Blocked
We all know that people can be inconsiderate, but Melissa’s neighbors really take the cake. When she saw the boulder in her driveway for the umpteenth time, she grew absolutely livid. She had moved from Kansas City to California to study — not to get blocked in her own driveway on an almost-daily basis.
But, unluckily for her neighbors, Melissa was also a Ph.D. geology student. And the whole neighborhood was about to learn why you should never mess with a geologist.
Terrible Neighbors
As a neighbor, there are a lot of annoying things you could do to stir the ire of the neighborhood. Everyone has experienced a neighbor being loud at inappropriate hours or interfering in others’ business. But then, there are neighbors who are just downright rude.
These are the worst kind of neighbors, and if you don’t hold your own you may soon find yourself being taken advantage of.
Past Experience
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Unfortunately, Melissa was all-too-familiar with neighbor problems. While working hard at attaining her third degree, she had shared her space with inconsiderate roommates and neighbors before.
At the time, she and her roommates had lived in the same building for three years. So, she was, understandably, concerned when a group of new neighbors — who were first and second-year undergraduates — moved in. At first, she was pleasantly surprised. But then, they blocked her driveway!
The Perfect Arrangement
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Melissa had been lucky to find her current roommates. They all respected each other’s personal space, quirks, and schedules.
There had never been any need for altercations over noise levels, cleanliness, or quirks. They all cooperated with one another and lived in harmony. And when they realized how lucky they all were with their living arrangements, they knew they wouldn’t find better roommates anywhere else. Years passed by, and so did their lease agreements.
In It Together
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Each year when Melissa and her roommates renewed their leases, everyone — especially Melissa — was relieved to know that the others were still willing to keep their unique dynamic going.
Melissa commented on the situation, writing that she and her roommates had already been together for three years. She was initially worried when a group of undergrads moved into the building but was pleasantly surprised. Everything seemed to be going well. Little did she know, all hell was about to break loose.
Undergrad Parties
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“I never really had any issue until about a week and a half ago,” Melissa wrote in a post on social media. “This is actually the second time this has happened.”
Usually, undergraduate students are known to host bigger and wilder parties than graduate students — this is thought to be due to the fact that older students are used to the freedom they are afforded during college and have “gotten it out of their systems.” Although Melissa did admit that “they’ve generally been pretty considerate with noise and keeping people out of our yard,” when she saw the boulder, she saw red.
Blocking the Driveway
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So, why was Melissa so angry? Well, she had specifically approached her new neighbors and asked them politely to refrain from blocking her driveway when she saw that they were having a party.
“I went over to ask that people stay out of our backyard,” she wrote, “and noticed that a car was blocking us in, so I asked that it be moved by 7 am, and left a note.” When she woke up the next morning, the car had been moved. But in its place was a massive boulder.
Peace And Quiet
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Usually, Melissa enjoys quiet and solitude. After her long day of studying, she loves nothing more than getting some much-needed R&R with a cup of hot tea and a book.
Unfortunately, Melissa also happens to share her neighborhood with a large number of rowdy students. But, generally speaking, she has managed to lead a quiet and studious life — for the most part. But there was a rocky road for her and her rude neighbors just ahead — literally.
Blocked By A Boulder
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Before the incident, Melissa had gone to her car early one morning to find that it had been blocked by an enormous boulder. But this wasn’t just any old boulder — it had a very specific purpose.
It seemed as though one of the neighbors had decided that the rock was getting in his way, so he moved it over to Melissa’s side of the fence, right in front of her tire. Annoyed, she knocked on the door to get help moving it back, but there was no answer.
The Rock’s Purpose
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As it would later turn out though, It wasn’t some random slab of stone. The neighbors knew that all of their friends coming in and out with their cars would lead to some cramped space and difficult parking jobs.
In all that heyday, they were worried about their fence getting stuck in the middle of the commotion. So the rock had been purposely put nearby the fence to protect it from the dangers of irresponsible drivers or simply just bad parkers.
Moved to the Wrong Spot
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That was all fine and well, but when it needed to be moved, it seems Melissa’s request was all but forgotten…when one of Melissa’s neighbors needed to move their car and the rock was in their way, they just decided to inconsiderately move it anywhere else, without thinking about exactly where it was landing.
He moved it to Melissa’s side of the fence, ignoring the fact that another car was there – specifically, the car of the person who had nicely asked not to be blocked in.
It Wouldn’t Budge
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The giant rock was effectively blocking her car from backing out of the driveway. At first, she was just annoyed, but it was a much bigger rock, and a much bigger problem than it looked. When she tried to move it, it simply wouldn’t budge. And when she knocked on the door to get help to move it back, nobody answered.
It seemed like she was going to miss her obligation, which really upset her. But the worst of the situation was still to come…
Crazy Party
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Eventually, Melissa got help to put the rock back in the proper place. But the whole situation would soon go from careless and inconsiderate to downright intolerable.
Her rude neighbors had a crazy party one night, and she had gone over to ask them to make sure no cars would be blocking her driveway in the morning so she could leave for work. But when she woke up and went to her car, there was the boulder.
Getting Back at Her
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This time, Melissa knew that the giant rock had definitely ended up there on purpose. Her rowdy neighbors had moved the boulder there to get back at her for simply asking them to make sure her car wasn’t blocked.
