This is a frustrating situation, since I not sure what legal recourse we have, if any, especially since there's so little evidence. I also apologize in advance for the length of the post.
I'm a 19 year old trans person who hasn't come out yet, but my mixed gender expression may have been apparent. I dress oddly, wearing mostly black, oversized clothes, like black hoodies. Sometimes I walk in my pajama pants. I have Asperger's syndrome, so sometimes my social interaction is awkward and I avoid eye contact. I also have depression and anxiety, so I tend to be jumpy and look guilty when I'm telling the truth. My family is interracial-- my father is Mexican and my mother is white, and my sister and I are of mixed race. I mention all of this because some of the interactions I had with my neighbors during this confrontation indicated that they look down on us and were suspicious of us, and I wondered if any of these reasons might be why.
There's a neighbor that lives down the street, right before the path turns into the park. They've been mostly neutral to us, or so I believed. We've engaged in little interaction other than a comment on their nice car or a friendly wave. One day there was a small confrontation about dog poop and that we need to make sure to pick it up. I unfortunately can't remember the confrontation, only that my mom was there and she remembers it vaguely, and that while it was unpleasant, neither of us thought much of it.
We walk our dogs to that park almost every day, when it's warm enough outside (Colorado winters are brutal), and since its spring it's been a bit of a while, but we recently began doing so again. Sometimes we walk without a bag to pick up dog poop because they have bags at the park and its sometimes just easier to use the ones there than stuff our pockets with plastic bags. I also sometimes like to walk back on my own and pick it up because I enjoy the extra walking time and poop is frankly easier to pick up when it's hardened a little. I don't do this often and always return. I guess I assumed neighbors, both the ones we are having a problem with and others along the street, had seen me, since I would wave and smile at some of them on my way back.
One day my sister and I went on a spur of the moment walk and forgot to bring bags. We didn't think our dogs would need to poop since they'd been out all day, but one of them pooped in our neighbor's lawn. We heard their garage door opening and ran off, half to avoid the neighbors, half to get a bag. I know that doesn't sound logical, but neither my sister nor I were I the mood for a confrontation and didn't know if they saw us, plus its common knowledge that they have bags at the park, literally a 30 second walk from these neighbor's house, so we thought it wouldn't be a problem. I guess we assumed we were on good terms with these neighbors and they would think we would come back...
Well, we were on our way to get a bag when were heard yelling and swearing. The neighbor's daughter, a teenager, along with her friend, who was silent the whole time, had followed us to the park, cussing at us and commanding us to pick it up. My sister and I were shocked and tried to explain we were going to circled back around and come back for it, since we didn't bring a bag. She continued swearing and trying to command us to go back and pick it up. "Hey, if you let your dogs sh*t in our yard, I'm gonna let my dogs sh*t in your yard, and they're a million times bigger than your dogs. Go f*cking clean your sh*t up." I told her repeatedly we were coming back for it and we were sorry. I remember apologizing at least three times. She continued to swear and yell. She demanded we return to the yard immediately and clean up the dog poop. I don't remember what I said next, only that she responded with "you should show me some respect." I immediately told her "I'll show you respect when you earn it. Now *i waved my hand* piss of." And turned around to grab a bag and go back to pick up the poop, in full view of her and her friend. I picked up the poop and brought it to the place where the confrontation had occurred and threw it away. I'm not sure if they saw, but they should have been able to. I assumed that was the end of things. It made our walk uncomfortable and unpleasant, since we weren't used to being swore at and talked down to, but I truly thought that was the finish of the whole affair.
Later that day, my mom came home from her 14 hour shift to find a couple of empty plastic bags on our porch with a note taped to it which read something like "here are some bags, pick up your dog poop." I regret to say that I threw the note down the garbage disposal out of anger and disgust.
She and I walked to the neighbor's house and knocked on the door, then run the doorbell. The father opened the door, smiled, laughed when my mother held up the bags and the note, and confirmed he had left them. He invited us in, supposedly because it was cold. As soon as he did that, I wanted to leave, but I wrote that off as part of my anxiety and the fact that I was angry at him and his family.
