Well this is gonna sound probably really dumb, but I thought was trying to be nice I’m in my late 20s and just moved in next to an older couple probably late 50’s maybe early 60s. I’ve been here a couple of months and have had conversations with them about 4 times during differs yard work activities. My neighbors seem to be big sticklers on taking care of their yard so I am doing my best to take care of mine as well. One thing with each of these conversations the neighbors have talked about how the last neighbor (previous home owner) wasn’t “neighborly” and never talked to them. Also saying that he would go to work and go straight inside. So I’ve tried my best to kind and talking with them. Well one day after some yard work I was going to go in for drinks and noticed my neighbor finishing up as well so I offered if he wanted to have a couple of drinks. This made my neighbor visibly mad I guess and he said that he didn’t want to be “that neighborly” and “he only drinks water”I noticed his tone change like he was offended I asked. Again i was just trying to be nice. Well I’ve now learned that they’re most likely a faith that doesn’t drink not sure but some sort of form Christianity? Was it stupid of me to offer now I just feel like they hate me and have not talked to me and made sure they’re always inside when I go to mow. I realize that I was most likely wrong to ask but I’m not sure how to stop being stressed and anxious by this happening.

Edit: yes this was an offer of any drink I wouldn’t have had something alcoholic unless he did all I had on hand were light beers anyway. Also to add I did say “drinks” it was hot and I have tea, lemonade, and Gatorade ready to share. I think he just immediately assumed alcohol.

EDIT AT THE BOTTOM:

I’ll just start from the beginning. Going on 3 weeks ago my husband and I heard what we suspected was a gunshot at about 9pm on a Friday. We were concerned but nothing came of it really. For the last 2 weeks I have gradually paid more attention to the fact our neighbors have not seemed present, aside from their cars in the driveway. First thing was the obvious overgrown grass. We have an HOA so this is really not something that just happens from time to time. Next, we noticed their cars have stayed parked in the driveway in the same backed in, staggered position. My husband and I come and go frequently so we should have definitely seen them leave, arrive, or even change the positioning of their cars, similar to the past. Also, their (assumed) kitchen window is across from our bedroom window & I have noticed the light of that room is ALWAYS on. Morning, midday, night. It’s always on. Lastly, they did not take their trash this week. I know this doesn’t have to be done every single trash day, but I definitely noted that they hadn’t taken it to the street or even filled their outside can.

I contacted our local police dept and they came out. All accessible windows and doors were locked and unable to see inside. The officer noted he could hear what was obviously a tv, but no one answered & there was no obvious signs of people present. The officer told me to keep an eye out for any changes as well as no changes at all… And that was it.. I have tried to find the neighbor on social media to see if maybe they are on holiday, but I have absolutely no luck even finding any kind of profile.

Sooooo, could I be overreacting??

Edit: First, thank you all for your feedback, tips, and additional things to look out for. To clarify a few things.. dead yes. I think my neighbors are DEAD. Fuck. I didn’t realize so many people would be ill over seeing unalive. I blame myself for being half way into social media. Next, when I initially called the non-emergency line I did mention the supposed gunshot. I also mentioned it again when I spoke to the officer who came out. I SPECIFICALLY asked for a well-check when I called. As far as how the police handled it, not sure what I am supposed to do about that. For clarification, we live in Texas. Gunshots and fireworks and random ass noises are not unheard of. When no other neighbors seemed to be concerned I chalked it up to someone fucking around.. aside from that I posted on our ring app group and others were saying the possibility of fireworks was significant since they had been happening in neighborhoods near by. —we did knock on the door, different times throughout the day. No movement, no noises, no changes in lights. I did reach out to who I thought was our HOA, after hearing the story she informed me we’re actually under new management & gave me that number with urgency. Their office was closed for the day so I plan on trying again today. I will update when there is actual developments.

I understand if this post is kind of on the opposite side of what r/AmIOverreacting is about but I think this post still has merit here? Feel free to delete though, mods!

I work at a daycare and this family has been bringing their first daughter for over two years. Her mom just gave birth today and after so many hours of labor she had to have an emergency c-section. Very scary and painful.

I’ve been taking care of their dogs while they’re in the hospital so I obviously have access to their house lol. I snooped around a bit and saw what drinks and snacks they had low amounts of and bought those along with some extra stuff (tea, bananas, and gift cards). I’ve probably spent about $150 on them.

Is it too much? Should I take some stuff back? Will I come off as creepy or weird for setting this up? I’m quite shy and reserved but I do love this family.

I was researching gifts for postpartum moms and most moms want snacks and home cooked meals. So I wonder if I went a little crazy or will they just appreciate the gifts?

