r/mildlyinfuriating • u/_chair_man_ • 4h ago
I'm slightly vexed The FOURTH time we’ve seen this lady steal our roses
This is the THIRD time (sorry title is wrong) we’ve seen her do this. So who knows how many times she’s done it without us noticing?? We’ve caught her before but she keeps coming back. AND she literally brings scissors so she goes out the door to take roses from MY HOUSE. MY GOD are people shameless. Literally in broad daylight where everyone and our cameras can see. The last time we called her out, and yet she came back?? Also we did tell her to stop. Multiple times
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u/Gattski 4h ago
Slap her hand and say NO firmly lol
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u/Hot_Occasion_7400 2h ago
Spray her with coyote urine(which is found on line at Home Depot).
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u/Nope-not-really 4h ago
take a still from this photo. put it right by the roses with a Dave Chappelle "gotcha bitch" meme right below it
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u/HiroshiTakeshi 3h ago edited 2h ago
Honestly?
No word is enough to put the fear of god. Just put the picture with an eye emoji or hell, nothing. No comment, just a silent "I see you."
EDIT : forgot we're talking about old ladies. They generally have no self awareness, which is generally what is needed for this to work.
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u/DistinctiveFox 2h ago
Oh old ladies absolutely have self awareness, they just have no empathy and don't care and pretend they are senile to get away with it. They also seem to bask in the shit storms they like to create!
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u/HiroshiTakeshi 2h ago
Oh idk I figured It's a 50/50. This one seems both not to gaf AND to have the self awareness of a tin can.
Can't say the number of videos where you see some old lady commit some act of misconduct to a straight up crime and either turn totally clueless or say they dgaf. Wild times, man. 💀
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u/Livid-Accident-7246 4h ago
Motion detecting sprinkler system
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u/couchpro34 3h ago
Is that really a thing!? This is the second comment I've seen suggesting that
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u/sold-separately 3h ago
100% a thing, we got one to keep deer out of our garden!
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u/Fit-Engineering-2789 4h ago
Call the police if you've already told her not to. That's theft and trespassing.
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u/Silver_Middle_7240 4h ago
I would follow her home first to get her address, so they can't pull the "nothing we can do about it" act
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u/General_whisky PURPLE 4h ago
They love that act
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u/EternityNotes 4h ago
It's either that, or a full clip emptied into center mass
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u/General_whisky PURPLE 4h ago
Oh, sometimes they reload. It kinda depends on your skin tone
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u/Lady_Forget_Me_Not 4h ago
And who pays for the guns, the bullets, the tactical gear and all that exactly 👀
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u/hammertime2009 3h ago
Especially when they are feel fear. And that fear is subjective. Whether it’s an actual threat is kinda up to them.
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u/EternityNotes 3h ago
She could throw the roses at the cop and one of the thorns could puncture an artery and the cop could bleed out right then and there while trying to scream, "stop resisting"
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u/Sublimesmile 3h ago edited 3h ago
Unless it’s a man going across state lines to purchase weed, then they will drop the act, go all hands on deck, and pull every resource they can out of every nook and cranny.
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u/refep 3h ago
Will the police even bother showing up for a call like that lol
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u/Charming-Border7429 1h ago edited 1h ago
No. We have two teenage foster daughters who have been stalked and harassed by their former church. Trucks have been sitting outside our house for hours at a time. We documented, took photos and videos.
It came to a head when one of the trucks followed the girls to school... where they called the SRO for an escort into the building. The SRO documented the vehicle and occupants.
When we gave the information to the local police, they said there was nothing they could do.
We took it above their head to the DA... my wife works closely enough with them that they can't afford to piss her off. They opened an investigation.
Turns out the local police chief was reducing charges for women who would suck his dick or have sex with him in his police vehicle. Once the investigation started and an ambitious subordinate (who wanted his job) started talking, he resigned and disappeared in the middle of the night.
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u/loki2002 32m ago
What does the police chief getting his dick sucked have to do with your kids getting stalked by their church?
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u/Charming-Border7429 22m ago
He was a misogynistic fuck who wouldn't investigate violence or abuse against women… because powerless females were his hunting ground.
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u/BadOmen379 4h ago
Spray her with a hose next time.
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u/The999HappyHaunts PURPLE 3h ago
I read this as “horse” and I was genuinely confused. Are we gonna have a horse pee on her?
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u/la_rana_verde 4h ago
Spray her with the water hose if you dont want to involve the police a d you are tired of constantly talking to her about it
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u/WaffleHouseGladiator 4h ago
FYI: you might consider that harmless, but it's still assault/battery.
