Where I live, there are people who hand heather to passers-by (insist they take it, "for you, for you"), then demand money. It's illegal, it's a scam, it's what the mother taught these boys to do.

You KNOW the mother is furious because she told the kids that of course they neighbors would give them money if they shoveled without being asked, and now she's throwing massive shitfits just so her kids don't realize she gave them bad advice.

This is the same trick that conmen use to scam people out of their money. Luckily I'm Dutch so if you do something for me without telling me upfront that you expect payment, you will be getting my sincere thanks and great appreciation. And that's it. And that's also why I'm not seeing anything wrong with how op handled the situation.

If I were the OP, I would take my vacuum cleaner, barge into the neighbor's house, vacuum one of their rooms, and declare that you're even.

She was never asked if she would like to receive your services. She doesn't need to pay. If anything, those little snots should pay for being on her property without asking. And who does their mom think she is? Those poor kids will grow up thinking this is ok, and they'll have a hard time adjusting when they actually have to work themselves

NTA and they should have asked prior to doing the work. also, $15 each is a bit much. where i live, prior to snow, the local high school kids organized to clean yards of leaves and debris for the city to pick up. the difference was they asked prior and refused payment of any kind. i offered to buy them lunch and they refused. they just wanted to do something nice for the older citizens of the community

Where I live it snows maybe once every 5 years I have 3 sleds a steep driveway that leads to a steep long hill! If someone touches my driveway we will be fighting !! “Don’t ruin this for me “ 😂😂😂no but it’s like a minute and 20 seconds ride to the bottom !

NTA at all, I'd scream back at the mum, tell her you had big plans for that snow and her children are basically trespassing little thieves 😂

Reminds me of the super aggressive window washers in NYC in the 80s and 90s. We would shake our heads, tell them to stop, and they would continue to make our windshields dirtier with their dirty window washing liquid and then get scary when we wouldn't pay them. The one good thing Giuliani did was get rid of them.

Request $100 for babysitting them

Pop over when they're out and paint their house bright pink... demand $400 when they get back. Didn't ask for it? Oh dear, what an oopsie

Would have paid 2 bucks just to teach them the importance of setting the price before the work

NTA...There was a guy going out and mowing lawns a few years go and coming back to be paid.. Even after mowing my garden..smh that's poor parenting, if she thinks they should be paid then mom can pay them. And good deeds are rewarded with gratitude not necessarily with money... People who have to use money to always show gratitude have bad people skills... As well as the people who think the only way to be shown is by being given money.

$60 is ludicrous. When it snows here, I shovel my driveway, and two of my neighbor's driveways who are older, for free. Takes about an hour total to do all 3 and all our sidewalks. For 4 people, this is 5 minutes work. So $60 is $720/hour for the work, or $180 per kid per hour. Do these kids have graduate degrees in snow shoveling? Did they polish it with gold leaf after shoveling it? I'd pay them $5 to shovel mine, but more than that, I'd just do it myself. If my elderly neighbors tried to paid me for shoveling their driveway, and gave me $60, I'd say, this is for the next couple winters, right? Not assume that was for ONE shoveling.

LOL definately NTA. That mom probably taught them this scam, hence why she came over and tried to guilt you into paying $60. Also, thats too much for a small driveway. Forget about her and her kids

You’re only expected to pay for work you asked for.

Isn't this the same as those guys who clean your windscreen while you're stuck in traffic? The kids are the villains.

The mother said she is proud because they want to spend their day helping others BUT they are not helping others... They are helping themselves because they only do it for the money, they could have ask for a voluntary donation, but charging money for a services nobody ask for seems like taking advantage. If they were really wanting to help, they would have done for free without expecting anything on exchange.

Reminds me of long ago when we lived in Tucson. Summer thunderstorms can dump a lot of rain very quickly. We were on a corner where rain would puddle deep enough, any cars attempting to drive through the intersection would quickly flood and stop running. Just short of floating. A push out of the puddle, a can of wire dryer, some paper towels, and people would be on their way. Here's the difference - people don't often carry their own wire dryer. We didn't ask for money. The first voluntary offer from the driver got a standard response of "That's not necessary." If the driver insisted, "Thanks, watch for puddles!"

If the mom hadn't got all dramatic I would have just thought these kids had to learn the hard way about requesting work and discussing pay rate ($60 is mind boggling, they might have gotten $10 outta me if they had asked first.) But the nagging on next door and face to face confrontation makes me think mom is the one looking for $$.

I had neighbood kids come over and help when a major ice storm hit. I paid them. There are major differences though... 1. I was out there the whole time. 2. They asked if I could use help. 3. They asked if they helped if I would pay them, and how much. I agreed to $20 each (it was a bad ice storm and we had to crack the ice in addition to just shoveling). To me, it was a godsend. But had any one of the 3 not happened, I agree with the OP. No...

I will play the pedant today. "Pretense" is "an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true" or "a claim, especially a false or ambitious one." I think you meant "I want to preface this with I don't like kids."

What does them being kids have to do with it? This is a legal issue

Nope, thats not hows its done, when I was younger we went door to door asking if we could shovel the drive way for $20 dollars, then do the work, when done the neighbor would look at the work and then pay.

You don't show up do work then expect to get paid - it doesn't work that way. You ask if he would like to have his driveway shoveled for $60 then get his ok to do it.

Of course, it is quite easy to se, if you just imagine 4 adult men doing the same. I think I would call the police

The only question I would have is: Did she know they were shoveling the snow before they tried to charge her. Why? Because that would determine if she took the service for granted. Also if she knew it was happening she could have spoken up before they finished.

I "can afford it" but I'm very frugal. So much so that I shoveled my own driveway 3 times during the storm even though I've got a bum arm. I'd be pissed.

I swear I've read pretty much the exact same story months ago. The only difference here is that the post I originally saw said that the kids had asked them first and they had said ok when the kids asked to shovel the driveway. Then the poster refused to pay. This is so fake.

Put up No Trespassing signs.

At a neighbor friend's recommendation I joined NextDoor. I was on there for two days and because of petty public shaming like this (and other crap) I left.

This seems like a good teaching moment for the kids. Unfortunately the mother seems like she's the one grifting the money. Poor kids. Definitely NTA though.

We have neighbors who did this with lawn mowing. They trespassed on lawns to mow without any permission and then demanded to be paid. It is a scam. They were not and are not nice and always tried get money. They have severe boundary problems and have trouble staying off of others people's property in general. We do not want people mowing our lawn or shoveling our driveway without permission. They gossip, lie and try to cause problems for others who put them in their place. Many neighbors see them for what they are, but some are conned. They used their kids as a vehicle to make a buck. It is sad.

This reminds me of car windshield washers who clean your windows at red lights without asking and then demand payment.

I would have come unglued on the little f*****s. Why would you assume anyone has a spare $60 to piss away?

Tell the little shits to f****n do one

"I don't hate them, I just don't have any experience with kids and haven't felt the need to produce any of my own" If that ain't a mood-

Kids have a great future with the Travelers.