Final Straw
He stormed back up his driveway, livid. He had been a police officer for many years and he had seen a lot of things during this time. However, what he had just witnessed with his neighbors was something else.
He saw what they did and he felt something inside himself snap. He clenched his fists to stop the rage he felt from causing him to shake. He was not going to let this slide. They hadn’t won, they’d just declared war.
Fighting Neighbors
David Ellis had served his community and town for 40 years as a police officer. He had spent those four decades as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department. He lived in a small private neighborhood.
Finally, David hard retired, trading his badge for garden tools as he loved to tend to his garden. He loved to spend his weekends taking care of the garden with the same love and care he had given to his 40 years as a police officer. However, his peaceful retirement would soon be turned into an angry conflict.
Had Enough
David would spend his weekends painstakingly trimming and shaping the old cypress trees that grew along the fence that ran around his property. This was one of the best parts of his weekend because the task was mechanical and he found it calming.
While all of us have heard stories about bad neighbors, it still seems hard to think that David’s neighbors, who were distantly related to him, would manage to spoil this hobby for him, despite the fact that he’d always been friendly and accomodating. However, enough was enough.
Always Generous
At the center of all the drama was the gravel road that ran next to the property David owned. Being a conscientious neighbor, David always took it upon himself to fix the potholes in the dirt road that seemed to appear overnight.
Being a good neighbor and caring about people, David was always worried about the possibility of an accident being caused by the bad road. However, as it would turn out, his neighbors weren’t as considerate as he was.
Obnoxious
“Everybody here is a complete nutjob,” David’s daughter stated. She herself cannot remember a time before the neighbors were at loggerheads with her father. She had always urged her father to find a way to resolve the drama.
You see, while David was kind enough to fix the road to ensure that there were no accidents in his neighborhood, his neighbors took a different view. Instead of helping, they saw an opportunity and decided to take advantage.
Shirking Responsibility
You might wonder how they could take advantage of David’s kind act. Well, they did so in a spectacular way. As soon as he started doing this, they claimed that the responsibility for this fell purely on David’s shoulders.
To make matters worse, not only was the road used by everyone in the gated community, but they also felt that the cost for these repairs were also solely David’s responsibility. David, rather than get angry, came up with a reasonable compromise instead.
Making Sacrifices
David decided to offer a simple compromise that would benefit everyone. In exchange for everyone sharing the cost of repairs to the road, he would give up a 3 sq ft piece of his property that was on the corner, to be used to make the corner a bit easier.
It seems like a very kind and generous offer as he would be offering up the property he owned in aid of the community. However, his suggestion was unceremoniously shot down. It might sound hard to believe, but things were made even worse.
The Last Straw
Since sacrificing the corner of his land, David watched in horror as drivers swerved even closer to his property. Then came the straw that broke the camel’s back.
One of the neighbors had ordered a truckload of wood. But, as the truck driver tried to cut the corner to drive onto David’s property, he took the corner too wide. The truck driver plowed over David’s fence. And nobody wanted to pay for the damage. David was incredulous!
Revenge
“We had to replant these plants and place a new metal fence,” David’s daughter, Miha, wrote. “My father told me this was not the first time this happened, but actually the third. I couldn’t believe it when I heard this.”
After mending the metal fence for the third time, the police officer vowed to protect what was his — no matter the cost. Now, they had gone too far.
Seething
After he had inspected the damage, David was seething as he stomped back up to the house. Now, this was war. After he had been so generous to this entire undeserving neighborhood, he’d had enough of being taken advantage of.
That day, something inside him snapped as he inspected the broken cypress trees. But he’d get his revenge.
Plan A
No one seemed to mind when the officer stationed a series of barrels around the plot of land he’d allowed them to drive on. It was his property, after all.
But while they looked like innocent plastic barrels on the surface, the neighbors would soon discover there was more to them than met the eye.
Threats
One morning, David was awoken by a loud banging at the door. His neighbor was furious that he’d driven into one of the heavy rock-filled barrels and damaged his car. But his intimidation tactics didn’t end there… he threatened the startled cop with a “pickaxe to the back.”
Knowing the law, David calmly informed him that the barrels were on his land. But his plan soon hit a snag…
Plan B
Despite the huge deterrent, David found that so many drivers were hitting the barrels that they eventually split and became useless.
Going back to the drawing board, he contemplated various ways to deter the inconsiderate drivers for good. Then one night, he set about laying something that would earn him the respect he deserved.
Pro Revenge
The first neighbor on his way home that night was calmly driving along the road as usual. He knew that David let people cut across his property, so he swung his car around generously — not caring about the freshly laid flowerbed under the wheels.
The next thing he knew, the driver found himself in a heated conversation with his insurance company. You see, David’s petty revenge turned pro.
Poles And Cement
“My dad was furious,” Miha recounted on the Reddit thread r/ProRevenge.
“He cut some wood to use it as a mold. He bought cement, sand, and metal poles,” she continued. “One peaceful afternoon, my father and I cemented that whole part of the land and placed some lovely flowers on top.”
Hitting Concrete
The disrespectful driver had happened upon the police officer’s new solution to the fence wrecking neighbors — a small concrete wall hidden under an attractive flowerbed right on the corner of his land.
It was working! The crafty cop’s neighbors couldn’t destroy any more of his property — although it took them a while to catch on before the matter was dropped completely.
Learning A Lesson
A total of five neighbors wrecked their vehicles while cutting the corner — on the perfectly legal wall. Not having a leg to stand on, drivers eventually learned to steer clear of the property and stopped knocking on the police officer’s door to complain.
But one particularly angry neighbor escalated matters further, sending lawyers to snoop around the troubled street.
Above Board
Some neighbors seriously damaged their vehicles, leading to insurance claims that required the cop to prove what he’d done was perfectly legal. Of course, he’d done his due diligence and could quickly show lawyers that he’d done the right thing. It was, after all, still his land.
When Reddit users read the satisfying revenge story, they clapped back.
A Viral Story
“I’m very amused by the logic some people go by,” one incredulous user wrote.
“For example If I intentionally hit your property and it damages my vehicle, it’s still your fault (the owner of the property) for trying to protect your property and not letting me just destroy your property… and you should compensate me for the damage caused by my stupidity.”
Other Options
“They ran over your trees? OHHH BOY,” another user wrote. “If they run over any more of your trees look up your local laws about trees. People have been sued for TONS of money over destruction of trees because they take so long to grow so they have a lot of value.”
Do you think that David went a little too far with his revenge?