Neighbour cheating on husband AND being awful. Is revenge ever worth it?

[CornishIrish]

So, this is really a general Sunday night WWYD question.

We have neighbours behind us who own a field. Since they moved in to our little otherwise chilled out village they have been total nightmares. Knocking out our phone lines right before Christmas last year and causing general hassle.

Just in the last few days our lovely but not super attentive, gardener cut into a bit of the boundary hedge. We said we would replace it but they have since sent a super threatening letter saying they will take us to court if we haven’t made good the hedge in 30 days. Poor gardener is so upset. The hedge looks over absolutely nothing. A bit of grass. They’d have to go out of their way to see it.

Anyway, I recently saw her out in the forest near us with a fella who wasn’t her husband and they were being super, er, friendly with each other. Apparently they have been seen on other occasions too.

So, to finally get to the AIBU bit… Have you ever taken petty revenge i.e. grassed up a cheater for your own nefarious reasons and how did it work out and is petty revenge ever justified?

I would. They sound a nightmare. Make sure it’s anonymous because they’re both probably nuts.

No because I am not a child, I would be more worried about myself if it did make me feel better

erm… if they split up that my result in them having to sell the house to divide assets so you’d get rid of them. I’m not sure I’d have it in me to deliberately sabotage, I’d just quietly hope that he found out and I got rid of them without me getting involved.

Drop heavy hints to her about how you've been watching the wildlife in the forest. Wiggle your eyebrows and smile knowingly. Hopefully she'll understand the subtle blackmail and be more neighbourly.

Surely there's no requirement for you to even have a hedge?

I think I'd find a way to let her know it's not in her interests to cause you any more difficulties.

No. I was looking for a scarf DD dropped on a walk and they were walking on a parallel track and then stopped to have a particularly slurpy snog. I tried to keep in my breakfast and ducked.

If you were truly skilled at vengeance you would have been carrying a paparazzi style camera and caught some front page style snaps.

(Yes, I may have been watching Rivals this weekend!)

You have to continue to live there so make sure whatever you do doesn’t make it harder for you.

Oh, I so would take advantage of this God given opportunity to get rid of the pair of them for good.

Post an anonymous note to the husband and if you see her at it again, take a snap & post it to the pair of them separately. Hopefully they'll split and be gone from your peaceful village forever.

I would do it OP. Fuck them. Hopefully it means they will move

It's all very Rivals.

Do you live in the Cotswolds OP

What makes you think its Mrs Neighbour that's the driving force behind your issues with them? What if its Nr Neighbour who's the arse and she's all "leave it Bernard, it was an accident" but he's having none of it? Grass her up and you're doing Bernard a favour. If he's your nemesis you'd have better revenge letting him be the village cuckold.

Wiltshire/Somerset borders. It’s usually just quiet 😆 The odd escaped chicken or teenagers with a few too many ciders.

Next time you pass her be sure to be singing Teddy Bears picnic as you pass, with a knowing smile and 😉

Absolutely yes I would!
As an aside, where can I find Rivals, didn't realise it had started yet!!

I'm not against a bit of petty revenge per se but you have to live very near these people. Is it worth ramping up the falling out? Yes they were petty about the hedge but your gardener was at fault at the end of the day. Also you have no idea if they have some sort of open relationship? I wouldn't get involved.

@TheDuck2018
Rivals is on Disney. I've just lost my weekend to it. Great stuff.

Great, thankyou ☺️

I would fix the hedge and then tell!

They’ll go bananas.

Have a read here https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/3288349-people-keep-having-sex-in-my-hedge which doesn’t include revenge but does include community building.

I wouldn’t. Because the odds of it splitting them are not high over a slurpy snog with no evidence.

More like turn them against you even more as the common enemy.

What would you say.

Yeah mr annoying neighbour who we have issues with, I saw your wife snogging a guy in the wood.

Hmm I'm not really into revenge - I'm more the 'karma will do its work eventually' kinda person. However... in this case, I'd agree with others saying go for it.

As an aside, I totally read that sentence as 'the odd escaped chicken drinking a few too many ciders.' Time for another cuppa to wake up properly, I think! 😂

Did you sue them for cutting phone line? I would send a strongly worded letter back saying that you counter sue