In the past, idyllic suburban neighborhoods were characterized by close relationships. Residents would rely on their neighbors for support, friendly chats, and even block gatherings. However, nowadays, neighborly friendliness is on the decline and a once strong sense of community is slowly being replaced by anonymity and frustration.
This is evident in many stories of neighborly antics that people share to vent their frustrations online. From using a shared hallway as storage to wrecking a car into a fellow resident’s home, scroll down to find the most unbelievable things these neighbors from the pits of H-E-double-hockey-sticks have pulled.
While you're at it, don't forget to check out a conversation with global community building expert, author, and founder and CEO of Kalliergo Community Building, Lori Gosselin, who kindly agreed to tell us why we're distancing ourselves from surrounding dwellers.
#1 This Is A Power Move
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#2 Ketchup Critics
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#3 We Got New Neighbors
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A myriad of data supports the fact that nearby residents aren’t as connected as they used to be. A 2024 Top Rail Fence survey shows that 65% of residents admit to hiding from their neighbors.
Younger generations are even more guilty of doing this.
The most common ways people try to avoid surrounding dwellers are by pretending not to see them, staying inside when someone is outside, acting like they’re not home, wearing headphones or faking being on a call.
#4 Mom's Neighbors Put Up A Million-Watt Crucifix For Christmas
This is not across the street. This is the block over. Best of our picture-taking contest, the power of Christ was too great for our phones to depict this behemoth in all its 20-foot glory.
Image credits: CatScratchEther
#5 A Non-Serious Discharge Of Debt
Can't explain how angry I am. Someone destroyed the grave of my cat. My cat Franz passed away after a neighbor kicked him in the stomach. He couldn’t recover from this.
Yesterday I found the grave of my dead cat destroyed in the backyard. I reached out to the Facebook group for my village. Today the mother of the 5-year-old kid who destroyed the grave called me. His son is guilty and wants to apologize. He said it was a mistake and wanted to give me money for the damage. The mother interrupted him and told him the truth. He and his 2 friends destroyed the grave and threw the wood into the small river. This was no mistake. I am really sad and angry someone destroyed the grave without any remorse. But it's a 5-year-old, I can't call the police for this. I just wish he told me the truth. I made this cross fully with my hands, handpainted it and wrote his name in old German letters. He doesn't deserve this.
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#6 Neighbor's 12-Year-Old Grandkid Decided To Sneak A Joyride. Freaked Out, Hit The Gas, And Crossed Their Lawn And Mine To Hit The Front Of My House
Their car insurance covers all of the damages. Luckily, they were insured. My homeowner's insurance is handling everything communication-wise with their insurance.
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"Gone are the days when Wilma Flintstone chatted with her neighbor Betty over the fence as they hung their laundry. We don't even have time for that. Some neighborhoods forbid the use of clotheslines!" says global community building expert, author, and founder and CEO of Kalliergo Community Building, Lori Gosselin, to Bored Panda.
"It's sad," she adds. "More attention needs to be drawn to this systemic issue. Humans need community like they need oxygen and yet today there is little time to cultivate true community connections."
#7 Neighbors' Kids Broke The Window In My Brand-New House
The dad threatened me last week saying he’d break my windows if my dog ever poop in his yard (my dog has never done so). Found this, presumably from his kids being little idiots, already caught them once putting a hole in my siding with a rock. Can’t approach parents without potentially being attacked. Filed a police report and they couldn’t care less. $1000 repair.
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#8 Drunk, 80 Mph Into My Townhouse. A Neighbor Missed His House And Wrecked Mine Instead
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#9 "Troubled" Neighbor Kids And "Just A Pellet Gun", Says The Cop
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According to Gosselin, one of the culprits of declining friendliness among neighbors might be the growing demands of our lives, like work and childcare, that leave little time for leisure.
She suggests that the disappearance of front porches might be another. "People used to occupy the front porch in the evening, greeting neighbors out for evening strolls or walking their dogs. But now we disappear onto the back deck, seeking solitude, choosing introversion over extroversion."
#10 Neighbors Using The Common Hallway As Storage
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#11 I Present To You, Lazy Neighbors. These Neighbors Are Only A Few Steps Away From The Trash Chute And Refuse To Dispose Of Their Trash Properly. They Just Leave Their Trash In The Hallway
This has been going on for months and has only gotten worse these past few weeks. The lovely cleaning ladies have begged me to help them find out who is taking advantage of them, and last night I took the liberty of putting on gloves, going through the trash, and finding mail addressed to them. I found out who the neighbor was and placed all the trash back on their porch. Call me a jerk, but multiple neighbors have placed notes asking them not to leave trash bags outside in the hallway.