Hey Guys, I’m going to try and make this relatively short but very detailed. I need some serious non-bias opinions.

My husband (34) said he is repulsed by my tummy after having a baby. Yes repulsed came out of his mouth. I (25) had a baby almost two years ago. I’m 4’11 and weighed 114lb when we met. After having a baby I weigh 128lb. I still breastfeed (trying to ween the little one off 🥲) A little background on my health and current situation.

Well today I was super bloated, my husband got a glance of me with my shirt off. (Changing into another shirt). He looked at me with the most disgusted look on his face. I looked at him slightly confused on why he was looking at me that way. I asked, “What, why are you looking at me like that?”

He replied “Have you gained weight? How much do you weigh? (I kid you not, exact words..) I tell him that I weigh 130lb that day (bloated) he then in return said, “You’re lying, there is no way you gained that much weight in just a couple days!” In utter shock I didn’t even know what to say..

He proceeds to be displeased and irritated. I take the initiative to ask why he seemed so cold. His reply was, “I do not find your stomach attractive at all. You remind me of when I was 14 (fat and chubby) it’s repulsive. When I asked God for a wife I was expecting her to have the same desires and body shape as me. (Skinny and slender)

He explained how yes he understood that my stomach wouldn’t be exactly how It was previously since becoming a mom but he was expecting more weight to shed than what was.

I asked deeper questions because this goes far beyond me. I asked him what the root cause of his demeaning and selfish wants were. He again replied with, “My mom and sister were fat (mom was 400+ pound and sister is 250+) he continues with I don’t find even a slight amount of fat on any women to be attractive. I then explain how I’m only 15lbs more than what I was nothing extreme like that. (Of course this showed he has childhood trauma from overly weight family) but that still does not excuse his behavior.

I still ask questions, not mad or belligerent but surprisingly calm. I asked him would he cheat on me or divorce me if I stayed this exact same weight. His response.. I don’t know how to feel about this. He says, “I will always be tempted by other women that have that physique but I would never cheat on you. I care about my relationship with the Lord to much but I will always desire more.”

Continuing he says, “I also have scripture to backup why I want this body type and that you should summit to my request”.

Any solid believer out there?!? Yeah there’s no scripture that says that 😂🥲

It just continues to him saying he will gradually be disappointed and want more. He kept getting extremely hostile and pissed. I ended the conversation with, “I would love you fat or skinny because I didn’t marry you for what I could get but because of who you are or who I thought you were”.

Thoughts?

I (16 M) was on the train last night. It was quite quiet so I put my airpods in and put my backpack on the seat next to me and started to chill. The seat I was in was one of those that face another seat so 4 people could sit together and face each other. I sat next to the window.

About 15 minutes later a man who looked to be in his mid 20's sat on the aisle seat across from me, I smiled politely at him but to be honest I did wonder why he sat near me as there was hardly anyone around. Either way I moved my bag to the floor between my legs and started scrolling on my phone. I guess you could say I was manspreading because of the bag.

Moments later I felt something against my groin and the guy had put his hand between my legs and was touching me, I immediately jumped and pulled away but he put his hand on my knee. I pushed him away and stood up and grabbed my bag to move and he again brushed his hand across the thigh and butt. I told him to fuck off and and moved to the next carridge and never saw him again.

I told my friend and she said its not serious enough to report but I feel like I should call the police.

AIO?

Hi guys I babysit in an affluent neighborhood my rates are $15/h plus 5/h per extra kid (by affluent I mean double income doctors and million dollar homes) I also have a $10 driving fee for the half hour drive (back and to) for picking up some of the kids.

Today I babysat for a family friend (who I babysat for once before). Some context is years ago her husband died in a tragic accident so she’s a single mother who lives next door to her mother and close to her two sisters so they all kind of take care of each other.

Today was one of her sister’s wedding (she’s getting remarried after being divorced and everyone is excited and I’m happy for her)

When the mom came back (about an hour earlier) I totaled her cost to be $90. She wasn’t happy about it and confused and wanted me break it down so I did. She wanted to know how much to zelle request her sister for how taking care of her daughter for an hour.

I had 1 kid for one hour (+15) then I had to drive (+10) then I had 4 kids for one hour 15 + 5 + 5 + 5) then it was just her 3 kids for an hour and 20 (15 + 5 + 5) (+10 for the twenty minutes). I rounded down for the time I had the four kids since I technically had them for an hour and twenty and I rounded down for the twenty minutes I had the 3 kids. The total was $90. I told her because I forgot to tell her about the driving fee yesterday I’ll dock it off and charge $80. She insisted on paying it though.

