Good parking spots are hard to come by. So it’s no wonder that they can cause so much tension among strangers and neighbors alike! However, not all arguments can be solved diplomatically, and everyone has a very limited amount of patience. Unfortunately, some disputes require the authorities to get involved.

Redditor u/yahog76389 turned to the AITA online community to get their perspective on some neighborly drama. The OP had decided to call the police on their neighbor when she parked her car in their spot, and wondered whether they were wrong to do so. Read on to see how everything came to a head.

It’s frustrating when someone steals your parking space. Especially if the builders working for you are using it!

Image credits: RossHelen (not the actual photo)

A person shared how they finally decided to call the police on their neighbor, after they found her car in his spot

Image credits: ThamKC (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Clem Onojeghuo (not the actual photo)

Image credits: voronaman111 (not the actual photo)

Image credits: yahog76389

The woman was extremely upset about how the situation turned out

Good communication—that’s what helps you solve most issues in life, whether it’s someone angling for your seat on the plane or eyeing your parking spot for their sweet ride. As a general rule in life, it’s best not to automatically assume that someone’s behaving badly on purpose. Though the world’s filled with entitled or even downright evil individuals, they are in the minority. Meanwhile, the absolute majority might be self-interested, but not to a huge extent.

So if someone does something you don’t agree with or inconveniences you, it might be because they weren’t aware of the context. Say, you put up signs everywhere that nobody should park in your spot because the construction workers are using it while they renovate your house. Someone might not have noticed those signs, so you should consider cutting them some slack. However, if they saw the signage and willingly ignored it, it’s an entirely different situation altogether.

Redditor u/yahog76389 pointed out that they were tired of having to meet up with and call their neighbors who kept taking their parking spot. So when one woman did the same, their patience finally snapped, and they reached out to the police. The authorities then spoke to the neighbor and asked her to move the car.

However, the woman was quite upset with how things were handled. She even threatened to call the cops herself in retaliation. Naturally, her response made the OP wonder if they had gone overboard about the parking spot issue, so they asked the AITA subreddit for their thoughts on the entire situation. The vast majority of redditors were completely on their side. We’ve reached out to u/yahog76389 via Reddit with a few questions on what happened next, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from them.

Image credits: Gustavo Fring (not the actual photo)

Fewer people know who their neighbors are these days

The sad reality is that people simply don’t know their neighbors as well as they did in the past. At least not in the United States. The Pew Research Center recently found that a tiny number of Americans, just 26%, know most of their neighbors. Meanwhile, a majority, 57%, know only some of them.

Research shows that Americans who are 65 years or older are more likely to know most of the people living next to them. On the flip side, younger people are more likely to have shallow relationships with them.

It’s hard to care about people you haven’t met in person and don’t know much about. We feel like one of the secrets to getting along with the people living in your local area is being patient and taking the time to get to know them. You might not become best friends, but inviting some of your neighbors to a barbeque or sharing some freshly-baked goods with them could be the start of (at least) a cordial relationship.

And the better you all know each other, the more likely you are to respect each other’s boundaries. For instance, in the case of parking spots. Someone who respects you won’t steal your spot, especially if you’ve made it clear that nobody ought to park there due to the renovations you’ve got going on. But when someone’s living in a neighborhood full of strangers, they might forget that their actions can inconvenience them.

Image credits: Christian Stahl (not the actual photo)

The person who called the cops shared some more information in the comments of their post

Most internet users were on the author’s side. Here’s what they had to say and what they suggested doing

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