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#12 Neighbor Was Not Happy That We Mowed One Row Into His Lawn, So He Decided To Spray Grass Herbicide To Make A Point
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Maintaining low contact or no contact at all with neighbors often leads to more frequent disagreements, and research has shown that it can negatively affect people’s psychological well-being later in life.
#13 My Neighbor Keeps Parking Her Car On Top Of My Garden Area Instead Of Her Driveway Because She's Too Lazy To Pull Her Trash Cans In
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#14 This Is My Neighbors' Garden And They Refuse To Clean It. What's Worse Is That They Have Two Dogs Who Are Always Eating From That Heap Of Trash
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#15 Neighbor Left Their Mark On The New Road
This neighbor appears to have gone around the barrier because their need to get home (and, apparently, leave again) was more important than everyone else on the street who has to see this every day going forward.
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Estrangement from neighbors can also result in safety and security infringements. "When you know your neighbors, there is a sense of safety and security," explains Gosselin.
"In my childhood neighborhood, parents parented all the kids on our streets. We knew everyone, and many years later, though most of us have moved away, we see one another at funerals as our parents passed on," she fondly recalls.
#16 Neighbor Tried To Saw My Door Handle Off Today Because She Hadn't Seen My Cat In The Window For 3 Days
Swear to God I thought birds had a legit vendetta against me all winter waking me up at 6 AM with taps on the window. Like, what do these feathered creatures have against me?
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#17 The Entitled Neighbor Wasn’t Happy With My Parking Job, So They Blocked Me In. The Grey Car Is Mine. As You Can See, I Was A Mile Away From The Line
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#18 Neighbor Destroyed Our Condo Building. Because He Got Drunk And High And Left A Cigarette Lit Unattended While Sleeping
The rest of the condo is destroyed from water, fire, and smoke damage, including all of our belongings and the new Xbox Series X I just bought and saved up for. To make matters worse, on my way to move in that night with my parents after being displaced after the whole ordeal, someone hit my new car.
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"There is a special connection neighbors should enjoy, but this connection needs to be cultivated. My parents partied with the neighbors. My mother met with other mothers for coffee, often. We had memorized the phone number of her closest friend in the neighborhood and knew to call there if she wasn't home. Our children today miss this. Worse; they don't even know what they are missing," she adds.
#19 Neighbor Throws Dog Food At My Car Cause I'm Parked In Front Of Her Window
It happened twice this week, we live in a building and this woman who lives at the bottom floor throws dog food on my car because I'm parked in front of her window.
She doesn't even have a car.
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#20 Downstairs Neighbor Came To My Door At Midnight After Throwing Rocks At My Window And Calling Me Names
Yesterday night, at about 11, I heard what sounded like pebbles hitting my bedroom window, then a male voice screaming names. About 15 minutes later, I heard a knock on my door. I checked the Ring camera to find a guy I didn’t recognize standing there. He said he was my downstairs neighbor and told me to stop stomping so loud, it’s been six months of nonstop noise, and he’s “sick of it”. I moved in three months ago, not six, and I’ve never had a noise complaint in any of my previous apartments. Plus, my job means I’m gone for 12-14 hours a day. I don’t know what he’s hearing, but I don’t think it’s me. Even if it is, throwing pebbles and then coming to my door at midnight is a weird way to handle it. This whole situation is freaking me out.
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#21 Neighbor Puts The Camera Faced Towards Our Windows And Yard
After they stole telephone poles from our driveway and sold them on the marketplace we installed a camera for protection (not facing toward their property by the way). But then we find this…
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But not all residents are completely against fostering neighborhood interactions. Nextdoor, partnered with The Harris Poll, found that 71% of adults would like to meet more people in their neighborhood, while 50% say they wish they had a closer relationship with surrounding dwellers. Despite having such aspirations, 47% of grownups admit that it’s difficult to make new connections.
#22 Neighbors Installed This To Stop Trucks From Entering Our Residential Area. Firetrucks And Ambulances Will Not Be Able To Go Through As Well
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#23 My Neighbor Has A New Light
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#24 How My Neighbors “Prune” The City Owned Street Trees Outside Their Houses
The first three photos show some of my neighbor's handwork. The last picture shows what the trees are supposed to look like. I don’t understand how multiple people on one street can feel compelled to psychotically destroy trees like this. They don’t even own the trees!
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Gosselin doesn't find it the least bit surprising that many adults struggle with making connections with surrounding dwellers.
"This would require what would amount to a herculean effort, but most of us do not have time or energy for this. After work, picking up the children from daycare, or greeting them at home after school, getting supper ready, dealing with homework and a little time before bed, when do parents have time to go out and build community with their neighbors?"