When he invited us in, my mother angrily, but politely, asked him what the bags and note were about (I was only able to get out half of the story to her, she was so angry). He, in the most friendly tone of voice possible, accused me of leaving dog poop on his lawn regularly, said that he was tired of it. I and my family of course know this is untrue, and that my dad has had to stop me from going back to get the dog poop late at night, in which case I return the next day. My mom and I, of course, said that we don't leave dog poop on his lawn. He began raising his voice and motioning his finger like he was talking to an unruly child. He refused to believe us. Apparently, probably because his lawn is right in front of the path that leads to the park, other people let their dogs poop on his lawn and don't pick it up. He apparently saw me once go back for a bag once and assumed I was leaving poop on his lawn, so now blames me and my family for all of it. He tried to say other neighbors had the same problem with me.
My mom and I then told him about the confrontation today and that we didn't appreciate it. (He seemed to know about it, but not all of it, of course. He never even checked to see if there was poop on the lawn any time afterward, since he told us outright that he didn't know.) I mentioned that his daughter followed us and swore and was very nasty to us.
This was about when he began to yell and deny that his daughter would do such a thing. I think this was about the time when his wife, who was listening in the kitchen, appeared and began defending her child, saying "my daughter doesn't swear."
I realized about this time that he wasn't going to believe us over his daughter, and he didn't care what we had to say because he was always going to think he was right. So the next five minutes were him shouting at us and arguing ridiculously, trying to assert his option over my mom and I. I eventually just left, yelling back to my mom that we didn't have to "put up with this sh*t." He immediately jumped on this, trying to use it as proof that we weren't good Christians (apparently the reason they were so defensive about the swearing bit was because they were Christians).
After we got home, I trashed the note and we tried to make each other feel better. We thought THAT was the end of it.
The next day, however, we got a visit from Animal control. Yes, he called animal control on us. The man who came to our house was very nice, he had checked to see if there was poop on the lawn to corroborate our neighbor's story and, surprise, it was clean. He didn't seem to think it was a problem and drove off after a 20 minute conversation with my mom.
All of us really want to avoid that house and those neighbors, but we have to walk by them to get to the park. Being near their house makes my sister and I edgy and anxious. I feel harassed and humiliated. I'm wondering if there's anything we can do about this, or that we should do to ensure that they don't try any other dirty tricks to get back at us.
I'm a 19 year old trans person who hasn't come out yet, but my mixed gender expression may have been apparent. I dress oddly, wearing mostly black, oversized clothes, like black hoodies. Sometimes I walk in my pajama pants. I have Asperger's syndrome, so sometimes my social interaction is awkward and I avoid eye contact. I also have depression and anxiety, so I tend to be jumpy and look guilty when I'm telling the truth. My family is interracial-- my father is Mexican and my mother is white, and my sister and I are of mixed race. I mention all of this because some of the interactions I had with my neighbors during this confrontation indicated that they look down on us and were suspicious of us, and I wondered if any of these reasons might be why.
There's a neighbor that lives down the street, right before the path turns into the park. They've been mostly neutral to us, or so I believed. We've engaged in little interaction other than a comment on their nice car or a friendly wave. One day there was a small confrontation about dog poop and that we need to make sure to pick it up. I unfortunately can't remember the confrontation, only that my mom was there and she remembers it vaguely, and that while it was unpleasant, neither of us thought much of it.
We walk our dogs to that park almost every day, when it's warm enough outside (Colorado winters are brutal), and since its spring it's been a bit of a while, but we recently began doing so again. Sometimes we walk without a bag to pick up dog poop because they have bags at the park and its sometimes just easier to use the ones there than stuff our pockets with plastic bags. I also sometimes like to walk back on my own and pick it up because I enjoy the extra walking time and poop is frankly easier to pick up when it's hardened a little. I don't do this often and always return. I guess I assumed neighbors, both the ones we are having a problem with and others along the street, had seen me, since I would wave and smile at some of them on my way back.
One day my sister and I went on a spur of the moment walk and forgot to bring bags. We didn't think our dogs would need to poop since they'd been out all day, but one of them pooped in our neighbor's lawn. We heard their garage door opening and ran off, half to avoid the neighbors, half to get a bag. I know that doesn't sound logical, but neither my sister nor I were I the mood for a confrontation and didn't know if they saw us, plus its common knowledge that they have bags at the park, literally a 30 second walk from these neighbor's house, so we thought it wouldn't be a problem. I guess we assumed we were on good terms with these neighbors and they would think we would come back...
