{"id":1631,"date":"2026-09-26T21:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T21:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/?p=1631"},"modified":"2026-09-26T21:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T21:00:12","slug":"my-upstairs-neighbor-threw-used-tea-bags-onto-my-balcony-twice-a-day-so-i-decided-to-teach-him-what-it-means-to-respect-someone-elses-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/?p=1631","title":{"rendered":"My Upstairs Neighbor Threw Used Tea Bags Onto My Balcony Twice a Day \u2013 So I Decided to Teach Him What It Means to Respect Someone Else\u2019s Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A woman tried to stay patient when her upstairs neighbor kept throwing used tea bags onto her balcony. But after he laughed off her complaints and did it again the next morning, she decided asking nicely was no longer enough.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\">\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1887671\" data-uid=\"0914d\">\n<div id=\"mgw1887671_0914d\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mgbox card-media\" data-template-type=\"container\">\n<div class=\"mgheader\" data-template-type=\"header\" data-template-placed=\"before\">\n<p>My upstairs neighbor throws his used tea bags off his balcony twice a day, and they land on mine.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-5\">\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1887671\" data-uid=\"039e7\">\n<div id=\"mgw1887671_039e7\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mgbox card-media\" data-template-type=\"container\">\n<div class=\"mgheader\" data-template-type=\"header\" data-template-placed=\"before\">\n<p>Morning around 7 a.m., evening around 9 p.m.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\">\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1887671\" data-uid=\"1176a\">\n<div id=\"mgw1887671_1176a\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mgbox card-media\" data-template-type=\"container\">\n<div class=\"mgheader\" data-template-type=\"header\" data-template-placed=\"before\">\n<p>You can set a clock by it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-7\">\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1887671\" data-uid=\"0372a\">\n<div id=\"mgw1887671_0372a\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mgbox card-media\" data-template-type=\"container\">\n<div class=\"mgheader\" data-template-type=\"header\" data-template-placed=\"before\">\n<p>The first time I thought it was an accident.<\/p>\n<p>I took it down to the bin and didn\u2019t say anything.<\/p>\n<p>The second week I found one on a white bath towel I\u2019d hung out to dry. A brown ring the size of a coffee cup, right in the middle.<\/p>\n<p>I went up and knocked on 4B like a reasonable person.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, no. Was that me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been about six of them now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so sorry. I\u2019m half asleep in the morning; I just flick it over the rail without thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He seemed fine about it.<\/p>\n<p>Embarrassed, even.<\/p>\n<p>He said it wouldn\u2019t happen again, and I went back downstairs feeling like I\u2019d made too much of it.<\/p>\n<p>It happened again the next morning.<\/p>\n<p>I gave it three more weeks, because I\u2019ve lived in this building eleven years and I have never once been the woman who complains.<\/p>\n<p>Then a bag landed on the cushion of my chair and sat there long enough to go through the fabric.<\/p>\n<p>I knocked again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re still doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a tea bag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt stains. I\u2019ve thrown out a towel, and now a cushion cover.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He leaned on his door frame and looked at me for a second.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou live underneath. That\u2019s how buildings work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then he laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re lucky it\u2019s tea bags and not something else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExcuse me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just saying. Be glad it\u2019s tea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then he shut the door.<\/p>\n<p>I stood on that landing for a minute.<\/p>\n<p>Eleven years in this building.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve watched people\u2019s cats. I signed for his packages all last winter.<\/p>\n<p>And I could see exactly what he wanted. He wanted me shouting on a landing at nine at night, so he could tell everybody about the woman downstairs who lost her mind over a tea bag.<\/p>\n<p>So I gave him one more chance. I decided that if nothing came over the rail in the morning, I would let all of it go.<\/p>\n<p>At 7:04 a.m. the bag came over and landed by my plant pots, exactly like always.<\/p>\n<p>I stood there in my robe and looked at it for a long time. And by the time I\u2019d finished my coffee, I knew exactly what I was going to do.<\/p>\n<p>It took me one afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning I was out on my balcony before seven with a cup of coffee, sitting very quietly in my chair.<\/p>\n<p>I was just waiting for him to come out onto his balcony with his tea.<\/p>\n<p>At 7:02 a.m., I heard his sliding door open.<\/p>\n<p>Footsteps moved above me.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the faint scrape of a chair.<\/p>\n<p>I took a sip of coffee.<\/p>\n<p>At 7:04 a.m., something dark appeared over the railing.<\/p>\n<p>The tea bag fell.<\/p>\n<p>It hit the clear plastic panel I\u2019d installed above the section of my balcony where most of his little gifts usually landed.<\/p>\n<p>Tap.<\/p>\n<p>Then it slid down the angled surface and dropped neatly into the shallow tray I\u2019d attached underneath.<\/p>\n<p>I smiled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMorning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Then Greg\u2019s head appeared over the railing.<\/p>\n<p>He looked down at me, then at the panel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat the hell is that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy new tea-bag catcher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I pointed at the tray.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorks pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He leaned farther over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou built that because of a tea bag?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. I built it because of 43 of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His expression changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re counting them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started after our first conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrowing garbage onto somebody else\u2019s balcony twice a day is pretty strange too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s tea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, Greg. We\u2019ve established that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He disappeared from view.