A WOMAN was left shocked after discovering that her neighbour has been stealing her electricity.
The 29-year-old revealed that she recently moved to a new city with her husband and one-year-old child – and problems started to arise with her neighbour.
A woman was left shocked after discovering her neighbour was stealing electricity from her[/caption]
She explained that they live in a semi-detached building, and share a wall with their neighbour, who is in their late 40s or early 50s.
The first issue they had with the neighbour is that she didn’t pay her half of the water bill, and as they share one water metre, it was cut off.
The US-based woman wrote on Reddit: “We didn’t make it a big deal about the water because it was resolved and turned back on the same day.
“We’ve given a lot of grace considering she smokes weed and it seeps through that wall so you can smell it through our restroom and child’s room.”
Things reached a head when they spotted she had been stealing electricity from them by plugging in a lead to go to her house.
They immediately texted her asking what was going on, and her replies were rather emotional.
She replied saying: “I’ll unplug asap, and I’ll come right over to tell [sic] to you.
“It’s been the worst week and I don’t know how much more I can take.”
She added in a later text: “I’m at my wits end.
“Everything is falling apart and my daughter won’t help me.
“My electric bill is 2000 dollars because I went the whole year without paying everything myself.
“I’m paralyzed and I’ll be sitting in the dark again in about 2 hours.
“NOONE can help me. And I’m so tired, I can’t ask anyone for anything else. I’ll be homeless.”
The woman whose electricity was being stolen said they were also going through a hardship.
She texted back: “I feel like we’ve been respectful neighbors to you and would appreciate to be treated the same way.
“If you could have simply asked us out of respect we would have worked some type of agreement with you.
“I understand you’re going through hardship but we are too.
The woman replied saying she felt like the neighbour had taken advantage of her[/caption]
“And we feel like you plugging into our electricity without asking is taking advantage of us thinking we’re just a dumb young couple who won’t notice.
“I understand you have a child you’re taking care of but we have a baby we’re trying to better provide for.”
They explained that they would be now letting the property management handle the situation.
The neighbour offered to pay $100 for the electricity[/caption]
PAY BACK
In response to this, the neighbour said she had been “embarrassed” to ask for help, and offered them $100 to pay them back for the electricity.
Many people were shocked at the encounter, with one saying: “She shamelessly plugged it in but too scared to admit fault. Instead of just owning up to her mistake, she’s whining about how awful things have been for her. Coward.”
Another added: “There was no mistake here. What she did was very deliberate and had her sob story ready to go to guilt the neighbor into letting her continue to leech.”
I had a two-year bin war with my next door neighbour
Gemma Smith and Sophie Wood were engaged in a weekly feud for a year over their wheelie bins.
When Gemma moved next door to Sophie, 34, who is unemployed, in November 2020 they were civil to one another.
Gemma, who is single and doesn’t work due to stress, says: “Sophie seemed nice and we’d stop and exchange pleasantries.
“But it all changed at the beginning of 2022, when Sophie’s bin was full and she put her rubbish bag in mine.
“I took it out and put it on top of her bin.
“It fell off, gulls pecked at it and there was rubbish everywhere.”
Both women refused to clear up the mess, claiming it was the other one’s fault.
Gemma says: “I felt so angry.
“There was cat litter spread all over my drive — it was absolutely disgusting and we ended up shouting at each other.
“We were both as bad as each other — we’d walk past each other and I’d tell her she was a lazy cow and to clean up after herself.
“We’d scream insults at each other.”
Within six months Sophie had set up a CCTV camera and threatened to report Gemma to the council.
In retaliation, Gemma set up the baby monitor — which can record video — to try to pin more wrongdoing on Sophie.
Then last July Sophie spotted Gemma in tears on her doorstep following a burglary at her home.
Gemma says: “Sophie came straight round and asked if there was anything she could do.
“We are now the best of friends and help each other out all the time.”