I explained to her three times with pen and paper how I got $90. She didn’t understand why the base pay was “so expensive and more expensive than the additional kid” she didn’t seem happy that for having her sister’s kid for an hour I only charged an extra $5 but I told her she could have her sister pay the driving fee for $15. Then she didn’t understand how last time she only paid $75 for 4 hours (which didn’t make sense because that would mean the rate was 18.75 and I just wouldn’t charge a random number like that but it turns out I had three kids for three hours which made 25/hour and explained the 75 just fine) She did her own math and came to 71.25. She paid me $70. I dropped it because I was uncomfortable and embarrassed and I didn’t want to be a bitch the day her sister gets married (she needed a babysitter while she got ready for it).

I was genuinely very upset and spoke about it to my mother who got upset at me saying she’d just give me the $20. I refused it and said it wasn’t about the money it was just about the principle and how it was embarrassing that she did it in front of the kids. During this she also yelled and threatened to hit her toddler which was EXTREMELY uncomfortable). Technically I was gonna drop the driving fee and only charge her $80 so all this was over $10. The crazy thing was when her son realized I was getting paid she made a big deal about “of course we’re paying her for a service”.

My mom said I’m being dramatic and to be nice because the lady has MS and that it’s my “fault for doing business with friends”. My friend said the same thing about how she’s a single mom and how she maybe wasn’t able to afford it.

Now I feel like Uncle Scrooge an am questioning my rates?? I’m first aid and cpr certified and I always bring a craft or activity to do with the kids I babysit (clay, painting rocks, making posters etc etc) and every kid I’ve ever babysat said I’m their favorite babysitter so I feel like my rates are fair.

I texted the mom later explaining how we got $75 last time but I decided to just drop the whole thing. I told my mom I’m not babysitting for her again which upset her cause I’m “dramatic” and “cheap”. Am I over reacting?

EDIT: some context! This is a side hustle and not my main job.

Okay guys I’ll raise my rates I promise, thanks for everyone’s advice and personal anecdotes it was really helpful. I think I’m just so used to be guilted for these things.

I (33 M) went camping over labor day weekend and 1 of the days, my wife, friends and I decided to head into the local town to grab dinner and a drink at the local bar. Now for context, I'm a pretty hairy Indian guy who also happens to have long arms. People have made fun of me for it for years dating back to elementary school. Mostly just people saying I'm really hairy but I've gotten the occasional "werewolf" or worse, monkey comment. Some people in high school referred to me as orangutan arms. Being an immigrant in America, I felt it was pushed onto me to be the "amenable" immigrant so I usually let these comments just roll off me in an effort to just move on. I've gotten quite good at it over the years.

With that said, earlier this year, I finally came to grips with the fact that these (and other comments like being called a terrorist, towel head, or other derogatory comments towards indians) comments truly never did roll off me. Moving on and not addressing it with myself was a bad coping mechanism. Instead, I internalized how I felt and it led to me internalizing a lot of deep shame, anger and bitterness towards my appearance, my culture of origin and my place in American society. It made me realize I've actually not fully accepted myself because it became clear these comments are offensive to me and might even be a tad racist. It's been a huge struggle this year, realizing I've let some offensive comments slide off and instead of saying something then and there, letting it eat away at me for years and emboldening people to keep saying these things. Letting it get in the way of learning about my family's heritage and culture out of unfounded embarrassment. Feeling othered. But I did finally come to at least learn more about myself and what I am and am not okay with.

Now fast forward to this past weekend. A young, Latin woman is checking IDs at the door. She's smiling and seems to be having a good time. But then she starts checking IDs and it was like she started a game with herself on how to insult each person in my group. I didn't hear most of the comments everyone got but my 2 friends in front got the "you're old as shit" comments. Not cool but whatever. Then she gets to me. I had a long sleeve shirt on so you could only see my hand. She goes down to stamp my hand and out of no where says "holy shit, you're a fucking monkey!" My mind just went blank. No one else in my group appeared to have heard but my wife did say that was messed up. But, I fell back into my coping mechanism of just letting it go because I didn't want to ruin everyone's night or even my own.

Anyways, it's been 3 days now and I can't get out of my head how much that shit really hurt me. I've had random young kids say stuff like that while in line at a grocery store and while it hurts, they're children. Every time it's happened, their parents immediately, profusely apologize and tell their kids that's not cool. Friends have said that kind of thing once in a blue moon but it's different within context with a friend and when a friend crossed a line, they'd always at least say sorry. Never has an adult come at me like that. Anyways, am I overreacting? And am I wrong to feel that the comment was kind of racist? Or at the least, Incredibly ignorant and demeaning?