<\/p>\n<p>A moment later, his balcony door slammed. I finished my coffee in peace.<\/p>\n<p>The panel wasn\u2019t fancy.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d bought a clear sheet, a lightweight frame, and a few brackets that didn\u2019t require drilling into the exterior wall.<\/p>\n<p>Before installing anything, I\u2019d checked the building rules.<\/p>\n<p>Twice.<\/p>\n<p>Everything sat within my balcony space.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing extended above his floor.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing blocked anyone\u2019s view.<\/p>\n<p>If Greg stopped throwing things, the panel would have absolutely nothing to do.<\/p>\n<p>That evening, I sat outside again.<\/p>\n<p>At 9:06 p.m., his door opened.<\/p>\n<p>I waited.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing happened.<\/p>\n<p>For one glorious second, I thought my ridiculous invention had worked.<\/p>\n<p>Then a tea bag sailed past the edge of the panel and landed directly inside my largest plant pot.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at it.<\/p>\n<p>Then I looked up.<\/p>\n<p>Greg\u2019s balcony door slid shut.<\/p>\n<p>That was when I stopped wondering whether the tea bags were accidents.<\/p>\n<p>He had aimed.<\/p>\n<p>I took out my phone and photographed the bag exactly where it had landed.<\/p>\n<p>Then I took a second picture showing the panel beside it.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning, another tea bag landed beyond the opposite edge.<\/p>\n<p>Photo.<\/p>\n<p>That evening, one hit the glass balcony door.<\/p>\n<p>Photo.<\/p>\n<p>By the following morning, I had four pictures showing tea bags in places they had never landed before. Apparently, once I made it harder for Greg to drop his garbage straight down, he\u2019d decided to improve his aim.<\/p>\n<p>What he didn\u2019t realize was that he was helping me.<\/p>\n<p>Until then, he could claim carelessness.<\/p>\n<p>Now he was proving intent.<\/p>\n<p>I created a folder on my phone and added every photograph I\u2019d taken over the previous weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The stained towel.<\/p>\n<p>The ruined cushion cover.<\/p>\n<p>The bags beside my plants.<\/p>\n<p>The new ones thrown around the panel.<\/p>\n<p>I added dates and approximate times.<\/p>\n<p>Then I sent myself an email summarizing both conversations I\u2019d already had with him while they were still fresh in my memory.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t contact management yet.<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to see what Greg did next.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t have to wait long.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday morning, someone knocked on my door.<\/p>\n<p>I opened it.<\/p>\n<p>Greg stood there in sweatpants with his arms folded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTake that thing down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood morning to you too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m serious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo am I.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pointed vaguely toward the back of my apartment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat plastic thing. Take it down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt looks ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom where?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t see it unless you\u2019re leaning over my balcony.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople can see it from outside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen they\u2019ll probably assume I\u2019m having a problem with falling objects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His mouth tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t just install things on the building.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI checked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith who?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe building rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not a person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, but they\u2019re surprisingly informative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re doing all this over tea bags.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. I\u2019m doing this because asking you nicely didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told you, I don\u2019t think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInteresting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve suddenly gotten very good at throwing them around the panel for someone who doesn\u2019t think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe that\u2019s where they fall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey never fell there before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He shrugged and said, \u201cFine. I\u2019ll just throw them farther.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For a second, neither of us spoke.<\/p>\n<p>Then a voice behind him said, \u201cThat\u2019s probably not going to help your argument.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greg turned.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Alvarez from across the hall was standing beside her door with a reusable shopping bag over one shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019d apparently come home at exactly the right moment.<\/p>\n<p>Greg looked from her to me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was joking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Alvarez raised an eyebrow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt didn\u2019t sound very funny.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He turned back to me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust take the stupid thing down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n<p>Then he walked upstairs.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Alvarez waited until his footsteps disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes he really throw tea bags down there every day?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery day?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPretty much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been trying to figure that out for a month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked toward the stairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet me know if you need me to tell anyone what I just heard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was the moment my little plan became much simpler.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cActually,\u201d I said, \u201cI might.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Our building held a residents\u2019 meeting the following Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Usually, I skipped them unless something important was being discussed.<\/p>\n<p>That week, I arrived ten minutes early.