In just one unsuspecting moment!

Once I lived in a very nice apartment. The particular building I lived in was towards the very back of the property. I had a great view from my patio. There was a stretch of grassy land from my patio to the edge of the property, where it dropped off with a view of the distant rolling hills. It really was quite picturesque….unless you were on my patio. It was then you realized that tenants and their dogs walked the beautiful stretch of grassy land frequently. There was a strict rule the apartments had and that was to scoop when walking your dog. It was obvious that several did not abide by that. I do not have a dog, so this rather aggravated me. I mean, I love dogs, don’t get me wrong, but people should be more courteous of others. My “across the breezeway” neighbor had a big friendly dog that seemed to like the area right under my windows. So, on a nice breezy day, I could not enjoy the fresh air by opening my windows, because the air was not so fresh, if you know what I mean. These “across the breezeway” neighbors (we can call them Tom and Sue) had not lived there very long, but the man (Tom) was in a wheelchair. He didn’t appear to be in very good health. Well, prior to them moving in, the parking for my particular building was limited. After they moved in, the property manager tried to accommodate for the handicap and painted two handicap spots in the parking lot. One of the spots was a double space. I did not have a problem with that, even though Tom and Sue parked both of their vehicles in those spaces, and had two other vehicles. (Why they had so many, I am not exactly sure. I think there was a settlement of some sorts involved). There was supposed to be a limit of two vehicles per apartment in that particular lot. If you had more than two vehicles, you were supposed to park them in a spot further away. It was not an issue that I was going to worry myself with until….. One night, my boyfriend came over. He pulled his truck in a parking spot, which happened to be the one next to the handicap spot (which was the big double space). His front tire on the driver side was right on the blue line. There was no vehicle in the handicap spot at that time. He came inside. About thirty minutes later, someone was knocking on my door. When I opened it, it was Tom and his adult daughter. Tom said, “One of your vehicles is blocking the handicap spot and we can’t get my wheelchair in it”. I said, “Ok, I will take care of it” and closed the door. I went to get my boyfriend and told him he needed to move his truck because it is blocking them. He put his shoes on and went out there. He came flying back in the apartment and said he couldn’t get in his truck to move it. I went out there with him and Sue had parked her vehicle so close to his truck that her passenger side was about six inches from his driver’s side. (Take in mind she had another space worth of parking on her driver side). I told him “let’s go knock on their door and tell them that we came out to move your truck and we can’t get in it to move it.” On our way to their door, she came out with a camera. We told her we couldn’t move the truck, she said very sarcastically, “wonder why” and went on to take pictures of boyfriend’s truck. He said he was sorry he was on the line, but is willing to move it over. She started saying, she would have his truck moved, but it will be towed, she is tired of people blocking them in their spots, etc…. Well, I have a tendency to avoid conflict at any cost, but don’t mess with someone I love. My claws came out and I think it surprised my boyfriend. I started telling her that it wasn’t necessary to treat people like that and she didn’t have to act like that, and I told her about the rules she was breaking by letting her dog do his business under my windows without scooping, and thanks to that I couldn’t even open my windows... (I normally wouldn’t fire back, except I thought she was being totally unreasonable). Tom heard the commotion and came outside, he said he felt like there would be a problem from what I told him in the breezeway. I said, “What do you mean, I told you I would move the truck”. He said, “No, you said you would take care of it, and I have that on tape”. WHAT??? I said, “You taped me”? He said, “Yes and I can play it back for you”. First of all, I said, “You taped me, is that even legal”? He said, “Yes, you can call an attorney and they will tell you it is”. I said, “I don’t want to call an attorney” and secondly “What is the big deal on what I said”? He said he didn’t know how to take it when I said “I will take care of it”. They had the tape turned on prior to me saying that! He was looking for a fight. Then Sue said, “You better hope he doesn’t have a heart attack”. I told her, I didn’t wish that on anyone, and that I was sorry because they were looking for a fight. I told Tom, that I didn’t wish any harm to him, but I was sorry he was so bitter. He said he wasn’t bitter, and I told him that it was apparent that his wife is. Then he said he was sorry for the way his wife was acting. Whoa! He apologized to me about his wife, right in front of her. Things calmed down a bit after that, but I was in disbelief that this had even happened. Tom said he would make sure the dog didn’t do his business under my windows anymore and we said we would try to park a little straighter from now on. Neither my boyfriend nor I were trying to be inconsiderate. I despise conflict. We gathered from the conversation that Tom had apparently gotten robbed and shot at gunpoint, and that changed his and her life forever. I am truly sorry that happened to him. I do have sympathy for him, but at the same time, they didn’t seem to want to give anyone a chance. It may not have been illegal for him to tape me, but it was immoral, in my mind. (Boyfriend and I looked up the law about it on the internet later that night. For our state, something like, if it is done in a public place with more than 2 people knowing about it, it is not illegal). I guess that is why he had his daughter with him and they did this in the breezeway. It must have made an impression on my next door neighbor as well. About a year later, after Tom and Sue had moved out, the next door neighbor was telling me the story of what happened to some guy that parked his truck a little crooked that crazy night. I said yeah, that was my boyfriend. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. Sometimes, in a matter of seconds, just one unsuspecting moment, you can enter into “bizzaro” world.