The internet applauds his mother for putting “a dent” in the neighbors’ marriage

In a now-viral post, a single mum said she put a ‘crack’ in her neighbours’ marriage after they made ‘critical’ comments about her being ‘single’.

Posting to Reddit’s ‘Petty Revenge’ forum under the username u/SiSoJones, the mother wrote, “Shame me for being a single mom in front of my kids. I’m going to show you how bad your marriage is. imposture.” The post garnered over 15,000 upvotes and over 800 comments of support. You can read the full message here.

Of course, u/SiSoJones wouldn’t be the first person to get embroiled in a neighborhood dispute. A Homes.com survey found that 36% of people had a fight with a neighbor and 25% of neighborhood fights turned into long-term feuds.

Aaron B. Rochlen, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said Newsweek that there are several methods people can use, such as sending an honest letter or email, to avoid arguments and “keep the peace” with rude or judgmental neighbors. However, u/SiSoJones chose revenge.

“Little Revenge”

In his post, u/SiSoJones said neighbors Mike and Sharon “rubbed [her] the wrong way” for years.

“[Mike] seemed a bit sordid to me, and [Sharon] seemed nosy and judgmental as hell. But I know myself; I know I’m quick to judge and get stuck in a certain opinion of people,” the mother wrote. “My daughter is about the same age as theirs (let’s call her Maria), and she’s a little bit hard to make friends. , so when Sharon suggested they had weekly play dates[…]I put aside my dislike for her and agreed.”

Playdates went well for a while; however, u/SiSoJones’ daughter finally stopped wanting to hang out with Mike and Sharon.

“Apparently, Sharon [watched the girls] play and [directed] them on how to play, and she often [asked] my daughter asks intrusive questions about our family, especially the paternity of my children,” u/SiSoJones wrote.

“My daughter still wanted to play with Maria, so we decided play dates could continue, but only if they were at our house,” u/SiSoJones wrote.

Sharon agreed to the new arrangement, but upon arriving at the girls’ first playdate at u/SiSoJones, she announced that she didn’t want to leave Maria with a “single mom.” According to u/SiSoJones, Sharon and Mike felt her relationship status proved she couldn’t “make good choices” and they feared she was influencing Maria to “make bad decisions.”

Upset, u/SiSoJones decided to see if she was right that Mike was “sleazy.” So she created fake social media accounts “posing as a pretty young lady with a lot of kinda local friends, I followed him on Instagram, he followed back.

“He immediately messaged me, and the messages went from vaguely flirtatious to obviously trying to get some.”

u/SiSoJones took screenshots of these posts and sent them to Sharon via Facebook. And a few days later, Mike stormed out of the house, suitcase in hand.

“He came back a few days later, so I didn’t destroy their marriage or anything, but I definitely put a dent in it,” she concluded.

Facing judgmental neighbors

Rochelle said Newsweek that there are several paths a person can take after being “judged” by a neighbor, and no – revenge is not a recommended path.

“What I could recommend [in a situation like u/SiSoJones’s] is to move away from the precise moment when the perceived judgment occurs,” Rochlen said. “It can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to manage this smoothly in the moment. That said, I think emails or letters can be helpful.

“When [reaching out], try not to “attack” the other person. Although extremely difficult, try to understand what their ‘fear’ is,” Rochlen continued. “After you recognize the fear, you can then try to say how YOU were affected.”

If that doesn’t work, Rochlen said it might be time to “throw in the towel.”

“Some broken or never developed relationships cannot be repaired or created. But it is the key to lowering one’s defenses [and] try to find common ground between neighbors before throwing in the towel,” he said.

Editors react

Redditors, on the other hand, loved that u/SiSoJones chose to get revenge on Mike and Sharon.

“Good for you. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Glad you exposed this chick and dude,” said u/Bright-Durian-501.

u/brianfantastic wrote, “In their eyes, you’re already going to hell. Might as well make an entrance!”

Some commenters also encouraged u/SiSoJones to publicly post the screenshots on Nextdoor or another social media platform, but she refuses to go that far.

“While it would certainly make for a great story, I think it’s too far gone and could have unforeseen impacts on their daughter, so I’m going to leave them alone now,” u/SiSoJones said. Newsweek.

More viral posts

In July, Redditors supported a woman who said she was deliberately rude to her new neighbor.

That same month, Mumsnet users slammed a woman who accused her of being “curious, intrusive and controlling”.