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What are the main problems of almost any tenant in a big city, if we discard, of course, numerous stories about evil and insidious landlords? It all comes down to two main categories: parking spaces and neighbors. More precisely - the lack of parking spaces and the presence of neighbors.
If the Inquisition existed and 'worked' today, then the most terrible torture would probably be the need to find a parking space in a densely populated area after a working day. Well, the neighbors... they are just people who were created from above with only one purpose - to spoil your life as much as possible. However, you should never forget that for someone, after all, you may be the same evil neighbor too.
In a story that has been present on the AITA Reddit community for quite some time now, both neighborhood and parking problems are at stake. Moreover, judging by the fact that the building manager started the whole situation, there was a third problem - landlords as well. Not surprisingly, the original post now has over 13.4K upvotes and nearly 2K miscellaneous comments.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post lives in an apartment building and has their own designated parking spot
Image credits: Marcus Aurelius (not the actual image)
So, the author of the original post lives in an apartment building that comes with one spot in a parking garage. The cost of a parking space is included in the rent, and it's quite expensive, but the original poster doesn't complain. Firstly, in their own words, it is almost impossible to find free space in the vicinity of the house, and secondly, their spot is located right next to the elevator, which, of course, is very convenient.
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
One day the building manager called the author and asked them to give up their spot to a new tenant - a disabled lady, but they refused
And then, one fine day, about two weeks before the events described, the building manager called the author and asked if they would resent giving up their parking space to a new tenant - a disabled woman. Of course, the OP said that they would agree to swap places, but the manager clarified that he was probably misunderstood as he was talking about giving up the parking space completely, for good.
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
The thing is, the manager continued, this lady has a van with a powered ramp, so the new tenant would in fact need two parking spots to use it properly. But the author of the post flatly refused - after all, the cost of a parking space, as we already know, was part of their lease. This ended the conversation with the manager.
Image credits: Kurayba (not the actual image)
Several days later the author found a big van with disabled plates parked next to their spot
A few days later, the author of the post, returning home from work, found a large van with disabled plates parked next to their entitled spot. The OP tried to park their car as far away from the van as possible, however, at around 7:30am, they got a call from a woman claiming to be the owner of the van. The new neighbor asked the OP to come down and move their car so she could get into her vehicle.
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
The original poster admits that they are more of a night owl, so 7:30am was too early for them. But what could they do - they went down to the parking lot and helped the neighbor. But that was only the beginning... For the next three days, the author had to get up earlier and earlier, until finally the call came in at 5:30am on Saturday. The OP went downstairs but told the neighbor that she couldn't be serious, and that they usually don't wake up until half past eight at all.
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
The woman had been calling the author for several days extremely early asking them to come down and let her drive out from her space
The woman said she just had some plans and asked the neighbor "not to be a jerk". They were indignant and said that they were actually doing her a favor by going down to the parking lot every given morning. The author believed that this was the end of the incident, but it turned out that they were greatly mistaken.
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
Returning home at around 5:30 pm, the original poster found the van partially parked in their parking space, so they couldn't park. The OP called the neighbor, and she answered in a sarcastic voice "isn't it annoying to have to wait on someone?" The author reasonably objected that there is a certain difference - for example, they can now simply call the towing company and will be in their right. The neighbor replied that they would not dare to do this and hung up.
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
One day the author found their spot occupied yet the neighbor simply hung up so they called the towing company for her van
The original poster waited five minutes to clear their conscience, and when no one showed up, called the towing company. Half an hour later, theу arrived and moved the van from the OP's space. Is it worth specifying that neither during this half an hour, nor throughout the towing guys' work, did the neighbor ever appear?
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
The woman called only the next morning and immediately started yelling at the original poster. They just hung up at once. One more call - screams again and they hung up once more. Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door of their apartment - it was the neighbor along with the building manager. To accusations that they did not have any right to move her van, the OP reasonably objected that otherwise they could not get to the spot they are entitled to.
Image credits: Jonas Leupe (not the actual image)
The building manager offered the author a reduced lease in exchange for giving up their parking spot, but they refused flatly
The manager offered to find some kind of compromise, but the author was no longer ready to compromise. According to the terms of their lease, the original poster has their own parking space and regularly paid for it. In the OP's own words, this is about 30% more for the apartment than a similar one in the same area because the author wants the parking space. When the manager offered to lower the rent in order to give away the parking space, the OP also refused.
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
During the quarrel, it turned out that the manager swore to the woman before checking in that he would give her an additional parking spot - and now he was desperately trying to maneuver between the interests of the two tenants. However, it was not possible to reach a compromise with the OP, and when they left, the woman called them a jerk. In the following days, the woman began to park the van on the other side, so that the plates were directed at another tenant's car. The author of the post did not know how events will unfold with another neighbor, but this, as they say, is a completely different story.
Image credits: u/itsmyparkinspot
Some people in the comments believe that the author was absolutely right, but some of them think that all three sides acted poorly
We must admit that as for the heroes of this tale, the opinions of people in the comments were strongly divided. Some people think that the original poster is not to blame, because they pay their rent properly and should not lose their entitled parking space just because the manager took a chance. Moreover, the manager also had no right to give the phone number of one of the tenants to another without their permission.
Someone, on the contrary, believes that literally all three sides of the current conflict are to blame. The neighbor - because she purposefully blocked the parking space, the manager has done a bad job of accommodating them both, but the author of the post could as well have done something other than towing the van, like they could try to somehow reach a compromise. However, as the OP themselves answered in the comments, none of the tenants asked by the manager agreed to lose their parking space - even in exchange for a reduction of their lease.
Neighbors in general can turn out to be very strange people from whom you can expect literally anything. They can turn a rented house into a complete pigsty, they can lose your cat, or even demand that you start remodeling your house - just for aesthetic reasons. In any case, we are already waiting for your comments about this particular story, so please feel free to leave them below this post.
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