<\/p>\n<p>I had a folder.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were printed photographs, copies of the replacement costs for the towel and cushion cover, and a written timeline.<\/p>\n<p>I also brought one more thing.<\/p>\n<p>A clear container.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were the tea bags I\u2019d collected from the tray and balcony over the previous days after allowing them to dry.<\/p>\n<p>I wasn\u2019t planning to dump them dramatically onto a table.<\/p>\n<p>I wasn\u2019t trying to turn myself into the star of a courtroom show.<\/p>\n<p>I just wanted one thing Greg had repeatedly dismissed as insignificant to become visible.<\/p>\n<p>He arrived several minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>His eyes found the container almost immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I smiled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou kept them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou kept giving them to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Alvarez covered a smile.<\/p>\n<p>Greg sat down.<\/p>\n<p>When it was my turn to speak, I kept it simple.<\/p>\n<p>I explained that waste had been coming from the balcony directly above mine twice a day for several weeks.<\/p>\n<p>I explained that I\u2019d spoken to Greg twice.<\/p>\n<p>Then I showed the photographs.<\/p>\n<p>The building manager, Mr. Lewis, studied the picture of my towel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat came from upstairs?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greg leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a tea bag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lewis looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s still your garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGarbage is a little dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat would you call something you\u2019ve finished using and thrown away?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greg didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n<p>I showed the cushion cover next.<\/p>\n<p>Then the photographs taken after I installed the panel.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lewis frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy are these landing farther out?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Greg. He shifted in his chair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey fall where they fall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I slid another photograph across the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor weeks, they landed almost directly below his railing. After I installed the panel, they started landing around both sides of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d Greg said.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Alvarez spoke from two seats away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI heard him tell her he\u2019d throw them farther.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greg turned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was joking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn\u2019t sound like you were joking,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lewis looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you say that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greg sighed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis whole thing has gotten completely out of proportion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you say it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, but I was frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lewis sat back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen this isn\u2019t really about accidentally dropping something anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the first time since I\u2019d knocked on Greg\u2019s door weeks earlier, he didn\u2019t have an answer.<\/p>\n<p>The building rules were straightforward.<\/p>\n<p>Residents weren\u2019t permitted to throw objects, liquids, cigarette butts, food waste, or anything else from balconies.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lewis explained that it wasn\u2019t merely about staining someone\u2019s furniture.<\/p>\n<p>Something thrown from an upper floor could hit a person below.<\/p>\n<p>Greg tried once more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re wet tea bags, not bricks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lewis nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the rule doesn\u2019t say residents may throw things as long as they\u2019re soft.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost smiled.<\/p>\n<p>Greg didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>He received a formal written warning.<\/p>\n<p>He was also told that another documented incident could lead to further action under the building rules.<\/p>\n<p>Then Mr. Lewis asked about my damaged things.<\/p>\n<p>I showed him what replacing the towel and cushion cover had cost.<\/p>\n<p>The amount wasn\u2019t enormous.<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t the point.<\/p>\n<p>Greg looked at the paper.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou seriously want me to pay for that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou ruined them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe towel could\u2019ve been washed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tried.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a stain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn my property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lewis interrupted before we could go in circles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ll reimburse her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greg leaned back.<\/p>\n<p>He looked furious.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the part I hadn\u2019t expected.<\/p>\n<p>Greg had recently requested permission to attach privacy screening around his balcony.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lewis had apparently been reviewing the request.<\/p>\n<p>He closed Greg\u2019s paperwork.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor now, I\u2019m not approving additional balcony fixtures while there\u2019s an active warning involving your use of that balcony.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greg stared at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re denying it because of tea?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m postponing it because you\u2019ve admitted deliberately throwing items from your balcony after another resident asked you to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That finally silenced him.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting ended 20 minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>I packed my photographs away.<\/p>\n<p>Greg left before I did.<\/p>\n<p>I thought that would be the end of it.