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u/No-Bank2152 2h ago
Sounds like a weak case and would love to hear the defense to "yeah I was constantly trespassing and stealing but they sprayed me with a hose"
Unless they have video with audio it'd be hard for her to prove intent for assault or battery
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u/MoundsEnthusiast 3h ago
She's on your property stealing... it's water. If that's assualt and battery, we need to revisit those laws.
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u/cyanraichu 3h ago
I think the point is it could be used against OP if they decided to go to the cops later or if they were caught. Not that she wouldn't deserve it.
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u/Immediate-Fee-2121 3h ago
Lady I don’t know with a pair of scissors on my property? I bet you they’d take my side on that one lol
Old people fucking suck tho. The sense of entitlement is absurd
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u/-WeetBixKid- 3h ago
I mean you have all the plausible deniability in the world. You’re on your property. You just wanted to go outside and water your garden. You’ve got your AirPods in, you’re in your own little world. You turn while watering, but you don’t expect or see a tiny woman on your property HACKING into your garden. Not guilty.
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u/big-ol-kitties 4h ago
Set off your car alarm
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u/Cirrus-Stratus 4h ago
This!
It doesn’t impact her physically (like a sprinkler).
What if she slipped in the water and sued OP?
Sure would be a mess.
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u/dragonzdude 3h ago
Well, she was trespassing, wasn't she? Also, slipping on water isn't a booby trap, so the OP can't be sued over this.
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u/imsoscured 3h ago
As someone who has one of these old Asian ladies as a mother, this makes me cringe and I apologize on behalf of them. If they immigrated over awhile ago - when their country was dirt poor - the concept of personal property (in terms of things that grow or crawl on the ground) is really hazy. Also, they grew up with the mindset to obtain things as cheap/free as possible.
I remember my Asian mom did not GAF - she would drag me along to poach crabs, clams and oysters without a license, well over the limit, out of season, adults and babies.. Forced me to sneak into neighbor's yards to steal their chanterelle mushrooms. Snuck onto nature conservancies dedicated to plant and wildlife preservation. Snuck into no-trespass forests on military bases for mushrooms and ferns. Steals grapes from her neighbors yards without asking, and when they confronted her, she argued with them and angrily bad mouths them till this day. It's so shameful and embrassing. I'm so sorry.. A lot just don't care and don't agree with the law when it comes to harvesting.
Maybe something you can do, if you know where she lives, is to gift her a big cutting from your bush and say "I saw you liked my rose bush and wanted to give you a piece so you can grow your own."
She'll be super embarrassed that she was caught red handed, and yet she won't be able to refuse the 'gift' because you're being so 'nice'. And now that she knows that you know, she'll leave your bush alone and not bad mouth you to all the other neighbors. 😔
Edit: Just realized you mentioned you already confronted her. I would just set up one of those fancy sprinklers everyone is talking about!
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u/wowitshemlock 3m ago
Lmaooo the five paragraph solution, which I frankly agree with, only to be overturned by a two sentence edit. I do think the gift idea is probably still okay, look at how she looks around to see if anyone’s around. If you catch her red-handed, she will be very embarrassed. Then next time she comes, you don’t even need the sprinklers, just open your window and say you don’t have anymore to give her.
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u/princetonwu 3h ago
Is she chinese? If so, her generation was probably brought up during the Cultural Revolution, during which time they are taught to obtain as much as possible for as little as possible
what to do about it? Pride is very important for them. If you post a picture outside with her stealing the roses, I bet she will not have the face to come back.
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u/tvjunkie710 GREEN 3h ago
I have a lot of Chinese people by me who will come onto my property as well as into my backyard to take fruit from my trees. Whenever you say something they just look at you and have no reaction
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u/PaperParentDinosaur 2h ago
Same! We had these plastic flowers that spun in the wind and our neighbors would just stand in our yard with their toddler and let them pick the flowers up and play with them. Like…it’s on our property and also they’re not toys?? Why would you feel entitled to move my stuff??
Every confrontation was just a brick wall, blank stare. I honestly think it stopped because the kid got tired of it. Who knows how often it happened without me even catching them.
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u/lord_de_heer 2h ago
I just dont understand how you keep on talking. By the 3rd time id grab the hose and use that to shoo ‘m away.
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u/DuckCleaning 1h ago
We've had several incidents in my city where older Chinese women not only steal flowers off plants, some of them straight up steal whole pots with flowers in them right off people's porch. The city has a 60+% Chinese population though, so it's not a racism thing going on, it is other Chinese residents calling them out. The affordability of doorbell/house cams are a real game changer in this day and age.