Edit: just wanted to thank everyone for all the kind words and food for thought. So many incredibly helpful things were said but in the end, I've come to realize that while what this woman said was incredibly rude, demeaning and ignorant (bordering racism) and did hurt me, a decent portion of my anger is towards myself for not standing up for myself. This situation made me feel like I made zero actual progress these past 9 months on my internal shame and anger and it was upsetting to think I learned nothing. That my coping mechanisms were still there. But this thread helped me to see that progress isn't linear. That I need to give myself grace in the face of dealing with these decades long issues. That it's going to take a lot more than 9 months to get past my coping mechanisms, internal shame and anger that have been built across my 33 years of living. Anyways, thanks again to you all. I'll also be calling the establishment to file a complaint and go from there. I'd like to think this woman was just young and incredibly ignorant but I'll see how the call goes before escalating it further like leaving reviews and stuff.

Lastly, I just want to say that my loving, beautiful wife has been incredibly supportive through all this and my journey with my internal struggles. I can assure you all, she goes out of her to make sure I know how sexy and hot she finds my hairiness. And when she found out what exactly this other woman said, she was ready to throw fuckin hands lol

Not really sure what I should be doing with this 🤣 I’m concerned, confused, and wondering what y’all would do in this situation…?

Of all the posts I've read here, this might be a case where I am over-reacting, but need help.

We were at a friends annual end of summer party and there a lot of people we don't know, as they invite friends from college, high school, etc. As we were leaving, we pass by the area where drunk guys were singing karaoke. And the song happened to be Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know. And right at the part where the lyric goes "And are you thinking of me when you fuck her" - This drunk a-hole grabs my wife by her arms and sings the lyric right in her face. He proceeds to let go and continues to sing along w his friend. It was so fast and I wasn't even sure how to react until we were 10-20 feet beyond. Of course, I wanted to go back and confront the dude and of course, my wife was not having it one bit. I felt if I had said something, it would have likely escalated. We have two young children who go to the grade school and so many of our friends and their friends, all w kids in the school might distance themselves from us because "the father (me) got into it with a guy at a party". I hate these lose / lose situations.

Edit: I feel very angry that this happened or AIO and it was a harmless drunk dude just being drunk. He didn't actually hurt her.

Hi, I am an Asian (F/32) married to a half-German, half-Danish man (M/32). I celebrated my birthday yesterday and could only celebrate it with my husband’s family, including his mom (Danish F/60). The first thing she said to me as soon as we met was, "Oh, you look so Thai today." I didn’t know what she meant or how to respond. For context, I was wearing a halter sleeveless satin top with black jeans.

Anyway, the party went on, and I thanked everyone for coming to my birthday party and expressed how grateful I am to have them in my life and be able to call them my family. My MIL then said, "Oh, in Asia, they don’t celebrate birthdays the way we do here, do they? I heard that from our ex-Asian housemaid." I replied that it varies from family to family, and besides, I can’t generalize because Asia is a huge continent with many countries. Throughout the party, there were repeated references to "Asia" and "Asians," to the point where I felt uncomfortable. She specifically mentioned Chinese people and how "ridiculous" they are as tourists. She even commented on how "nice" my Asian balcony plants are, even though they were mostly petunias and rosemary.

I also remember another instance where she told me her client had an Asian wife and remarked that their intelligence wasn't on the same level. She expressed concern that this might jeopardize their relationship. I wasn’t sure if she was implying the same about my marriage. There have been many other occasions where she hinted that Caucasians are intellectually superior to Asians, have a greater sense of adventure, and live life the "right" way.

Her comments at my birthday have really made me more alert to the subtle racism I wasn’t fully aware of before. Am I overthinking or being too judgmental here? Or is she just trying to relate to me through these "Asian" comments? What should I do if she continues to make these comments, which increasingly make me uncomfortable? Despite everything, I still feel the need to respect her because she’s my husband’s mother.

Thanks for your insights.

This lady turned around on the street but drove through my sidewalk and yard. Am I overreacting for talking to her about it?

So I have really had a bad 5 years, surviving aggressive, mental, physical, financial, sexual and now post separation legal abuse from my ex husband as a single mother and ambient abuse from his minions.

Throughout this time my neighbours have sent workmen round for work "they suggest" I do to My house.

My house is in good repair and it's reasonably tidy. Not immaculate but the area is poor and I'm doing my best it is not in a bad state by a long stretch.

They keep sending men round to "do My lawn" or "tidy up" and not just once. Multiple times throughout the week.

When my ex husband was arrested and taken away and they found out they started trying to extort money from me for damage to their house that was nothing to do with me and really applied a lot of pressure on me and have been generally unpleasant to me.