Well, we were on our way to get a bag when were heard yelling and swearing. The neighbor's daughter, a teenager, along with her friend, who was silent the whole time, had followed us to the park, cussing at us and commanding us to pick it up. My sister and I were shocked and tried to explain we were going to circled back around and come back for it, since we didn't bring a bag. She continued swearing and trying to command us to go back and pick it up. "Hey, if you let your dogs sh*t in our yard, I'm gonna let my dogs sh*t in your yard, and they're a million times bigger than your dogs. Go f*cking clean your sh*t up." I told her repeatedly we were coming back for it and we were sorry. I remember apologizing at least three times. She continued to swear and yell. She demanded we return to the yard immediately and clean up the dog poop. I don't remember what I said next, only that she responded with "you should show me some respect." I immediately told her "I'll show you respect when you earn it. Now *i waved my hand* piss of." And turned around to grab a bag and go back to pick up the poop, in full view of her and her friend. I picked up the poop and brought it to the place where the confrontation had occurred and threw it away. I'm not sure if they saw, but they should have been able to. I assumed that was the end of things. It made our walk uncomfortable and unpleasant, since we weren't used to being swore at and talked down to, but I truly thought that was the finish of the whole affair.
Later that day, my mom came home from her 14 hour shift to find a couple of empty plastic bags on our porch with a note taped to it which read something like "here are some bags, pick up your dog poop." I regret to say that I threw the note down the garbage disposal out of anger and disgust.
She and I walked to the neighbor's house and knocked on the door, then run the doorbell. The father opened the door, smiled, laughed when my mother held up the bags and the note, and confirmed he had left them. He invited us in, supposedly because it was cold. As soon as he did that, I wanted to leave, but I wrote that off as part of my anxiety and the fact that I was angry at him and his family.
When he invited us in, my mother angrily, but politely, asked him what the bags and note were about (I was only able to get out half of the story to her, she was so angry). He, in the most friendly tone of voice possible, accused me of leaving dog poop on his lawn regularly, said that he was tired of it. I and my family of course know this is untrue, and that my dad has had to stop me from going back to get the dog poop late at night, in which case I return the next day. My mom and I, of course, said that we don't leave dog poop on his lawn. He began raising his voice and motioning his finger like he was talking to an unruly child. He refused to believe us. Apparently, probably because his lawn is right in front of the path that leads to the park, other people let their dogs poop on his lawn and don't pick it up. He apparently saw me once go back for a bag once and assumed I was leaving poop on his lawn, so now blames me and my family for all of it. He tried to say other neighbors had the same problem with me.
My mom and I then told him about the confrontation today and that we didn't appreciate it. (He seemed to know about it, but not all of it, of course. He never even checked to see if there was poop on the lawn any time afterward, since he told us outright that he didn't know.) I mentioned that his daughter followed us and swore and was very nasty to us.
This was about when he began to yell and deny that his daughter would do such a thing. I think this was about the time when his wife, who was listening in the kitchen, appeared and began defending her child, saying "my daughter doesn't swear."
I realized about this time that he wasn't going to believe us over his daughter, and he didn't care what we had to say because he was always going to think he was right. So the next five minutes were him shouting at us and arguing ridiculously, trying to assert his option over my mom and I. I eventually just left, yelling back to my mom that we didn't have to "put up with this sh*t." He immediately jumped on this, trying to use it as proof that we weren't good Christians (apparently the reason they were so defensive about the swearing bit was because they were Christians).
After we got home, I trashed the note and we tried to make each other feel better. We thought THAT was the end of it.
The next day, however, we got a visit from Animal control. Yes, he called animal control on us. The man who came to our house was very nice, he had checked to see if there was poop on the lawn to corroborate our neighbor's story and, surprise, it was clean. He didn't seem to think it was a problem and drove off after a 20 minute conversation with my mom.
All of us really want to avoid that house and those neighbors, but we have to walk by them to get to the park. Being near their house makes my sister and I edgy and anxious. I feel harassed and humiliated. I'm wondering if there's anything we can do about this, or that we should do to ensure that they don't try any other dirty tricks to get back at us.
