I got my neighbour's kid's birthday party shut down, then I received a note

"You couldn’t take a day off from the pool to let a kid enjoy their birthday? That’s just sad," someone wrote on the viral post. 

A man has taken to an online forum to share how he got his neighbour's kid's birthday party shut down because they were disobeying the apartment complex pool's strict rules.

It's a story that would make any neighbourhood vigilante proud, however, his actions weren't without retaliation. 

The man later received a passive-aggressive note under his door that left him questioning what he did. 

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"The entire pool was filled with kids, we tried to stay but it wasn't working."

Taking to the forum, the man explained that he lives in an apartment complex with a pool. 

He and his boyfriend headed down there on a Saturday afternoon and noticed it was packed, not just a little bit but "wayyy too packed."

"I knew this couldn’t all be residents," he said. "There were maybe 25-30 people with beer (double rule break, alcohol AND glass), loud music and they were also using both of the BBQs on the patio.

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"After investigating further it looked like one of the small families that I’ve seen around the complex was having a birthday party for their kid."

The OP then says that his complex "technically" has a rule that all non-residents must be checked in at the office to use the pool, but they never enforce it. 

Nonetheless, he still believed that 30 people was taking the rule-bending too far. 

"The entire pool was filled with kids. It doesn’t specifically say no parties but it says to be respectful of others in the space and not to hog items like the BBQs, hot tub and umbrella tables.

"My boyfriend and I tried to lay out in the corner but it wasn’t working. After another couple told us how displeased they were with this party too, my boyfriend suggested we say something. We left and stopped by the front office and told them about the party."

"About an hour later we started seeing all of them leaving the pool. It looked like the party was shut down."

Image: IStock

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"We are now under lease review and might get evicted"

The next morning, a note from the hosts of the party slid under his door, addressed to the OP.

"I don't even know how they knew it was us or what unit we lived in but that’s beside the point," he said.

"The note called us assholes for what we did and now said they are under a 'lease review' where the office could decide to evict them if they want.

"So they thanked us for potentially getting a poor, small family kicked out. I said we weren’t the only ones who had a problem and if we didn’t do it they would have eventually gotten caught. I also told them that whatever happens is their own fault for blatantly breaking the rules."

He concluded by asking, "AITA?"

"Couldn't you let this kid enjoy his birthday?

His post quickly went viral, racking up 11k upvotes and 2.4k comments before getting locked by moderators, ironically, for "an excess of rule violations."

One of the top comments, with 9.3K likes read: "This is one of the grey areas. Legally you are alright. Morally? You had so many options. You could have talked to them. You didn't. Instead, you put in an official complaint. Housing is a nightmare right now, you have given them more to worry about."

Another wrote: "The fact that it was a birthday party means it was likely a one-time event. It's not like they were doing it every day for weeks on end. You could have easily tolerated the extra people for one afternoon, especially beacause, as you said, there isn't a rule against having parties."

And a third added: "I would have talked to the family first, asked how much longer they were going to be there and remind them of how glass is really unsafe poolside."

And then someone else wrote: "Personally I let it go if they celebrate a child, that child deserves to have a good day regardless of how his parents are."

"YTA , you couldn’t take a day off from the pool to let a kid and his family enjoy their birthday? That’s just sad," concluded a fifth. 

Meanwhile, someone summarised it like this: "Honestly, this was a low-stakes issue that you took to the next level. Did you have to put a family in danger of being evicted over it?"

"You have as much right to use the pool as they do"

But others came out in defence of the OP, with one person pointing out, "They're under lease review because they broke the rules."

"The responsibility is entirely on them and nobody else is to blame. OP also pays for usage of the pool and couldn't after it was so crowded, presumably by a tenant bringing in an excessive number of people. Im sure OP would like to enjoy a beer poolside but is also bound by the same no-alcohol rule..."

Another echoed: "If they don't want to risk a lease review and getting kicked out, then they need to honour the rules of the lease, which you said includes signing all guests in at the office."

"NTA. They broke the rules and didn’t even try to make room for anybody else. I’m sure the pool area wasn’t provided so people could have private parties," chimed in someone else. 

And finally, a different member pointed out, "You have as much right to use the pool as they do. By hogging the whole area with their party they made it impossible for you to use the community area. Also, it was a huge safety hazard. They were drinking while their kids were in the pool probably without anyone paying attention to them."

This article was originally published in June 2023 and was updated in May 2024. 

Originally published as I got my neighbour's kid's birthday party shut down, then I received a note