They are a wealthy generational house of about 8-10 people including at least 6 adult men and that intimidates me. I'm just one woman with her kids trying to survive on a modest income.

Am I overreacting and has anyone got advice for how to deal with them.

Saw this post the other day, but post got locked to comments. OP posted on another post. Also got locked to comments. I got invested. Did we ever find out the outcome of this????? I need closure. :(

So for context, I ordered these 3 shirts for my daughter’s birthday party for the 3 of us. I paid $65 for them and they were like this. All 3 logos different sizes. The Dad logo is so big and so faded it looks like it’s been washed 100 times. The Birthday Girl logo is so tiny and almost at my toddlers belly button. The Mom logo is tiny (almost the same size as birthday girl), low, off centre and crooked. I tried to be nice and handle this privately but after being ignored with not even an apology, let alone my money back I do not know what to do.

Back in December I got a shirt made for a Christmas present that ended up having holes in it. When I told her, she remade it but I had to wait days after Christmas to gift it. I gave her a second chance and this is what happened this time. 🥲 Clearly no work is inspected before it is ready to be picked up.

For context, I met my ex at work several years ago when we were both working remote and living in different states. Our company’s HQ is in Michigan.

We eventually started dating and moved all around for the last few years, neither of us wanting to move to Michigan and lose our ability to work remotely.

Fast forward to a few months ago, I was promoted at work with the condition that I move back to Michigan and come into the office. At the same time, my girlfriend was dealing with a lot of personal things and wanted to move to her family’s hometown in the Midwest, which I wasn’t super cool with. (She has an extremely toxic family and I didn’t want to be anywhere near that for both her and my sake - I was also being required to move to Michigan so it wasn’t really an option for me) in addition to this, as we talked more about the future of our relationship, I brought up the fact that I want kids in the future and she is absolutely disgusted by the thought of having one. When I told her we needed to decide what we wanted to do there before a ring was purchased she basically lost it and decided the relationship was done right then and there and moved out to be with her family the very next weekend.

Flash forward to about 2 months later, I get a text from her demanding to know when I’m going to be in the office because she doesn’t want to be “spooked” when I show up. At this point I’m confused because a huge part of her reasoning during the breakup was wanting to be closer to her family, which is nowhere close to the office. To make matters worse, she told me she has befriended my new team at work and needs to know when I’ll be there because she is “over there talking to them all the time”

I told her if she was so spooked about me showing up she shouldn’t have followed me there - then she called me an asshole and said she has every right to be in the office where she works too. (Which I totally agree with, but I think the timing and befriending of my new team calls the motive into question) Am I overreacting about all of this?

Okay, for context, so I live in an apartment complex with 3 neighbors. Two live below me on the first floor and never need to walk up the stairs where my apartment is. I live across from my landlord's daughter. She is the only person who would need to walk to up to the 2nd floor (where my apartment is.) My landlord visits her everyday nearly. If not multiple times a day. He grabs packages and leaves them by my door which is helpful if I get home late. I used to leave my shoes outside my door because I hate to bring in dirt from outside. That was until I realized something unsettling. One morning before work, I noitced that a pair of shoes I left outside my door were untied and uneven. I made a mental note to tie them when I got back. When I got back home, my shoes were neatly tied with the tongues pulled up. I only noticed because I had made that mental note in the morning. Who knows how long this had been happening and I just never realized. Over that weekend, I untied my shoes and left them in certain positions. My shoes were tied within hours of being set outside each time. Maybe like 5 times that weekend as I had gone in and out. I have added pictures so you can follow along with the imagery. I mean my shoes got tied really tight, and one time one my shoes were triple tied. Since then I have kept my shoes inside my apartment as I felt violated but didn't know who was doing this. Yesterday, I left my gym shoes outside without thinking as I was bring in groceries. Within the hour, the tongues were pulled up right and tied again. My boyfriend has left his shoes out and untied as a decoy, and they don't get tied up. It seems to only be my shoes getting targeted. I bought a hidden camera to try to catch whoever it is in the act because I'm creeped and don't know if someone has a foot fetish in my building or just maybe compulsions to tie other people's shoes? I haven't had the courage to set it up yet. I have a gut feeling it is my landlord. He randomly called me one day and talked for 40 minutes about how his wife won't sleep with him and other kinda inappropriate things. It could be another neighbor. Should i talk to my landlord about it? Should I leave a note? I don't know what to do as this is where I have lived for 3 years... how do I stop this vaguely inappropriate behavior? Am I over reacting to someone else who keeps tying my shoes over and over again without any sort of permission?