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u/DeltaGrunder 1h ago
It's generational, specifically those who grew up during the cultural revolution or joined red guards. Younger chinese also dislike them
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u/DuckCleaning 1h ago
My city (in Canada) is largely Cantonese/Hong Kong immigrants so it's hard to say, mainlanders only started coming here heavily in the past 10 years . I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the several negative stigmas they have towards mainlanders coming here and point fingers when it happens.
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u/InvisaBlah 1h ago
Where I live its pretty normal to pluck an apple or something off a tree in someones yard, if its within a reasonable distance from public space. You wouldn't go walking across someones lawn and start harvesting a tree next to their front door though.
I had to explain this to my ex-wife once when visiting the states, because she didnt understand that you couldn't just go take fruit from someones tree. Cultural differences.
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u/Party-Giraffe-6573 2h ago
Oh, the classic dazibao approach. Perfect for keeping on theme of the cultural revolution.
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u/DeltaGrunder 1h ago
Young chinese people even have derogatory terms for old people of that generation and women in particular akin to Karen but more specific and pejorative
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u/leeann7 4h ago
lol at you filming her from inside instead of speaking up .
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u/_chair_man_ 4h ago
we did yell at her…after I cut the video. A lot.
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u/4StarsOutOf12 4h ago
What was her reaction?
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u/_chair_man_ 4h ago
she walked away and said nothing. basically acting dumb
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u/Primary-Ganache6199 3h ago
Well she’s an old woman. Just go her to home and tell her family to make her stop doing it.
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u/cyanraichu 3h ago
We all know it's impossible for anyone to post to Reddit AND take action against a problem /s
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u/QualityAware6605 2h ago
4th time youve done nothing about it? Are you expecting people in this sub to stop her?
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u/Ok-Simple30 2h ago edited 2h ago
fourth time and nothing still done ... at that point she's not stealing, youre giving them to her lol
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u/Pleasant-Degree-3662 4h ago
Hang up a sign that says Roses 15 Dollars each.
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u/Unknowingly-Joined 2h ago
Why are you watching her rather than confronting her?
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u/ChaoCobo 1h ago
They said they yelled at her a lot after they stopped filming and her only reaction was…. Nothing. Legit just a blank stare before she waddled off to wherever else
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u/sovereignsekte 4h ago
Hide a skunk in the bushes. Or dress up like a skunk and spray her with a fire extinguisher.
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u/Pope-Le-Pew 1h ago
I had a problem with people removing huge branches of my dogwood tree every year as it started blooming. I then sprayed my tree with malathion. Maybe I had a bug problem, you never know. Smelled like a combination of tuna and tomato soup farts. No one wanted those flowers after that. No problem since.
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u/JollyGiant573 1h ago
Nope, I would hit my car alarm. Set up an automatic sprinkler, that will teach her to trespass.
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u/ret255 4h ago
Her thouht: "Nice, l wasn't cought also for the fourth time. That adrenaline rush gets me all the time. Next week l am going again."😀
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u/Agreeable-Narwhal158 3h ago
Spray her with a water bottle and go aht aht aht as you do it. Works for my cat, so it should work for her too
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u/Trolley_Zombie15 3h ago
All the comments saying a paintball gun or a super soaker would be a great deterrent are all great ideas until you realize that's somehow assault and battery- despite the fact someone is trespassing on your property and stealing your stuff their rights supersede yours in the eyes of the law.
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u/Indicus124 3h ago
Because she is no credible threat she is stealing there is no self defense law that allows you to shoot someone just for theft without believing to be in immediate danger
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u/mindovermatter15 4h ago
Not defending her, but is there a possibility of dementia issues or similar? Maybe her brain is telling her that this is normal, okay, and that it would be nice to clip some flowers.
I don't know what the best course of action would be in that case, maybe getting in touch with a family member or caregiver to ensure that she doesn't do it anymore.
Again, not defending her, this is literally destruction of property and theft, not to mention trespassing. It needs to be handled in an appropriate manner.
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u/_chair_man_ 4h ago
I get what you’re saying, but walking out the door with scissors, multiple times is pretty hard to defend, and also there was one time she spotted my mom watching her and she hid them so she knows it’s not a great thing to do
also we have the same rose as your profile pic it’s so pretty :)
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u/mindovermatter15 4h ago
Oof, hiding the scissors does show that she knows it's wrong. Super soaker it is!