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>The following afternoon, he caught me near the mailboxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could\u2019ve just asked me to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I genuinely thought I\u2019d misheard him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, actually, I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn\u2019t have to involve management.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked you twice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a tea bag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you were asked to stop throwing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He glanced toward the lobby doors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou made me look like an idiot over tea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I shook my head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. I showed them what you were doing. You handled the rest yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His face reddened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re enjoying this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And I meant it.<\/p>\n<p>I hadn\u2019t enjoyed losing a towel.<\/p>\n<p>I hadn\u2019t enjoyed replacing a cushion cover.<\/p>\n<p>I hadn\u2019t enjoyed checking my chair before sitting down because I didn\u2019t know what had been thrown onto it.<\/p>\n<p>Mostly, I hadn\u2019t enjoyed being told that because I lived underneath him, I should simply accept whatever came over his railing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted you to stop,\u201d I said. \u201cThat\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked away.<\/p>\n<p>Then he walked upstairs without another word.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning, I woke at 6:55 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>I made coffee.<\/p>\n<p>At 6:58 a.m., I carried it onto the balcony and sat down.<\/p>\n<p>Seven o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>7:02 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Still nothing.<\/p>\n<p>At 7:04 a.m., I heard Greg\u2019s balcony door slide open.<\/p>\n<p>I waited.<\/p>\n<p>Footsteps crossed above me.<\/p>\n<p>I looked toward the clear panel.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing fell.<\/p>\n<p>A few seconds later, his door closed again.<\/p>\n<p>I smiled into my coffee.<\/p>\n<p>That evening, I went outside shortly before nine.<\/p>\n<p>Again, I heard him above me.<\/p>\n<p>Again, nothing came over the railing.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning was the same.<\/p>\n<p>After four days, I took the panel down.<\/p>\n<p>My balcony looked normal again.<\/p>\n<p>My plants were safe.<\/p>\n<p>My new cushion cover stayed clean.<\/p>\n<p>More importantly, I stopped looking up every time I heard his door open.<\/p>\n<p>A week later, someone buzzed my apartment.<\/p>\n<p>It was a delivery driver.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got a package for 4B. No one\u2019s answering. Do you mind taking it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For a second, habit almost made me say yes.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d signed for Greg\u2019s packages throughout the previous winter.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes two or three a week.<\/p>\n<p>Then I remembered his voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou live underneath. That\u2019s how buildings work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSorry,\u201d I said. \u201cHe\u2019ll have to collect it himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I thought nothing more of it.<\/p>\n<p>That evening, I met Greg in the hallway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said you wouldn\u2019t take my package.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou always used to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo now you\u2019re refusing my deliveries too?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not refusing anything. Your deliveries aren\u2019t my responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He stared at me.<\/p>\n<p>I unlocked my door.<\/p>\n<p>Before stepping inside, I looked back at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI used to do favors for a neighbor who respected my home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For once, Greg had absolutely nothing to say.<\/p>\n<p>I went inside and closed the door.<\/p>\n<p>The funny thing is, I never wanted a feud.<\/p>\n<p>I still don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>If Greg asks me to hold the elevator, I\u2019ll hold it.<\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s a fire alarm, I\u2019ll knock on his door like I\u2019d knock on anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>But I finally understood something I\u2019d spent 11 years avoiding.<\/p>\n<p>Being a good neighbor doesn\u2019t mean accepting bad behavior just to keep things peaceful.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes keeping the peace only teaches another person that you\u2019ll tolerate whatever they do.<\/p>\n<p>Greg expected me to lose my temper.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, I kept receipts.<\/p>\n<p>I took photographs.<\/p>\n<p>I learned the rules.<\/p>\n<p>And I let his own behavior explain the rest.<\/p>\n<p>The following Saturday, I sat outside with my coffee at 7:04 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing came over the railing.<\/p>\n<p>No wet tea bag.<\/p>\n<p>No brown stain.<\/p>\n<p>Just my plants, my chair, and a balcony that finally felt like mine again.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-2\">\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1887670\" data-uid=\"04938\">\n<div id=\"mgw1887670_04938\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mgbox\">\n<div class=\"row1\" data-template-type=\"container\" data-template-container-places=\"1\">\n<div id=\"10f7f66c-b9ec-11f1-85af-c4cbe1e8d87e\" class=\"mgline teaser-14137492 type-w\" data-i=\"E_xjN9kY0mv5RG1vlA6g6TpXvmcLENglH_zgRd-o23hVOkA_OZpof-3mVfZD1xO0bgcwP8nUWh8KFW1S6XHHd48F9Nw74b5QZO9euiXCtHf98GG5aE_oKvjxCwfQzgF7AFsbtLETveA-TQ9cP86QUA**\" data-observing-start=\"1790456328638\" data-observing-time=\"1081\" data-showed=\"1\">\n<div class=\"image-with-text\">\n<div class=\"text-elements\">\n<div class=\"text_on_hover\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row2\" data-template-type=\"container\" data-template-container-places=\"2,3\">\n<div id=\"10f7f674-b9ec-11f1-85af-c4cbe1e8d87e\" class=\"mgline teaser-3805434 type-w\" data-i=\"E_xjN9kY0mv5RG1vlA6g6VquYNwYkrLpMyZ2orJI3cPgb5l5Ljhjcer9F6mKKi4NbgcwP8nUWh8KFW1S6XHHd48F9Nw74b5QZO9euiXCtHf98GG5aE_oKvjxCwfQzgF7M7q5KmnkDgpXR8sA5KK6eA**\" data-observing-start=\"1790456328804\" data-observing-time=\"1311\" data-showed=\"1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A woman tried to stay patient when her upstairs neighbor kept throwing used tea bags onto her balcony. But after he laughed off her complaints<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-viral-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1633,"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions\/1633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fliqora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}