I live in a ‘third world’ country, and we mostly provide water for ourselves. After a 3-day blackout we couldn’t pump, so no running water.
When my dad and stepmom lived with us, they’d fire up our generator to pump for the whole building. Every time they asked for help in form of another generator or fuel money it was met with silence or jabs: “We don’t need water,” “Light will soon be back.” It happened at least 9 times in 16 months.
There was a period with no gateman, so my sister and I pumped for everyone. If we didn’t, no one would. Water would overflow, we lived on the first floor but the ground-floor folks would rather let it flood than turn it off. One Sunday, after a day without light, power returned while we were heading to church. I was anxious they’d ignore the tank. We came back to flooded streets and neighbors shouting. I rushed to switch it off. Two ground-floor apartments were home the whole time.
There’s a rule: generators off by 12 p.m. for noise and fumes. Our ground-floor neighbor switched off ours at 11:30 without asking, saying she couldn’t sleep and the smoke bothered her. Days earlier her own gen ran till 1 a.m.
Soon after we had a verbal blow-up because my sister dumped potting soil from our indoor plants. I cleaned it, but on the building group chat where my father refuses to add us, people called us dirty and “ghetto” and said we like pumping without turning it off. The landlord threatened eviction, then backtracked because our parents had been such “good help.” He even put a lock on the pump controls to block us.
Less than two weeks later the new gateman quit over unpaid salary. Water became rare; they forgot to pump. We swore off being the ones to fix it. They removed the lock. We still had days with no water despite regular electricity about 18 hours daily. My sister and I started filling our own reservoirs every day.
Today my dad phoned from another state asking me to lend them our generator because they apologized to him. I told him no. I never complained to him about water, yet he’s getting worked up for strangers who bullied us. The landlord who shouted at us smiles at my dad because he has a high police rank. They hurt us but apologize to him? Not happening.
One neighbor bought fuel and poured it into our generator even after I told him to stop. He said he’d already cleared it with my parents. My sister and I stood in front of it. He asked if we didn’t need water; we said we did not, there are five other generators in the building, use any but ours. Since he’d already put in fuel, I asked his account number and sent the money back. They ended up pumping with another generator. I refilled all my reservoirs and washed my clothes so I won’t be caught lacking.
Given all this, AITA for refusing to share our generator?
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I live in a ‘third world’ country, and we mostly provide water for ourselves. After a 3-day blackout we couldn’t pump, so no running water.
When my dad and stepmom lived with us, they’d fire up our generator to pump for the whole building. Every time they asked for help in form of another generator or fuel money it was met with silence or jabs: “We don’t need water,” “Light will soon be back.” It happened at least 9 times in 16 months.
There was a period with no gateman, so my sister and I pumped for everyone. If we didn’t, no one would. Water would overflow, we lived on the first floor but the ground-floor folks would rather let it flood than turn it off. One Sunday, after a day without light, power returned while we were heading to church. I was anxious they’d ignore the tank. We came back to flooded streets and neighbors shouting. I rushed to switch it off. Two ground-floor apartments were home the whole time.
There’s a rule: generators off by 12 p.m. for noise and fumes. Our ground-floor neighbor switched off ours at 11:30 without asking, saying she couldn’t sleep and the smoke bothered her. Days earlier her own gen ran till 1 a.m.
Soon after we had a verbal blow-up because my sister dumped potting soil from our indoor plants. I cleaned it, but on the building group chat where my father refuses to add us, people called us dirty and “ghetto” and said we like pumping without turning it off. The landlord threatened eviction, then backtracked because our parents had been such “good help.” He even put a lock on the pump controls to block us.
Less than two weeks later the new gateman quit over unpaid salary. Water became rare; they forgot to pump. We swore off being the ones to fix it. They removed the lock. We still had days with no water despite regular electricity about 18 hours daily. My sister and I started filling our own reservoirs every day.
Today my dad phoned from another state asking me to lend them our generator because they apologized to him. I told him no. I never complained to him about water, yet he’s getting worked up for strangers who bullied us. The landlord who shouted at us smiles at my dad because he has a high police rank. They hurt us but apologize to him? Not happening.
One neighbor bought fuel and poured it into our generator even after I told him to stop. He said he’d already cleared it with my parents. My sister and I stood in front of it. He asked if we didn’t need water; we said we did not, there are five other generators in the building, use any but ours. Since he’d already put in fuel, I asked his account number and sent the money back. They ended up pumping with another generator. I refilled all my reservoirs and washed my clothes so I won’t be caught lacking.
Given all this, AITA for refusing to share our generator?
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> 1. Not lending them the generator to pump water
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. It sounds like your neighbors have been anything but neighborly. So giving them back what they’ve earned is just payback.
However, if/when they start to loosen up and ask politely, it may be worth your while to try to cooperate a little bit at a time to see if they’ve learned to be a but friendlier and more grateful.
NTA. To go full American vernacular, tell them to fuck off.
I would let a stranger in need have use of my generator; they would not even need to ask, I would volunteer. But known assholes with a shitty attitude? The same assholes that would look down on you if you were the one in need? And with a sense of entitlement… Nope, not happening.