‘My neighbour used his wife’s cancer to guilt-trip me into sharing my driveway’

Parking is rarely a straight forward issue – sometimes there’s just not enough spaces to go around, and you might have to end up borrowing a space from a neighbour who doesn’t need theirs.

This happened in a busy neighbourhood, where a woman agreed to let her neighbour, whose wife has cancer, use her driveway because it’s easily accessible, in case she needs to be rushed to hospital in an emergency.

This didn’t cause any issues until one day the woman needed the driveway for her friend to park in. She works as a caterer, and needed her friend to come over to pick up some food she had cooked.

Because the parking spaces in front of her house were full, the friend parked in the driveway while they collected the food and had a quick chat.

However, when her neighbour drove up and realised the space was occupied they began screaming at her, and she has been left wondering if she’s the one in the wrong.

Taking to Reddit, the woman explained that she has a “neutral” relationship with her neighbour, but when he asked to use her driveway she “didn’t exactly mind” because they don’t use it often, and it “was for a good cause”.

However, one day their relationship turned sour. In a recent post on the forum website, she explained: “I had a friend come over and pick up some food I cooked. As my friend drove by, he parked in the driveway because the parking spaces in front of my house were full.

“It was a quick stop, I gave the food, shared a couple words and my friend was about to leave until [the neighbour’s] car pulled up. [He] left the car in the middle of the street, walked out of his car and started to curse me out, all while my friend was watching.

“I was totally shocked that [the neighbour] chose to do that, and he was angry about the fact that my friend was using my driveway.

“This was when his wife comes in, she angrily storms out of the car and starts to yell at me too. At this point they’re screaming and calling me names, accusing me of being a terrible person for using my driveway specifically when they told me to not use it.”

They also began to “guilt trip” the woman by saying things like “my wife has cancer” and “who the hell do you think you are”.

She tried to reason with them, but has been left feeling “somewhat selfish” because she had allowed them to use the driveway, and that she wouldn’t.

However, many commenters supported the woman, adding that she shouldn’t feel bad for using her own driveway.

One person commented: “Stop letting them use it. The entitlement is real. I’d put up some cameras though in case they decide to be nasty.”

Another added: “End the arrangement. Tell them in no uncertain terms that their actions caused this result, and had they been patient and reasonable, they’d still have access.”

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