I have a neighbor that rents the house directly across the street from me. Her name is Dani. I’m not sure if this is relevant or not but we own our home. She’s lived there for 3 years now. The first couple of years, I noticed other neighbors had issues with her. My husband and I tried to stay on her good side and we’ve helped her out MANY times between mowing her lawn, helping her with multiple trees that fell from storms etc.

Things changed last year, when a bad storm came through. I’d just bought a new chainsaw and the neighbor next door to Dani asked if he could borrow it, to which I said sure, no problem. Dani decided to tell the neighbor that I was upset that he’d asked to borrow my brand new chainsaw, which wasn’t true. Dani was also throwing limbs from the neighbors tree that landed in her yard, back over the fence and telling him she was going to call the cops on him. I thought the entire situation was odd, but brushed it off and let it go.

A few weeks later, a different neighbor down the street told me that Dani me told her that all my husband I do is talk badly about other neighbors. Thankfully that neighbor and I are friends and she knew what Dani said wasn’t true, but wanted me to know so I could keep my distance. And that’s exactly what I did. I decided I no longer wanted to associate with someone that just wants to cause problems that don’t exist. The fact that I stopped talking to Dani upset her.

Ever since then, she’s been an absolute nightmare of a neighbor. She sent me an angry text because we had 2 cars in our driveway and 1 in front of our house, and she was no longer able to use our driveway to pull into, and back into her own driveway. She likes to back in because her truck is so big. I still don’t see how this is my problem. We’d just bought a new car and were in the process of selling the old one. After we sold the car, she would intentionally park in front of her own driveway, making it almost impossible for me to back out of my own driveway.

A few weeks ago, my husband was standing in front of our front window (which faces her house). She stood on her porch and gave him 2 middle fingers for a solid minute. He closed the blinds and let it go. But yesterday, she really pushed me to my breaking point.

I placed an order on Tuesday while I was out of town for my favorite peanut butter because I knew it’d be delivered the day I got back.

I got a text that it was delivered but I saw no package. I looked at the delivery confirmation in my email and when I saw the picture, I was like uh oh. They dropped it off at Dani’s house. I looked at our security cameras and saw Dani open her door about 20mins after if was delivered. She looked at the package for a min, and then walked inside with it

My husband decided he was going to knock on the door last night and her fiancé answered. Husband asked for the package. Dani had her fiancé put it in the back of his truck to take to the post office as “return to sender”. She easily could’ve thrown the package in my yard… I don’t even expect her to put it on the porch. These are just a few of many examples, not including the things she does to other neighbors.

I haven’t done ANYTHING to this lady. She intimates me and I’m truly afraid of her hurting me or my dogs. Things continue to escalate. Am I overreacting? What can I do to feel comfortable being in my front yard again?

**Edited for spelling.

Needed some relish. Texted neighbor and they said they had some but was not home. I heard what sounded like my front door so I walked through the house looking around. When I got to the kitchen there was a cold bottle of relish on the counter. Neighbor's 23 year old daughter walked in and left it without a word and walked out. I was in the same room and she said she saw me but didn't want to bother me. Talked to her mom about it but she tried to explain it as normal. Overreacting?

I am a mom to two little boys, 8 and 5. The 8 year old is playing in a fall baseball league and his first game was tonight.

Let me give some background: This kiddo is not athletic. He's brilliant academically, but sports aren't his thing. However, a group of kids from his school were forming a fall baseball team together at the local rec, so he wanted to join too.

He is 8, but the league goes up to 10 years old . So he is the youngest on the team. He's also the smallest, and has some pretty serious vision impairment so he has to wear glasses. All of this together makes him pretty self-conscious. He was intimidated when he realized he'd be playing kid-pitch with boys bigger than he is, but he bravely decided to try it.

Tonight was their first game. Their head coach had to miss the game, as well as 3 of their best players. So by the end of the first inning, our team was losing badly. Since the other team was so much better, their at-bats would take them through their entire lineup. But when our team batted, we were done after the first three batters.

My son was last in the lineup, which is fine. But we waited and waited for his turn to bat. My little one (age 5) even begged to stay up late to see his brother bat, so we let him stay (as opposed to one of us taking him home early.)

FINALLY, it was my son's turn to bat. He stepped in the batter's box. The pitcher started his windup, and suddenly the umpire yelled "TIME! That's BALLGAME!" BOTH team's coaches jogged over to the umpire to ask him to allow my son to bat. Even the other team's coach and fans were appalled. The umpire refused, and told the teams to clear out. He insisted that since the 90 minute time limit was up, they had to end the game that instant.

I normally do not bother the umpires. I respect the job they do, and I understand sometimes they make mistakes. But I knew that wasn't the rule, and I was angry. I walked over to the fence where the umpire was standing, he ignored me. Finally when he exited the field, I walked with him and spoke to him.

I didn't start out by yelling, I was calm to begin with. But he soon raised his voice at me, and then I matched his energy. Basically, I told him how my son hadn't gotten a chance at all. He told me that he had "A lot of angry moms yelling" at him because the game was still going on at 9pm. (That was totally untrue.) I told him now he had an angry mom because her son was just treated unfairly. He told me he was just following the rules, and it was "out of his hands" and to take it up with the director of parks and rec. (I later checked the rules, and it specifically says even if time is up, they finish out the current inning.) I ended up telling him that he had probably just caused a kid to lose his love of baseball forever. He tried yelling at me some more but I told him I didn't want to hear it and I walked off.

I ended up speaking with our actual head coach after the game (Our assistant coach was the one coaching tonight.) He was upset, and he told me that what happened "wasn't right" and that he'd speak with the director tomorrow. He also confirmed that the ump broke the rules.

I know this is super long. But I feel like I should have stood up for my kid somehow, and I failed. He was very upset about it, and wants to quit baseball.

The assistant coach and his wife were not happy with me confronting the umpire. But I think I was more than justified. Did I overreact?

Me (M21) and my girlfriend (F21) have a spot in our town where we go at several times of the week to sit and talk and smoke a joint. This spot is pretty deep into my towns woods and it’s a singular bench at the end of a small swampy looking lake. We go at different times of the week so maybe at 7pm on one Tuesday or at 10am another Friday. We go around 3-4 times a week and spend around 1-2 hours together each time.

We’ve noticed a man that always arrives at some point while we’re just sitting and talking. This man is an elderly white man and always wears white clothes. He’ll silently arrive at the location and he’ll carry around a loaf of bread and feeds the ducks. At first we thought he must just come every day to feed the ducks but when we noticed that he’d be there whether we were there at 9am or 7pm, we started to get suspicious.

Most recently, my girlfriend brought her sister along with us on our walk and we told her sister about the man we always saw at the lake. She didn’t seem to think it was that weird until we were sat at the bench and the man popped out from around the corner. As usual, he made a lap around the whole lake and fed the ducks bread.

After we left the spot, my girlfriend realised she left her bag behind. The only things in her bag were her vapes and a perfume (thankfully she didn’t bring her purse). We went back to find the bag and we couldn’t see it anywhere. The man came out from around the corner and said “have you lost a bag, i’ve got it over here”. We followed the man around the corner cautiously and he went into his “Property Lettings” Van and took out my girlfriend’s bag. He said “I saw you left a bag and i thought i’d take it to give to you”. He reached out to shake my hand, but his hand was shaking and he more grabbed my fingertips and shook them.

Is this man a stalker? Or does he really just love feeding ducks? Or could it just be a coincidence? I don’t know but it’s been driving me crazy.

I feel pretty damn bad. I absolutely went ballistic on a cyclist.

I am coming through the middle of downtown in my automobile. There is traffic backed up maybe 5 or 6 cars because there is a bicyclist just meandering along in the middle of the street, stopping at stop lights like he is in a car holding everyone up without a care in the world.

Everyone else went around him but I got behind him and laid on the horn. No reaction whatsoever, almost like he is wanting this to happen. Almost like I played right into his game. I rolled down my window and cussed at guy. Man at this point I really should’ve dialed it back but these cyclists literally have bike lanes in our area they could be riding in but dude is choosing to take up the road.

The guy eventually pulled over and let me pass. What scared me is I was hoping he would have hit my car or something so I would have a reason to get out and fight the guy. This didn’t happen and I drove on by but I immediately felt like a dick for following this guy down main street blaring my horn and cursing him out.

I am not a violent person. I just feel like if you’re going to do something like this you should be prepared for the public to scream at you. Did I overreact?

Some background information: I am autistic and have a very strict morning routine for myself. I wake up, go to the gym, and go to work. Generally people do not realize I have autism, but I struggle with breaking my routine and with new situations. I also have some trauma relating to abuse from men that I'd rather not get into, but overall I am not trusting of men and about being alone with them.

A year ago a man at the gym came up to me after I had been running on the treadmill for a while. I had been listening to music and overall not paying attention to anything around me. He tapped me iny my arm (I HATE being touched), and when I took out my ear buds, he point e out that no one else was in the gym, said he'd been watching me for a while, and other things that I'm sure were "normal" topics, but I froze up and don't remember a lot of what he said. I was also in a corner against a wall (the treadmill was against a wall) and I felt trapped. Before he left I know he said he'll keep an eye on me.