#25 Neighbor Across The Street Sits In A Hummer All Night With High Beams Pointed Straight At My House
They sit in their hummer from 5 PM to 7 AM, smoking out, and leaving periodically only to return 10 minutes later.
Yes, I've asked them to stop.
No, the curtains are not enough to block out the focused sunbeams pointed into my house.
Image credits: MorninJohn
#26 My Retired Neighbor Is Draining Their Pool Into Our Yard. He Does This Every Year, But He Stuck The Hose Under The Fence This Time
He stopped when I asked, but will probably just do it again tomorrow when I leave for work. The chlorine destroys the grass every year.
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#27 My Neighbors' Parking, And No It’s Not Temporary, Has Been Like This For 3 Days
We have an HOA but clearly, they don’t care, but they do care if my garbage can is left out 30 seconds after garbage is picked up.
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However, there are things that we can do. "We can plan neighborhood game nights, movie nights, festivals, and barbecues. We can take many pages out of small-town community-building pursuits, say, for instance, in the TV series, Gilmore Girls. There is a reason we watch shows like this. We enjoy community relationships vicariously through watching them."
#28 Woke Up This Morning To My Neighbor Burning Heaps Of Plastic Garbage
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#29 The Front Door Of My Apartment Has Been Egged With Hard-Boiled Eggs 3 Times This Month. No Idea Who Is Doing It Or Why
I spend most of my time at my girlfriend's house, so most days I am only at my house for a few hours at most. The eggs always get thrown when I am home and during the day but I've never seen it happen so I'm not even sure who is doing it. The 1st time it happened I thought my neighbor just dropped them, but there have been marks from the yolks on my door the last 2 times.
I try my best to be quiet when I'm home because my downstairs neighbor has a young child. I've only lived here 2 months and I've never even spoken to any of my neighbors so I don't understand why this is happening.
My only consolation is that they are considerate enough to only use hard-boiled eggs.
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#30 Neighbors Pile Their Trash Up In Front Of The Empty Dumpster
It’s mildly infuriating that I have to step over all of that nasty trash to be able to reach the dumpster to throw my garbage away. Usually, I end up just walking to a different dumpster, seems to be just my immediate neighbors who are incapable of actually putting their trash IN the dumpster.
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#31 I Asked The Neighbor If He Could Have His Daughter Leave Room On The Sidewalk For My Mom’s Wheelchair And My Kids. This Was His Response
So my neighbors' college-aged daughter always parks over the sidewalk causing all the neighborhood kids and walkers to go into the street to get around her SUV (it’s a pretty busy street as it feeds into the rest of the neighborhood). I’ve asked her once and her response was let me ask my parents, but nothing happened. Fast forward about 9 months. My mom who uses a wheelchair (due to advanced MS) is coming to visit so I asked the neighbor if he could possibly have his daughter park in a way that didn’t cover the sidewalk, while she was here visiting. This pic shows his response. Also, as you can see there is plenty of parking not only in the street but in their own driveway!
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#32 One Of My Neighbors Started Putting A Cone Down To Save “Their” Spot In Our Complex. There Are No Assigned Spots To Any Tenants By The Way
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#33 My Upstairs Neighbor Dropped A Quart Of Milk And It's Dripping Into My Apartment
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#34 Neighbors Across Are Building New Furniture. Decided To Put The Trash Against My Apartment/Door
We do live on the top floor so I understand not wanting to take the trash down immediately. However, maybe consider that you shouldn’t block my door and the closest staircase to me.
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#35 My Neighbor (Red) Parked Behind Me (White). How Do I Politely Say “Can You Not Park On My Car”? They Literally Live Right Next Door
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#36 Neighbor Dumped Their Mattress In The Lobby. This Bed Has Been Here For About 3 Weeks. I Don't Understand How Some People Just Can't Organize To Throw Away Their Stuff
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#37 Neighbors Decided To Park In Front Of My Garage, Blocking Me In
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#38 How Do You Stop Trucks From Driving Over This Corner?
New construction in the neighborhood. My house is on a cul de sac and trucks cut the corner and drive on my lawn all the time. I have debated getting boulders but they’re really expensive in my area. Also considering some 6x6 posts. One of the issues is the main water line runs along the road (blue line in the picture) and I have a utility easement 10’ from the road. Looking for ideas of what I could potentially do. I was thinking maybe I could argue to the county that the builder is risking potentially damaging the main line from the weight of the trucks driving on it?
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#39 My Neighbor Keeps Doing This Because She Doesn’t Want Anyone Parking Next To Her Car (She’s Not Disabled)
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#40 Neighbor's Tree Cutters Cut My Line And Made Sure It Was Organized In My Yard Without Telling Me. Very Thoughtful
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#41 Drunk Neighbor Just Drove Through Our Bedroom And Condemned Our Apartment. Landlord Won't Answer Our Or The Police's Calls, And Now I Have Nowhere To Live
Still in shock. We just walked out of the bedroom two minutes before it happened. Police and fire departments have been here for hours with no contact from the landlord whatsoever, and now our apartment is uninhabitable.
