A woman says she’s been left feeling rather unnerved by her neighbours, who won’t stop staring at she and her husband through their kitchen window – but they don’t like it when they retaliate
Summer should be a time for enjoying the warmer weather and long shimmering evenings – but for one woman, the sunny season arrives accompanied by plenty of dread.
According to this unnamed woman, each year, as soon as the temperature starts to rise, her elderly neighbours will sit out on their back porch. Nothing wrong at all with that of course, except that they spend this time staring at her and her husband while they’re out in their own garden, or in the kitchen that overlooks it.
She and her husband, who’ve lived on the street for eight years, have tried to ignore the stares, but after ‘feeling the eyes’ on them, they’ve previously taken to staring back ‘in retaliation’. The older couple, who she describes as ‘miserable’ and ‘narcissistic’, don’t take kindly to this, and have expressed that they ‘feel victimised’ when they themselves are stared at.
Explaining the exceedingly uncomfortable situation via Reddit, the fed-up woman wrote: “We used to tolerate each other over the eight years my husband and I have lived here, but that all changed when they saw me smoking weed in my backyard quietly one night three to four years ago (since then, I have quit the habit). When that happened, they started to treat us very strangely – no more friendliness, openly watching us through their windows, etc.
“I have tried ignoring them and even waving at them when they are staring (sarcastically lol), but it always ends the same way: every summer, we have these awkward situations where they are on their back porch and we are in our backyard and trying our best not to look over at the more-than-likely staring they give us.”
Although she’s considered trying to talk the issue over with the couple in a ‘civil way’, she doesn’t hold out much hope for this approach, believing her neighbours to be ‘textbook narcissists’. Reaching out to fellow Reddit users for advice, she continued: “Getting angry/even with them won’t work as they strive off of negative energy, and they aren’t doing anything illegal. We thought about installing a one-way mirror film on our windows facing their porch or installing a big sunshade that blocks where they sit. However, I wonder if this will only exacerbate the issue…”
A number of creative ideas were proposed in response, with one person suggesting: “Please, please, please start sunbathing topless. Maybe walk around with a T-shirt that says “I see you”, “Eyes on your own paper” or “Watcha lookin’ at?” Taking a different view, another advised: “Enjoy your life. Smile and laugh a lot, it will truly p*** them off. Pretend that no one lives there.”
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