- 01
Smiling Mom comforts her young son while he hides his face.
The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
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This person explained that for the past 4 years, they and their wife have been living at this place. Oh, and they're big into horror, which I am as well, so I understand their desire for scary-cute decor. (My year-round Halloween decorations are some napkins in my kitchen that read “Pick your poison.” But that's it! Nothing outside my house that would indicate that it's spooky season all the time).
They share that their particular design choice is a very peculiar door mat:
My wife and I (both 32) have been living at our apartment for 4 years and are both huge horror fans. We have had an art the clown door mat from spirit Halloween for 2 years now, it’s not a Halloween decoration it’s just what we like.
Last month (around the beginning of April) we had some neighbors move in across from us. They have two kids, one is a baby and one is maybe 3-4 years old. The first time we met them was a couple days after they moved in, we were all bringing in groceries and I introduced myself, shook hands, all of that. The dad says “still Halloween huh?” And I just laughed it off.
- 02
Halloween decoration of a clown with sharp teeth and red eyes.
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That seems like a bit of an awkward first meeting, but whatever, things happen.
But there was a reason for the Dad to point out the Halloween decor. Maybe it was his way of passively asking this person to get rid of it.
Since then we’ve come home 4 times to them flipping our doormat, and we know it’s them because we have a ring camera. We were fine letting them do it and just flippng it back until a couple days ago when we caught them doing it in person. We asked what the issue was and apparently their son is super afraid of it, even though the kid was right there and was acting completely fine. Not crying, not anything. The only one that seemed agitated at all was the mom, who swore at us and rolled her eyes and was just generally unpleasant. Haven’t interacted w her much before or since. My wife waited until they were inside and flipped it back over.
Hmmm…
So that's not great!
It's odd that their kid is apparently so scared of this thing that they're turning it over for him. When things scared me as a kid, I was told to just close my eyes. You can't really go around touching other people's belongings, now can you?
- 03
Little boy sits on stairs of house decorated for Halloween with lots of jack o lanterns.
The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
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But you know what, maybe the kid really is super upset by it. When you're little, you just don't fully understand the world around you. A scary clown doormat might give you major nightmares. You might be scared to go outside to play, knowing you have to see the scary clown. Kids minds just work differently than adult ones.
I stayed out with the dad and talked it over and he seemed fine. He said he understood it was our space and he’d talk it over with his wife and that his son was old enough to understand it couldn’t hurt him.
This morning we walked out and saw our doormat wasn’t even flipped over, it was thrown outside of the stairwell. We live on the 4th floor so it was a very deliberate thing.
- 04
Mom hugs son close.
The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
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This seems like a wife against wife kind of situation! Because…
My wife wants to report it to management but I’m just about tired enough of this. I kinda wanna throw it away, but I also wanna keep it. Idk, I’m just confused y'all.
So to recap, the Dad seems pretty relaxed about this overall. The Mom is the one doing the mat flipping. The kid isn't acting scared when he sees the mat. Interesting!
Before we check other people's thoughts, we can consider a few things. Such as, there's no need to trash a perfectly good door mat. By next year, the kid will be 5, and maybe he won't fear it any more.
Maybe there's a place inside the home it could go. I know some outdoor mats are like rough and bristle-y. But if it's soft enough, it could become a kitchen sink mat or even a bath mat. And if it is bristle-y, maybe they could leave it inside by the front door and put their shoes on it before entering the home.
Some people thought that the kid wasn't scared of the clown mat at all, and instead, the mat just irritates the Mom. Maybe she's just tired of seeing it; it doesn't fit her aesthetic preferences, and so she wants it gone. But she's also being rather passive-aggressive about it if that's the case.
- 05
Plastic jack o lantern sits among acorns and fall leaves.
The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
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Some people weighed in on the whole doormat debacle…
throwaway2117000
Report it so there’s a trail of them destroying your property. They will continue to escalate.
blackcatcreature
Listen, you're gonna get a lot of comments saying "It's your house, your life," and while that is technically true, the nice thing to do here would be to flip the doormat or move it elsewhere. You don't know anything about this kid other than the few times you've seen him-- he might be silent around you but waking his parents up because he's terrified the clown is under his bed. You don't know and your immediate assumption that your neighbors are lying doesn't necessarily mean that they are. If they're taking such extreme time and effort from their lives to keep flipping it over without trying to harass you over it, it's probably not a power play.
In the end, is this a battle worth fighting? Is making enemies of your neighbors over a really fixable, 2-second solution problem worth it? Is this the hill y'all wanna d-e on? Can this mat not be moved temporarily to the garage door or back door, or the inside of the doorway? You aren't technically in the wrong I guess, but man you aren't gonna open the door to these neighbors doing you any favors in the future, that's for sure.
FreddZeppelin
ESH
This is one of those situations where Reddit will always say you’re right. It’s your home, you can do what you want, &@$%# the neighbors.
But is all that really worth scaring a little kid over? There are times when it’s best to bend a little just to be a good neighbor.
I don’t condone your neighbor trashing your doormat. But maybe think about what’s really the most important thing here.
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