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#42 Neighbor Parks Their Car To Purposely Block The Sidewalk, Despite Having Plenty Of Room In Their Driveway
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#43 When Neighbors Think They Can Just Steal Your Stuff. And Then Tell You To Calm Down When You Confront Them. The Entitlement
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#44 Found Out Where My Missing Packages Have Been Going. The Neighbor's Been Stealing Them! Police Have Been Notified
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#45 Bought And Installed Some Lovely New Fence Panels... Not Quite To The Taste Of The Next-Door Neighbor Though
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#46 New Neighbors Have Huge Parties Every Week And Keep Blocking Our Cars In
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#47 Neighbors Decided My Bike Was Too Monochromatic
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#48 Neighbors Are Still Throwing Food In My Yard
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#49 We've Told Our Neighbors Multiple Times To Not Park In Our Driveway. Now They've Completely Blocked It
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#50 Neighbor Drops AC On My Car While I’m Away On Vacation
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#51 Neighbor Smashed And Totaled My Newly Bought Car And Broke My Side Fence While Texting
Neighbor hit the gas while texting instead of the brake and totaled my parked 2012 VW CC with her 2019 Chevy Silverado Z71 while also causing property damage to my fence. And she thought it was funny and laughed at the whole situation. This was the first car I bought through a dealership and legitimately instead of buying from a friend and under the table. Now it’s gone. But better the whip on a truck instead of me in an ambulance.
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#52 My Neighbor Sprayed Herbicide On My Back Lot To Make Himself A Parking Spot
Sheriff says that in our county you’re allowed to park on the outer 8 feet of someone else’s lawn for a day or two without their permission because it’s considered the shoulder. Come back to the same spot as many times as you want, just don’t be there continuously. You probably don’t have the right to damage someone else’s vegetation but I can’t prove it was him.
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#53 Insane Neighbor Decided To Throw Bricks At My Car
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#54 Built A Den In An Old Building Last Summer And Yesterday The Neighbors' Kids Came And Trashed The Place
This place had three feet of mud on the floor when I found it and it took weeks to clear out and make pretty. They left beer cans and broken bottles everywhere. I had an old window that they smashed to pieces. They destroyed my hosta too.
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#55 Our Upstairs Neighbors' Kids Run So Hard, That They're Literally Knocking Out Our Vents. They Run Around So Much, I Can't Even Sleep. Can't Wait Till My Lease Is Up
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#56 Neighbor Threw All This Trash Out Her Window And Keeps Throwing More. Today's Friday, And Management Won't Be Available Until Monday
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#57 How My Neighbor’s Landscapers Cleared The Leaves From Her Property (Bottom). My Property (Top) Starts At The Fence Line
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#58 Neighbor Had Us Sign Off So He Could Install A Hot Tub. We Didn’t Know It Would Be The Size Of A Shipping Container That Would Overlook Our Yard
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#59 My Top Neighbor Does This Instead Of Using The Cigarette Bin Available On His Floor. Sometimes They Stay Burning On Top Of The Plant
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#60 New Neighbors Just Moved In And Hit A Telephone Pole Taking Out Power To The Whole Block
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#61 My Neighbor Put Up A Sign Saying A Public Part Of Our Close Is Reserved For Her Car
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#62 Neighbor Passed Out While Driving Down Culdesac
Paramedics said he passed out. Had to have been going 45-50 mph. Had no insurance.
He would’ve slammed right into one of the front bedrooms if my car hadn’t been there.
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#63 My Neighbor's Shoes Are In The Hall. All Day, Every Day
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#64 My Neighbor Would Be The Idiot Whose Truck Rolled Into My Dad's House
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#65 Found This Posted To Our Door (In A Townhome Association) Today And We Don’t Even Have A Dog
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#66 This Is Our Bedroom Now, In Our Newly Adapted Apartment
In expectation of a storm and heavy rain tonight. Damn the roof of this building and our upstairs neighbor (a crazy woman whom we cannot convince to let us fix the issue coming from her place). Just needed to vent because our newly adapted apartment is being destroyed after we just recently finished adapting it fully.
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#67 Greet Him With Your Wolverine Handshake
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#68 My Elderly Neighbor Totaled My Car
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#69 The Neighbors Have Started A Renovation, And I Found My Balcony Like This. I've Swept A Small Section To Show How It Should Look
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#70 Neighbor Has Left This Decaying Pumpkin Out For A Month Now
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