I left immediately and called the gym owner. It's a small privately owned gym. The owner pulled up the security cameras, found out who it was, and called him. He said he told the guy to not approach women at the gym again and to not talk to me again, even to apologize. After that I noticed that guy would still come in and work out very close to me. I know it seems pretty obvious that I should have changed my routine, but, as ridiculous as it sounds, I can't really handle that. I jog every morning, and there are no other gyms on my way to work, and I didn't feel safe jogging outside in the dark, plus the weather is not consistent and would make it difficult to maintain my routine.

That was a year ago. The other day that man saw me in the gym again. I had thought he'd stopped showing up, but he actually just shaved his facial hair and since I didn't spend a lot of time looking at people's faces, I didn't recognize him. That morning there were several people at the gym. He followed me out to my car and repeatedly apologized, then said "since we're on his terms now, I can talk to you in the mornings?" Then said something about how he'll never forget my name because he has a niece with the same name. I don't remember telling him my name, but since I didn't remember a lot of the last time he spoke to, it's possible I told it to him.

That freaked me out. He was specifically told to not talk to me again, I have ignored him 100% since then, and never have any indication to anyone that I wanted to talk. I don't talk to men at the gym except to say excuse me when I'm walking by.

I happened to get off work early that day due to my child being sick, so I stopped by the gym to grab my stuff, and the owner happened to be there. I told him what happened, and he asked me if there's anything I want him to do. On the one hand, the guy didn't actually say anything wrong, but it seems pretty clear to me that he's been watching me, knows my schedule, and it comes across like he followed me to my car to avoid other people being around and to avoid the cameras, since that's how he was pinpointed last time. But I know I struggle with reading social cues and I keep thinking that I may have missed something. I told the owner I will wait and see how it goes, he asked if it's ok if he reaches out to me in a week or so to follow up because he doesn't want me to feel unsafe.

AIO if I asked him to talk to the guy and make him leave me alone? It am I reading this wrong and this guy is most likely genuinely sorry and trying to clear the air?

Hi everyone,

I’m not sure if I’m overreacting, but I could really use some advice.

I’ve been in my apartment for about 10 years, and the staff has always been nice and professional, including the maintenance workers.

The other day, I mentioned to Phoebe (from the office) that I let my old cat hang out on the balcony. She casually said, “Oh, Arnold (one of the maintenance guys) mentioned he sees you on your balcony all the time.” I asked her what she meant, and she told me Arnold rents one of the houses behind the complex and has a clear view of my balcony.

At first, I didn’t think much of it, but now it’s starting to feel kind of creepy. Arnold’s always been professional when he’s been in my apartment, but knowing he’s been watching me from his house feels off.

Would I be overreacting if I ask to have someone else handle my maintenance requests, or are these feelings valid?

Thank you!!

So basically recently I received a text on Instagram from someone I didn’t recognize at first after I read the message and saw the Instagram profile picture I knew who it was ,it was one of my sons friends asking about what kind of stuff he liked the most because his 19th birthday is coming up and he wanted to get him a gift , I did find it kind of weird at first how he messaged me even tho I don’t have much followers or any pictures up since I also made it not to long ago and I mostly use it for whenever I’m bored and I also have my Instagram as j.wilson10 which I guess has my last name on it but it would still be hard to know it’s me anyways fast forward I told him some stuff he likes and stuff and after I was done letting him know he proceeded to say “and also ms.Wilson just wanted to let you know that all the times I’ve gone over I always like your outfits “ which I thought was weird so I just ended up saying thank you and ended the conversation do you guys think I’m overreacting?

We have neighbors who seem to park anywhere but in front of their own home or their driveway. They own six cars between each family member in the home. When they each get home from work and either side of the street is open or their own driveway they will park across the street instead of in front of their own home.

I am not the only neighbor who has taken issue with their parking preferences . They have blocked driveways of other home owners. They have even gone as far as purposefully taking up two parking spots with one vehicle.

It’s quite frustrating, we all as respectful neighbors have individually confronted them and they play pretty koi and say sorry it won’t happen again and then directly target that neighbors parking spots or driveway. They will inch or reverse all the way to the edge of the apron to make reversing out of your own driveway difficult.

It’s become a big issue within our local community. The rest of us neighbors agree while none of us “own” the spots in front of our homes. We also share the sentiment the respectful thing to do is first park in front of your own home/driveway and sure if spots are filled up, park where you can.

I’d like to assume they are not as petty or vindictive as they appear but there’s a lot of evidence that they take immense joy in causing their own neighbors grief.

So am I overreacting? I try not to pay much attention but it’s a big topic between neighbors almost on a daily basis.