This happened this past Sunday. My dad and stepmom are out in a small trip and I’m pet sitting their cat and staying at their apartment whirl they’re out.
My dad asked me to attend the “HOA” (not sure how to call it, we live in Mexico and we don’t have an HOA in the US sense) meeting due to some points about renovations,and other important issues would be touched upon.
During the meeting, there was an “open mic” moment to discuss other matters in a more neutral way. One of the neighbors, a woman that we’ll call Carol, raised a concern about the ongoing issue with the “gang” that’s been terrorizing the complex for a while now, and how nothing had been done to stop this.
The gang in question? a group of kids between 6 to 10 yo
Their “clear gang activities”? talking about games in the elevator/corridors, playing in the main plaza after school, going from tower A to B to pick some of the other kids, or getting toys out to go play.
I know some of them, they sometimes come to the apartment asking for bandaids or get one of my nephews to go play with them, really good kids imo, most outrageous thing they’ve done was hit a garden light with a ball and breaking it, which they took full accountability for and told management as soon as it happened.
According Carol, the kids are an issue and they make her feel HIGHLY uncomfortable, because she can tell all of them are “up to no good”
Her daughter, a mid teens, added that she feels so insecure when she’s home alone cuz more than once the kids have come up to her door and tried the door handle, banged on it, and that they’ve even tried picking the lock.
Mind you, her apartment is across from my dad’s, and the kids only knock on his twice a week when my nephew is there. And that she also felt unsafe walking anywhere near the plaza because she felt “perved on” by, again a bunch of kids between 6-10yo.
The husband was also very mad cuz according to him, he’s seen them running around the underground parking lot, and I quote, “Keying cars and trying to open them, probably to steal the cara or whatever is inside!”, which cannot be true because all minors need to be accompanied by an adult or a security guard to access the parking area, to avoid any accident.
I couldn’t help it and snorted, then giggled when Mr. Dad added that whole bit about kids trying to steal cars, cuz as we all know, kids are into that kind of stuff. Carol began to ask what was so funny and why I thought that “gang” activity was funny, when I could be the next one to be attacked. I probably messed up by telling her that, I doubt that a bunch of kids who look for anthills to kick are crime masterminds, which of course got a couple of giggles from other neighbors.
Carol is now mad at me and my dad for raising “someone who supports gangs”, my dad doesn’t give a shit because he hates Carol, and my stepmom is also mad at me for not taking this seriously.
In some way, somehow, am I the asshole?
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This happened this past Sunday. My dad and stepmom are out in a small trip and I’m pet sitting their cat and staying at their apartment whirl they’re out.
My dad asked me to attend the “HOA” (not sure how to call it, we live in Mexico and we don’t have an HOA in the US sense) meeting due to some points about renovations,and other important issues would be touched upon.
During the meeting, there was an “open mic” moment to discuss other matters in a more neutral way. One of the neighbors, a woman that we’ll call Carol, raised a concern about the ongoing issue with the “gang” that’s been terrorizing the complex for a while now, and how nothing had been done to stop this.
The gang in question? a group of kids between 6 to 10 yo
Their “clear gang activities”? talking about games in the elevator/corridors, playing in the main plaza after school, going from tower A to B to pick some of the other kids, or getting toys out to go play.
I know some of them, they sometimes come to the apartment asking for bandaids or get one of my nephews to go play with them, really good kids imo, most outrageous thing they’ve done was hit a garden light with a ball and breaking it, which they took full accountability for and told management as soon as it happened.
According Carol, the kids are an issue and they make her feel HIGHLY uncomfortable, because she can tell all of them are “up to no good”
Her daughter, a mid teens, added that she feels so insecure when she’s home alone cuz more than once the kids have come up to her door and tried the door handle, banged on it, and that they’ve even tried picking the lock.
Mind you, her apartment is across from my dad’s, and the kids only knock on his twice a week when my nephew is there. And that she also felt unsafe walking anywhere near the plaza because she felt “perved on” by, again a bunch of kids between 6-10yo.
The husband was also very mad cuz according to him, he’s seen them running around the underground parking lot, and I quote, “Keying cars and trying to open them, probably to steal the cara or whatever is inside!”, which cannot be true because all minors need to be accompanied by an adult or a security guard to access the parking area, to avoid any accident.
I couldn’t help it and snorted, then giggled when Mr. Dad added that whole bit about kids trying to steal cars, cuz as we all know, kids are into that kind of stuff. Carol began to ask what was so funny and why I thought that “gang” activity was funny, when I could be the next one to be attacked. I probably messed up by telling her that, I doubt that a bunch of kids who look for anthills to kick are crime masterminds, which of course got a couple of giggles from other neighbors.
Carol is now mad at me and my dad for raising “someone who supports gangs”, my dad doesn’t give a shit because he hates Carol, and my stepmom is also mad at me for not taking this seriously.
In some way, somehow, am I the asshole?
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I giggled and talked back to a family who were airing out their grievances during a meeting
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
In no way, no how, are you the asshole.
NTA
nta carol can suck rocks
NTA.
I also live in México, and some of my neighbors are also entitled lunatics.
Children existing in Carol’s vicinity shouldn’t be maligned this way.
México takes slander laws pretty seriously. Perhaps Carol should shut her yap before she runs afoul of the law?
> my stepmom is also mad at me for not taking this seriously.
Doesn’t sound like there’s very much to take seriously, other than Carol wanting to stop 6-10 year olds having some innocent fun. NTA
NTA. If Carol wants to live in a world where children don’t exist maybe she should buy a cabin in the woods.
NTA if your side of the story is true. If they really tried to pick a lock to harass the teenaged girl, my judgement would change to Y T A.
ESH, because I think Carol probably shouldn’t have used those specific words for a couple of preteens. However, the kids are trying to pick her locks and break into her house. I live alone, and if anyone tried doing that, I’d be SO uncomfortable with it, no matter who it was.
NTA I doubt you meant to giggle and it sounds like the traditional old person versus kids. She has forgotten what being a kid is and is making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Im a grown ass adult, and if what you’re saying about the kids is true then I would have laughed to!
HOA’s operate in Mexico much like the rest of North America.
YTA for the dismissive “it doesn’t happen to me, so it doesn’t happen” attitude.
Especially with these kids trying to open other people’s doors and being inappropriate with the daughter. That sh*t is not okay and it doesn’t matter that the kids doing it are ‘only’ 6-10: that behavior needs to be addressed and stopped.
NTA Of course it’s a Carol.
https://youtu.be/opj0psKGyzc?si=_oupHNQb6idrtOZE
YTA. How would you possibly know they don’t do these things? For one, you don’t live there so how would you know they only come to your dad’s door and not Carol’s door. And even if they did come to your dad’s door, how does that prove they don’t go to the neighbor’s door? That’s like people protecting a sexual abuser by saying “Well, I know they didn’t sexual assault that girl because they never sexual assaulted me.” That’s not how it works.
Also, I’ve seen some <10 year olds wreak some serious havoc. There was one in my neighborhood that has horrible home life, and has been caught keying cars and spray painting trees and garage doors. He wrote “DIE” on one of my trees in bright red paint.