In a world where personal space and boundaries are often tested, maintaining healthy boundaries can be a delicate dance. These stories explore the challenges of asserting one’s boundaries and the consequences of ignoring them, whether it’s dealing with persistent salespeople, unwanted guests, or differing expectations in relationships.
Ignoring ‘No Soliciting’ sign
I reside in a typical neighborhood where door-to-door salespeople frequently visit. To discourage such encounters, I had placed a ‘No Soliciting. Thank you’ sign, a straightforward request.
Yesterday, a salesman rang our doorbell, but we chose to ignore it, as we were uninterested. Yet, to our frustration, the same individual returned today and rang the bell again.
Feeling irritated, I greeted him, and he began explaining something about pest control services for our neighbors. I bluntly asked him if he could read, to which he responded affirmatively.
I then pointed out that he should have noticed the ‘No Soliciting’ sign. He acknowledged seeing it but justified his actions by claiming it was part of his job. At that point, I firmly instructed him to leave.
🔥 Top User Reactions
well yes he can read, he saw the sign, he decided to ignore it. just should have kept ignoring him/not answering the door. or immediately tell him to go away without hearing what he has to say first. ESH but he’s more of an AH
Idk he’s just trying to make a living and needs to report each and every interaction. He probably hates it more than you, but needs a roof over his head and to eat – just like the rest of us. Nothing is wrong with “Thank you, but I’m not interested.” The End ALSO, what if he couldn’t read?!?! There are many many adults suffering from dyslexia and other learning disorders, and they simply cannot read 20% of population dyslexia.
NAH it is his job. Next time either don’t answer or give him a trespass warning.
NTA Dude can go step on a lego and get a face full of dandelion fluff.
NTA they’re literally told to ignore the signs. I don’t understand why someone would see the sign and still think the person living there would want to hear what they have to say.
Parking woes with new neighbors
Arggghhhh
This is mortifyingly embarrassing and if I’m posting on here…. I believe I’m the Karen.
So I live in a curved road. We don’t park on the curb in front of our home since it’s curved and the mail box is right there, and we share the mailbox with our neighbor to the right.
Neighbors to the left just moved in not long ago.
Not sure if they had folks over or not, but they had a car parked in the curve (blocking the mailbox AND on the wrong side of the road).
I’m a crap driver and Parker, so this made it hard for me to pull in even though they were only blocking a small portion of the drive way. This is because of the angle of the road.
Anyways, I have 2 under 2, and they were both screaming. Am when I got home I was already not in a great head space. So when I go out of the car I was loudly bicthing about how rude the asshole who parked like that was…. While those neighbors were out in the garage. (They could hear me most likely).
It was a Sunday so no mail was coming that day except sometimes my Amazon puts mail in there but u feel like I shouldn’t have gotten so upset but I couldn’t help it. It felt so frustratingly inconsiderate.
Pic for reference.
Okay now tear into me. I’m the Karen. I’m sorry /:
🔥 Top User Reactions
Gonna take some heat here, but if you walk out of the car MFing the neighbors, 6.2/10 YTA They did block, but you made it loud enough to probably mess up future neighborly relationships
NTK. You’re fine.
YTA for promoting the sexist, agist Karen slur. God forbid women open their mouth and stand up for themselves! Bonus points if they combine that with the egregious sin of being over 35.
Rules are different everywhere, but in so many areas I know of, there are required distances you have to park away from driveways and intersections for these reasons. So maybe not a shining moment but I don’t think you know that A Karen is several levels beyond where you went. So yeah a soft yta for how you handled it but they were inconsiderate and the moment was rough for many other reasons too
Nta, They were badly parked, in the way, and its not like you were yelling at your neighbours
Chauffeuring fatigue
I worked grueling twelve-hour shifts for four days straight, leaving me utterly drained. On my precious days off, my sole responsibility was ferrying my girlfriend around, as she couldn’t drive. I’d dutifully pick her up and drop her off, catering to her every need.
