An interesting day

Today began as usual. woke up with simon about 5:30 feed him and then slowly drifted back to dreamland. Doug had to get up to go into Deluxe to check out some film at 6am so he jumped in the shower and met his friend Clint out front so they could ride together.

later on i got up, got the kids breakfast and took sophie to school. when we got back from that around 8 am, Doug and clint were just pulling in. Everybody was piling out of the cars and heading inside when the neighbor across the street starts yelling and cussing at Doug and Clint because Clint had parked in front of his house. Doug was really confused and went over to talk to the guy and when he got there the neighbor swore at him and then shoved him out into the street!

Ok, so let me back up. We have a limited history with this neighbor and not a particularly good one. When we moved in, I parked in front of our house and he came out and told me that i wasn't leaving enough space behind my car for a second car (one of his 4, apparently.) I was in a hurry so i mumbled something and went inside.

And then when Doug was out of town a few months ago (a year after the first encounter), i parked in front of his house so i could trade out cars. i was really stressed out, penny and simon were sitting in car seats on the lawn because our van doors wouldn't budge. He approached me VERY aggressively about parking in front of his house. Like it was HIS property and I was to stay on my side of the street.

Well, that conversation didn't go very well. I ended up in a shouting match with him, calling him a jerk (because he is) and telling him to GET AWAY from me!

a-hem. I know. not very lady like behavior, but what kind of super loser verbally attacks the neighbor-lady with babies on the lawn.

Also, I've decided that pre-apartment managing i would have apologized, probably let him shout at me and not done very much. POST-apartment managing??? well, i can get mouthy. I got plenty of experience dealing with ridiculous people. I'm not really interested in taking any crap anymore. (for the most part.)

ANY WAY...back to today. So this guy ends up shoving Doug and their exchange gets little intense. They back off, Clint takes off, Doug comes inside, then this guy goes to get in his car in front of OUR house.

well, Doug went straight out there to let him know what was what and then they end up in each others faces going back and forth again. Then this guy ends up calling ME a horrible name because of our previous neighborly exchange a few months back.

I've never seen Doug hit anybody before....and his mom will be glad to hear that he didn't hit this guy either but BOY, IT WAS SO CLOSE!!!! As his wife I was secretly hoping for a little shove (or a punch in the face) in my honor, but, of course, it's better to save that for the movies.

We called the cops instead and the guy was busted for assaulting Doug. By busted i mean a serious talking to by the burbank police. ha ha

wow. it was crazy. I HATE neighborly drama. The weirdest thing is I don't even know this guys name. I've only had two, now three, interactions with him and they were all about parking and this one ended up with the cops.

so lame. anyway, it made me feel yucky all day. contention is so so yucky.

Moral of the story? Get to know your neighbors BEFORE crazy drama comes to a head.

Oh, and never become an apartment manager. It'll bring out the worst in you.