Our city currently has a water use ban in place- no watering of lawns or flowers, no car washing, and so forth. We’ve had a dry few months and water levels are low, so it’s a move that makes a lot of sense, even if it means that my opium poppies pansies are dying and my car looks like it belongs in a Jeep commercial. But not everybody likes to abide by the ban- I’ve seen more than one resident on my street whipping out their hoses when they shouldn’t be. Health and security of the communal water supply be damned, they’re determined to have a green lawn and a clean driveway.
What’s the appropriate reaction in these type situations? Do you turn a blind eye to their actions and leave it to somebody else to play the role of McGruff the Crime Dog? Maybe strike up a neighbourly conversation and casually mention that you think they’re worse than Hitler? Do you take a more confrontational approach and make grandiose threats? Or do you call up city inspectors to rat out your neighbour and let the long arm of the law lay the smack down, and begin laughing uncontrollably when the SWAT team shows up?
If I know the offender and am on good terms with him or her, I might mention it in a joking way and hope that they get the message. But if the water hogger is a stranger or enemy / frenemy, my approach is most likely to be a neat little variant of the first option- not actually doing anything, but glaring as I drive past and muttering things that make me feel superior. I’ll admit that on one occasion a few winters back, I called in a complaint about a neighbour who was regularly shoveling snow into the street and interfering with traffic, but only after I tried other methods before escalating it to that level.
So, what do you do with bad boy neighbours? Or are you a bad boy neighbour yourself?
Image by pescatello.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I usually avoid conflict so I’ll just grumble about it because I don’t want to create bad blood in the neighborhood. But it still makes me mad, some people are so blatant about it.
To be quite honest I have been the guy who breaks the water restriction rules. Where I live, we pay for our water usage per household and I have a water meter that is constantly recording how many cubic meters of water I have consumed. In all my 30 years, there has never been a single incident where the city ran out of water. Ever. So with those two things in mind, I say fly at ‘er. It’s pay for play for me.
Now barking dogs I have called the city about… One day I won’t call the city - that’s the day the neighbor should be concerned
I didn’t know about the water ban. The day it went into effect I was out watering the flowers. The next day I saw in the paper that there was a water ban. I’d be willing to bet a lot of people don’t know about it either.
DJ- I didn’t know about it either for the first two days, but the word is out there now. I think anyone watering there lawn now knows full well! I guess I’d mention it to see if the person knows, and if they don’t then I look like a helpful neighbor. If they do know, then maybe they’d get the hint.
HA that’s exactly what I did. We bought a new sprinkler, so I casually mentioned my bad timing to a neighbor I saw that was out washing his car, believe it or not, the day before.
I read an account by a Westerner living in Japan who thought the prohibition about putting your garbage out at night was silly (he didn’t want to get up early), so he started putting it out at night. On the second or third time, he looked around and saw faces in many of his neighbours windows watching him break the rules. That was enough to get him to start following the rules (apparently social pressure is a major part of how they enforce conformity in Japan).
I wouldn’t narc on someone if they were just breaking the rules, but I would if they were bothering me personally (e.g. I’d call about a barking dog that was bothering me, but I wouldn’t if someone wasn’t following the water ban).
@Adam - In my city, there’s a flat tax for water use. I think it would be a different situation if it was pay to play, and I suspect that’s coming soon. I loved the comment about the day you DON’T call about barking dogs!
@DJ and Neil Shaw- I like your style!
@Mr. Cheap- Are you suggesting that I should get a bunch of Japanese people to stare out my windows at the neighbours? That could be the best idea yet…