Being a good neighbor is hard work.
Read the full article at https://zalma.com/blog
Sometimes it’s impossible. Marsha was not a good neighbor. She would “borrow” things from her neighbors and never return them. Most of her small kitchen appliances arrived because of such loans. Marsha had an extensive collection of CDs and long-playing records, none of which she purchased. Marsha would invite herself to lunch, but never invite her neighbors to her home for lunch. She would play her stereo at its highest volume level at all hours of the day and night. Everyone who lived within six houses of Marsha lost sleep because of her actions. None of her neighbors liked Marsha. Marsha kept a bull terrier named “Jaws” whom she did not allow in her house.
Jaws, however, would escape the backyard weekly. Neighborhood cats, rabbits and small dogs disappeared with some regularity. The entire neighborhood universally detested Marsha and Jaws. If Marsha ever decided to move, the neighbors would throw a going away party to which they would not invite her. Everyone in the neighborhood was afraid of Marsha and Jaws. They tolerated her because they did not know how to remove her from the neighborhood. One summer evening while Marsha was attending a concert, burglars entered her house. Jaws, sensing the burglars in the house, barked furiously but could do nothing since Marsha tied him up in the backyard.
The neighbors ignored Jaw’s barking since they were afraid to offend Marsha by complaining about the noise. Marsha lost her jewelry, two television sets, two VCR’s, her stereo set and her microwave oven. Marsha’s neighbors had other plans. Harry and Louise, who lived next door, looked up the address of the insurance company in their telephone book. They then sat at an old Underwood manual typewriter and wrote a letter to the insurance company that said: