I recently bought a house in a quiet neighborhood. One day, my neighbor\u2019s 13-year-old son started mowing my lawn. I walked outside and asked why.<\/p>\n
\u201cI usually get $50,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mom told me to ask that. But I\u2019d be fine with ten.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was stunned. \u201cI didn\u2019t ask for this,\u201d I told him, \u201cand I\u2019m not paying for something I didn\u2019t agree to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded quietly and left.<\/p>\n
The next day, his mom came storming over, fists clenched and eyes blazing.
\u201cHOW DARE YOU NOT PAY MY SON?! He did you a favor \u2014 your lawn was messy!\u201d<\/p>\n
I finally understood: she had sent him over<\/em> without asking me, simply because she didn\u2019t like how my yard looked. The poor kid had just been following orders.<\/p>\n I felt bad for him, so I slipped him some cash \u2014 but his mother? She clearly needed a taste of her own medicine.<\/p>\n So a few days later, I rented a leaf blower. I waited until early Sunday morning, when I knew she was sleeping in, and \u201chelpfully\u201d blew every single pile of leaves from my yard straight into hers. When she came outside screeching, I smiled and said, \u201cDon\u2019t worry \u2014 no need to thank me. Just doing you a favor.\u201d<\/p>\n She turned beet red. The kid tried not to laugh. After that, she never sent him to mow my lawn again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I recently bought a house in a quiet neighborhood. One day, my neighbor\u2019s 13-year-old son started mowing my lawn. I walked outside and asked why. \u201cI usually get $50,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mom told me to ask that. But I\u2019d be fine with ten.\u201d I was stunned. \u201cI didn\u2019t ask for this,\u201d I told him, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reels"],"yoast_head":"\n