However, the constant chauffeuring began to take its toll. She’d often request lifts to work or demand I wait endlessly in parking lots while she ran errands, robbing me of any chance to unwind. Today’s plans were particularly taxing – pick her up from work, drop her off at home, then escort her to a mall appointment before retrieving her once more.
Mustering courage, I expressed my fatigue and suggested she walk the ten-minute distance to the mall, especially since the rain seemed to be subsiding. But she adamantly refused, citing a headache and reminding me of my previous commitment to chauffeur her. Begrudgingly, I acquiesced, only to face her wrath when I declined picking her up from school the next day.
Tensions mounted as she accused me of breaking my word, while I felt unheard and dehumanized, my exhaustion dismissed as an illegitimate excuse. The situation escalated into a bitter standoff, each of us nursing our grievances and struggling to find common ground.
🔥 Top User Reactions
YTA. You are the one who set the expectation that you would be fine with driving her. It doesn’t sound like you ever had a rational, adult discussion about it becoming too much, too frequent, to stressful, etc. And then you ‘cut her off’ when she already had an appointment booked based on the existing understanding that you would drive her there and pick her up. It sounds like you expected she would read your mind on this topic. She is understandably upset because it seem pretty clear that from her perspective your change of heart about this came out the blue.
If you have your word then YTA. It shows your word is useless.
Your week has 8 days? How do I get an 8 day week?
Yta If you say you’re going to give someone a ride. Give them the ride. If you cannot provide a ride. Order her a damn taxi or uber or something You described wanting her to walk a 10 minute drive(which is a LOT longer while walking) #IN THE DAMN RAIN So yea YTA. Don’t offer a ride if you aren’t going to keep the promise. Also I find it funny how your week has 8 days. You work 4 twelve hour shifts and have 4 days a week off?
ESH – you shouldn’t have promised her that you’d always drive her on your days off. And she obviously shouldn’t expect you to be her chauffeur.
Postpartum boundaries with in-laws
There was a strained relationship between a woman and her in-laws, particularly her sister-in-law and mother-in-law, even before she became pregnant. When she was expecting, she discussed with her husband their desire for no visitors for a month after the birth to allow family bonding time. However, her husband failed to inform his family of this decision until after their son was born.
The in-laws were offended and refused to see the baby initially, with the sister-in-law even sending hurtful messages to the woman. After some time, they resumed visits, but the woman felt uncomfortable with the past disrespect and lack of resolution. She acted like nothing happened to avoid further stress, but in therapy, she was advised that limiting her husband’s visits with the baby alone could become problematic.
While acknowledging her son’s right to have a relationship with his grandmother, the woman was conflicted. Her in-laws seemed to love the child but had treated her poorly in the past without any real discussion or resolution. She felt uneasy about leaving her son alone with them, fearing her husband might not set appropriate boundaries to protect him.
For the time being, the woman supervised visits with her in-laws to ensure her son’s well-being. However, she recognized that this might need to change as her son grows older and can better comprehend the situation. The unresolved tensions from the past continued to cause her significant stress and uncertainty about how to navigate the complex family dynamics.
🔥 Top User Reactions
YTA. This baby is just as much you husband’s child as it is your child. Your husband has just as much right as you do. This may be a dumb question but have you tried talking to MIL and SIL?
I’m not going to give judgement but I just want you to be aware that a lot of this isn’t your choice, and nobody has to honor your wishes. If your husband and you were to separate then he would likely get 50% custody and his mother could have basically unlimited access to the child in that time. So just be mindful of that. The more you put those conditions on your husband the more likely it is that you will separate and your worst fear, will become a reality. You could end up with the child living there for 50% of the time and being basically raised by your MIL. You chose this family and what’s done is done.
# NTA
ESH. They don’t sound like nice people but your rationale for not wanting your husband to visit them with baby without you is bonkers. They don’t deserve to be ‘close’ to him? They would not be less close just because you’re there. Hubby “can’t set boundaries” — what boundaries do you want set?