Thank you! It's a picture of my mom's rose garden that I took years ago. I agree, they're beautiful roses!
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u/Sure-Squash-7280 4h ago
My mom does this crap.
Always has. She’ll pull on the tears, act like she has dementia, can’t speak English, will just lie right out of her butt.
She thinks she’s smart and brags about it.
I really wish that lady was for sure my mom (she isn’t) because I would give you the go ahead to get her arrested or whatever.
I understand wanting to give people the benefit of the doubt but I don’t think she deserves it from her behavior
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u/R3pp3pts0hg 3h ago
Follow her at a distance to get her address. Wait until she goes inside, then knock on the door. See if someone else answers. Ask them who she is and explain that she keeps trespassing and stealing roses. Ask if she has cognitive issues. Ask them to stop her from stealing again.
If it continues, call the police to go over and tell her. Ask them to document it. Subsequent thefts can them be ticketed.
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u/DollarStoreChameleon 4h ago
if shes doing this several times a day you need to contact police for property damage. she will destroy your roses
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u/Aussie_Aussie_No_Mi 2h ago
Had a nearly identical situation with my Dad and his roses about 15 years back. Old lady was told, yelled at multiple times not to just cut and take roses.
Eventually he just sprayed her full force with the hose, she called the cops and when questioned he said "I was just watering my roses". She never came back.
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u/AllMySmallThings 2h ago
In most cases people just need to ask. I grew up with an avocado tree in our yard and we would give them away to people in the neighborhood if they asked. We would tell off people if we caught them just taking them. Just be civil and ask your neighbors about stuff.
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u/Legal_Lettuce6233 2h ago
Having lived in a tourist town for 20 years, old Asian people are some of the most entitled ones on planet earth. It's honestly fascinating how they don't even realise it.
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u/Hungry-Onion-7146 4h ago
Lemme ask ya something. There are lots of beautiful roses around where I live and I am a horticulturalist. Never stolen off somebody's plant, but what is a protocol that you wouldn't mind accommodating as the owner.. like, is it appropriate to come up and knock to ask? Or totally off limits?
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u/_chair_man_ 4h ago
honestly if somebody came up and knocked on my door to ask for a flower clipping I’d be super happy and flattered
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u/Hungry-Onion-7146 4h ago
I wanted to think that, but I know some folks don't want to deal with doorknockers and such. But yeah, when I see one like yours next, I'll try to ask the homeowner.
I'd be happy just taking stems that "need" to be taken at the time and clean er up a bit while I'm there as a thank you!
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u/TheTVDB 4h ago
My wife had a whole bunch of lupines at one of our previous houses. A woman left a note in our mailbox asking if she could have some, along with her number. My wife gave her a bunch and then at the end of the season collected a bunch of seeds for the lady. A note is simple and safe.
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u/Its_Me_Cant_See 4h ago
If the owner was standing there, would you ask them first? If the answer is yes, then don't do it. Pretty simple compass to follow.
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u/Dazzling-Rabbit5668 3h ago
Bold little lady
But she is wrong about her way of saying I would love to have a few fresh flowers and go to the door and ask for them
I have done this before after I asked people live there plus I have always went around the bottom and not disturb the view of the flowers at their own owners
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u/Entire_526 3h ago
If I were you I would be seated on (what i believe is your brown car), waiting for the exact moment and BAM!!(oops my car door has a life of its own)...
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u/fareastbeast001 2h ago
Had old asian women doing this at our house all the time. My sons dog keeps them out now. It's always the old asian women...
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u/CoreeaAna 1h ago
take a photo of her and print it and post it in front of your roses, she will stop doing it also print these emoji under the photo 👵+🌷= 🤳📞👮🏻♂️🚓
She will stop
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u/Mayiamaru 1h ago
Honestly, after a few times, if she doesn't stop, she has earned that call from the cops.
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u/PortlandHotTransMilf 1h ago
Purchase a Super Soaker squirt gun and fill it full of fish sauce and then when she comes around to steal your roses squirt the fuck out of her
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u/squigglekisses 19m ago
God people im these comments are either spinless ("just let her take your property") or didnt read the entire post ("did you tell her to stop")
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u/WTAFS_going_on 4h ago
I didn't see a rose. I could have missed it. Is she just taking green to propagate? Not saying that is okay to do without asking.
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u/Overall_Win4144 3h ago
Id cut a good stem, pot it, till it roots out and give it to her to grow her own
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u/Ordinary_Topic_3198 4h ago
Personally, it’s just roses…. I’d speak to her and ask her if she needs help planting roses of her own, and I’d offer to help. I’ll even buy the seeds.