She knew that if she moved the boulder back to where it was supposed to be, it would eventually end up on her side of the fence again. But they had forgotten one very important fact about Melissa, and they were about to seriously regret it.
She’s a Geologist
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It turns out that Melissa’s neighbors had seriously underestimated her. She was a very petite person, so they might have thought they could get away with making her life inconvenient, and she wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.
But what they had failed to remember was that Melissa was, in fact, a geologist. And that means she had access to a professional auto-chipper, which had the power to drill through stone and pulverize it in a matter of minutes.
Say Hello to My Little Friend
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Melissa was tired of being pushed around. She wanted to make sure that the neighbors next door got a very clear message to never underestimate her again.
So she hauled out her extremely loud stone-drilling machine at 7:30 am, cranked it up to the highest setting, and proceeded to obliterate the pesky boulder into a pile of rubble. Of course, she knew that the incredibly loud noise generated by the auto-chipper would make her neighbor’s post-party morning a living nightmare.
She Got to Work
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And so, she got to work destroying the boulder like a total boss. Being a geology student pursuing her Ph.D., she had access to heavy machinery and used the skills she learned during her studies to solve the problem posed by her annoying neighbors.
Along with her protective gloves, earmuffs, and eye goggles, she was ready for action. Who said it would be impractical to pursue geology? Well, nobody is saying that now, especially not her neighbors!
Just a Pile of Rubble
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Before long that pesky boulder was just a pile of rubble which she kindly swept over to her neighbors. Despite the size of it, Melissa successfully chipped away at it, and she did it with a satisfying smile.
She shared her updates on the story via Twitter and her tweet was shared over 10,000 times by the next morning and liked by more than 50,000 tweeters – it seemed her gratifying post was more relatable than she thought!
It Took Four Hours
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Melissa is incredibly intelligent and knew that if she was going to cause so much noise had to do it within acceptable hours, as the noise ordinance stops at 7 am, she started at 07:30 and worked on the boulder for four hours.
“Give yourself a decent pair of headphones, pipe in some good music, fuel it with tiny person-passive aggressive rage, and you’d be surprised how quickly a large boulder can be demolished (four hours with minimum breaks),” she wrote.
All Is Quiet
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Melissa could have waited until later in the afternoon to create a huge noise so as not to wake her neighbors, but why not get back at them by blasting the rock to bits early in the morning as they’re trying to sleep off the effects of the previous night’s festivities?
Melissa could now sit up and relax while taking pride in her handiwork. “Update: All is quiet,” she wrote. “Neighbors have deserted the premises. I am thoroughly enjoying a cup of tea.”
A Mutual Understanding
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Her pranksters probably didn’t think it would turn out like this for them, so after a job well done, we can only imagine how silly her neighbors must have felt, who after all, brought this upon themselves.
“Neighbor update: I have made eye contact w/2 of the guys. One gave me a nod, and the other looked at me with wide eyes like I’m a madwoman. I’d like to think that we have reached a mutual understanding.”
Time For Some Tea
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After Melissa destroyed the boulder and gave the boys an early morning wakeup call, she sat down to enjoy a cup of tea.
However, what made things even sweeter was the fact that she was able to kick back and know that these rowdy students were going to think twice from now on. Considering that this was the second time that Melissa’s car had been blocked in, she was happy to see that her neighbors might have finally gotten the hint.
Sharing Her Story
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Knowing that this was a unique story, Melissa decided to do a live feed on her Twitter account about the entire thing.
One thing was for sure, Melissa’s story was about to cause some serious buzz online and thousands of people were curious as to why the students decided to block her car in the first place. But before the questions came flooding in, people online couldn’t help but retweet her updates and before she knew it, the story blew up…
Story Went Viral
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Who knows if it was Melissa’s shameless attitude or her Tweets that made the story go viral. In any event, who doesn’t like to see a comical form of revenge?
Being that Melissa is legitimately a volcanologist, she knows her way around her fair share of boulders. She also happens to have access to a “VERY loud auto-chipper at 7:30am.” Melissa honestly had no issue with her neighbors until about a week and a half before this particular incident, when they blocked her car in because they didn’t want the boulder in their own driveway.
She Couldn’t Believe The Buzz She Got
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According to Melissa herself, she “had absolutely no clue that everybody would find this so funny — I just thought a few of my geologist friends would get a chuckle out of it.”
Her form of revenge was subtle yet loud; clever yet hilarious. She specifically waited until 7:30 am to start up the noise because she’s “gotta stay within those legal bounds” and the noise ordinance doesn’t stop until 7 am, at least in Melissa’s case.
The Beef Is Real
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Surprisingly, Melissa answered most of the questions that were being asked. She responded to the tweets explaining why her neighbors had done what they had done, explaining sarcastically what a “horrible lady” she was.
“Sadly, yes. I am the evil lady who requests that if they have a party and people park in the driveway, that they move the cars by 7 am so I can get out. I’m a horrid [person],” she wrote
A Working Class Hero
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The praise Melissa received was unreal! “The only part I’m disappointed with is that you weren’t doing this at 5 am,” one person wrote.
Melissa wasn’t expecting this response when she had originally posted the story. She didn’t know that people would find it so funny, but the attention she received was overwhelming. She commented on how she had gained hundreds of followers since the story spread and hopes that she can serve as a role model for young girls to become scientists.