Teen mowed neighbor’s lawn without permission and mom asked why he wasn’t paid
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Teen mowed neighbor’s lawn without permission and mom asked why he wasn’t paid

Doing a good deed for someone else is usually appreciated. But doing a good deed with the expectation of something in return is a little different and much less selfless.

A man new to his neighborhood found himself in such a situation after a teenage neighbor did something that seemed kind but then expected money in return. Apparently, the teenager mowed his lawn without being asked and then expected his neighbor to pay him for the chores.

The 13-year-old mowed his neighbor’s lawn without permission and expected money back.

“I recently bought my first house,” the 29-year-old man shared. “I’m settling in and liking the neighborhood, and some neighbors even came to say hello. They included a woman and her 13-year-old son.”

Unfortunately, what could have been a great urban dynamic quickly turned sour. “Not long after, I was lying on my sofa one afternoon and saw the son outside, mowing my front lawn“, the man wrote. “I was confused because I had never asked him and he had never offered.”

The Redditor decided to get to the bottom of the strange situation. “I went out and politely asked why he did that,” he recounted. “He said he did it to a lot of neighbors and quickly added that they gave him $5 for it.”

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The man wasn’t prepared to pay the boy, especially since he didn’t ask before starting the unwanted yard work.

Teenager mows neighbor's lawn without permission Robin Craig | Shutterstock

“I thought it was very strange, so I thanked him for the partial work he had done, before explaining that since I hadn’t asked or wanted him to do it, I wasn’t going to pay him,” he recalled. He said OK and quietly left my lawn.”

While there’s no denying that this young teenager had an entrepreneurial spirit, it probably would have worked more in his favor if he had given the new neighbor his first haircut for free.

He could have called it a welcome to the neighbor gift and then let him know that he spends his free time gardening while sharing his prizes.

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The next day, the man was visited by the teenager’s mother and demanded that he pay her son.

“I thought that might be the end of it – just a kid trying to make some money, solved without harming the spoon, end of story,” he wrote. Unfortunately, it was not so.

“The next day his mother came outside my door and angrily asked me why I hadn’t paid her son,” he recalled. “I basically repeated what I had said to her son, but she wouldn’t accept it. She just kept saying it was a kind gesture and he does it for all the other neighbors.”

Despite what this woman insisted, the boy’s kind gesture did not require payment.

she said too $5 is not a lot of money and I could have just (given) it to him,” the man added. “I kept trying to explain that such an agreement must be drawn up in advance, otherwise it’s nothing more than a random demand for money, but she basically asked me and walked away while I was talking.”

Mother demands payment from the neighbor New Africa | Shutterstock

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Now this has become a blanket question.

“I wonder how long this will last,” he mused. “That was last week. Every time I’ve seen her since she’s been staring daggers at me or making a show of crossing the street to avoid me.”

This man should not feel obligated to pay the teenager.

At the end of the day, he didn’t hire the teen to mow his lawn, nor did the teen ask, and he doesn’t have to pay for the unwanted lawn services.

According to Angi“Most lawn professionals charge between $50 and $350 to mow a lawn or $30 to $65 per hour.”

According to this estimate, $5 is a good price – if the boy had been hired.

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer covering psychology, news and human interest topics.