won the war of the lawnmowers? The story ends with a surprising twist that leaves you questioning everything. Was it worth it? The answer might just shock you, proving that sometimes, the quietest feuds are the loudest.