Bad Neighbors
Neighbors can sometimes be a pain, right? There are hundreds of articles and stories online about bad neighbors, but Melissa’s neighbors were something else.
Having moved to California from Kansas City, she soon discovered that her new neighbors were not at all the friendly neighbours she had hoped for. Nonetheless, she was determined to show them what it means to mess with a Geologist.
A Good Arrangement
Melissa had been very fortunate. She and her roommates respected each other, including their quirks, schedules, and personal spaces.
This avoided issues about noise, chores, or any of the typical issues with roommates. All of them knew how lucky they were to have found such respectful and likeminded people. The arrangement worked so well they lived together for years.
Same Boat
Once a year their lease agreement came up and every year Melissa breathed a sigh of relief as all of them renewed their lease, happy to continue with the current arrangement.
This led to them living together for three blissful years. What she didn’t know is that it was simply the calm before the storm.
Experienced
Melissa was hard at work on her third degree when first and second-year students moved in next door.
At first, everything seemed fine. She and her roommates were relieved at the first few weeks and interactions. It seemed like there would be no problem. One day, things drastically changed and the turn would evolve into a turf war.
Party Time
Late one night, while studying, music started to blast from next door. Loud cheers and excited screams mixed with deep bass thuds echoed throughout the street. She could feel the vibrations through her feet.
This went on until the wee hours of the morning. Needless to say, she was not happy.
Undergrad Celebrations
“I never really had any issue until about a week and a half ago,” Melissa wrote in a social media post.
“This is actually the second time this has happened.” It is quite common for undergraduates to host raucous parties more often than graduate students do. But the frequency and level were worrisome, and she knew exactly why.
Raucous Freedom
One of the reasons is that grad students tend to have gotten partying out of their systems and are more used to the freedoms of living alone.
In her post, Melissa stated that “they’ve generally been pretty considerate with noise and keeping people out of our yard.” Then the large boulder appeared. It was the first move in the battle.
Blocked In
One night, while her neighbors were having a party, Melissa noticed that one of her neighbor’s guests had blocked their driveway with their car.
Not being unreasonable, she went over and politely asked that they didn’t block the driveway. When she got up the next morning, the car was no longer there. However, in its place was a huge boulder.
Boulder-dash
It was also blocking her in. It was clear that the neighbors had felt that the rock was in their way so they decided to move it instead.
However, they had chosen to move the rock to Melissa’s side of the fence. Needless to say, she immediately went to knock on her neighbor’s door but to no avail.
The Point
It was also not just some random stone either. Due to the nature of their parties, parking was often an issue.
As a result, she and her roommates were worried about someone damaging their fencing and causing them the need to pay for repairs. The boulder was meant as a safeguard or deterrent.
Out of Place
By the look of it, someone had left it in their way and had moved it to make their life simpler.
Whoever had moved it didn’t seem concerned about the fact that it was on Melissa’s side of the fence. To make it worse, they had all seemed quite happy to accommodate her when she had asked them not to block her in the night before.
Immovable Object
Despite her best efforts, Melissa could not remove the rock by herself. She went to the neighbor’s house and knocked on the door, hoping to get some help with this situation.
Instead of being greeted by a friendly neighbor, she was greeted with nothing but silence. Either the entire house was tired from their night of partying or they were ignoring her.
Boss Woman
Eventually, Melissa got help to put the rock back in the proper place. But the whole situation would soon go from careless and inconsiderate to downright intolerable.
Her rude neighbors had another wild party that went on until sunrise. And, right in the same place, the stone was in her way again.
Getting Back at Her
This time, Melissa knew that the giant rock had definitely ended up there on purpose. What was their problem?
She also knew that if she moved it back to where it was supposed to be, it would eventually end up on her side of the fence again. But, they had forgotten one very important fact about Melissa, and they were about to seriously regret it.
Geologist Power
She was a very petite person, so they might have thought they could get away with making her life inconvenient.
But what they had failed to remember was that Melissa was a geologist. And that meant she had access to a professional auto-chipper, which had the power to drill through stone and pulverize it in a matter of minutes. They had no idea what was coming.
My Little Friend
Melissa was tired of being pushed around. She wanted to make sure that the neighbors next door got a very clear message to never underestimate her again.
So she hauled out her extremely loud stone-drilling machine at 7:30 am and cranked it up to the highest setting.
She Got To Work
She got to work destroying the boulder into dust … like a total boss.
Along with her protective gloves, earmuffs, and eye goggles, she was right in the action. There might have been some loud complaints shouted through windows from other houses, but she kept smiling and cracking rock. But would her own noise get her in trouble too?
Four Hours
Melissa was no fool and knew that if she was going to cause so much noise had to do it within acceptable hours, as the noise ordinance stops at 7 am; she started at 07:30 and worked on the boulder for four hours.
There was nothing anyone could do. As for the rude people next door?
All is Quiet
The returned-rudeness was highly effective. A combination of power tools and sleep-deprived headaches gave her the result she wanted.
“Update: All is quiet,” she wrote. “Neighbors have deserted the premises. I am thoroughly enjoying a cup of tea.” As she enjoyed the quiet, she shared her story on Twitter. The post exploded with comments and likes.
Netizen Agreement
Her tweet was shared over 10,000 times by the next morning and liked by more than 50,000 tweets.
It seemed her gratifying post was more relatable than she thought! “Give yourself a decent pair of headphones, pipe in some good music, fuel it with tiny person-passive aggressive rage, and you’d be surprised how quickly a large boulder can be demolished (four hours with minimum breaks).”