I did it for one of my neighbors, a retired woman. Her lawn had brown patches and she asked me if I knew companies that could redo her lawn.
I bought the seeds, fertilizer and did it for her. Also watered the seeds.
That’s just me though…. Other people’s views may vary on how to approach this.
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u/ElevatorOtis 3h ago
OP said in the post that they have talked to her and asked her to stop and she keeps doing it.
To you, it’s just roses. But, would you feel the same if those roses were planted in memory of someone? Or, if OP was unable to have kids so instead OP leaned in on horticulture and made their yard beautiful?
You can speak on your experience and I am impressed with what you’ve done. But, OP is obviously upset over their roses being stolen, telling the lady to stop, and having the lady continue to disrespect that and keep stealing more roses.
I’m not intending to cause beef between you and myself. It’s just that your last sentence lands kind of harsh. Like your way is more giving and forgiving and OP being offended is a less than view. Words don’t carry any inflection or emotions that you may have intended. There is a difference between intentions and impact.
Roses or grass or any item a person has is not there for people to steal. The lady should have asked first. But, when she was told to stop, the lady should have respected that and stopped.
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u/Live_Life_and_enjoy 4h ago
that's one amazing mic, it caught directional sound i thought it was happening in my room
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u/oscarx-ray 4h ago
If someone is repeatedly trespassing on your property with something that could reasonably be construed as a weapon, vandalising and stealing your shit, then the least you can do is fucking drop-kick them.
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u/couchpro34 3h ago
That's so rude!!!! Our local greenway has some wildflower patches and I wouldn't even pick a flower from there, much less an actual yard!!
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u/LabiaMinoraLover 3h ago
Is it illegal to put up an electric fence like what cattle ranchers use? 🔌⚡🫨
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u/ThatguySevin 3h ago
Wait 10 years, recording every single rose stolen, sue her for n roses x $ rose market value.
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u/Santa1082 3h ago
Maybe file a police report? Not sure if they'll do anything but it's worth a shot.
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u/Ill-Daikon-5637 3h ago
Id make a police report and call and document every time she trespasses. Id also get a digital sprinkler control you can easily turn on when you see her there.
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u/Acceptable_Breath_96 3h ago
I would try and talk to her. In a calm voice.if she comes back strinklers it is
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u/Beneficial-Point-454 3h ago
Is there a language barrier? Maybe confront her in person and see but try to be respectful and polite
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u/Casually_Chillin 2h ago
She keeps doing it because so far the consequences have not been enough for her to stop. The more she does it without confrontation or consequence the more it is reinforcing in her mind that she can do it.
Post a No Trespassing sign visible. Have her trespassed from your property. Confront her every time, video her in her face and do not make it comfortable for her. Call LE and trespass her.
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u/porp_crawl 2h ago
That "look around."
They know that what they are doing is wrong.
They just want to get away with it.
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u/Zabajabaforest 1h ago
Shes an old lady, why are you letting her get away with it? A well-timed yell looks enough to topple her over
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u/Ariarikay 1h ago
An older asian woman would do this in my neighborhood many years ago, she walked around with a baby stroller. No baby, instead it held simple garden tools, like a spade and clippers, she dug up entire plants from my mother's garden
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u/Flat-Structure-7472 4h ago
Honestly, if all you do is film her and yell “hey” it’s not surprise he keeps doing it.
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u/ElevatorOtis 3h ago
Reread the post, OP said they have talked to her each time they caught her doing it
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u/StressFantastic5317 4h ago
Due to her age I would say perhaps talk to her about planting her own, if she a neighbor. Those are great roses
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u/i_live_outside 4h ago
Maybe if you just politely fired a few dozen paintballs at her she would see your side of the story.
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u/AdmiralEvergreen 2h ago
When you're in a selfish behavior contest and your opponent is a Chinese Boomer
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u/Ember-Forge 4h ago
This seems a bit crappy, but hey, you could possibly make a cool neighborhood friend. It could be neat if you taught her how to grow roses like yours, and bond over them.
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u/JRemenshneidersHorse 4h ago edited 3h ago
I have 3 rose bushes that I put zero care into and they bloom like weeds multiple times per year. I wouldn't care if someone snipped some off. I just don't have an emotional connection of putting a lot of care into them. So I do understand that its annoying if someone does it without asking or if they raid the whole bush. I know people do that with fruit trees and its not cool.
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u/DollarStoreChameleon 4h ago
motion detection sprinklers seem to do wonders against these people