This is the ugly result when Karens go too far with anonymous notes

Whether it’s on the car windshield, in the letterbox or stuck to the front door, it seems real fury deserves a personal touch these days.

It’s a classic piece of advice to deal with anger: write a letter, but don’t send it.

The idea being you work out your wrath in the writing, but you stop the cycle of bitterness by not posting the letter. You don’t engage, you stop the rage.

Alas, it seems that civil suggestion no longer stands, because the new trend in our neighbourhoods is to not just write down your rant, but also hand-deliver it.

Whether it’s on the car windshield, in the letterbox or stuck to the front door, it seems real fury deserves that personal touch these days.

However, the truth is that the authors behind these almost-always anonymous notes are nothing more than online trolls turned IRL.

That’s not to say they don’t have a legitimate complaint, but – as my husband well knows – it’s not what was said, it’s how it was said.

When a Helensvale neighbour was annoyed by a nearby barking dog last year, that was totally relatable.

However, leaving the following note in a letterbox was absolutely not.

“Your dog is a f***ing joke,” read the note.

“We have had to listen to this piece of sh*t bark all night. It is now 2am and it’s still barking.

“We will be emailing council.

“By the way, it would be terrible if it got sick”.

Worst of all, the letterbox in question was not even the owner of the dog in question.

Actually, threatening to poison a dog – even one barking at 2am – was the worst of all.

That’s just one of many letter-bombs, so to speak, dropped on Coast residents, with drivers and dog owners seemingly the most common recipients.

But it’s not just in this city, writing an angry rant seems to be our new national pastime.

Just this week, a Brisbane resident was sent anonymous threatening letters criticising her control over her “stupid mongrels”.

While further north, an angry tenant left a scribbled screed on the wall of their rental property, describing it as “cockroach infested” and the “worst rental experience ever”.

Then there was the Scrooge scribe down in Victoria who left a written rant on the windshield of a legally parked car on Christmas Day.

“Do Not Park Here,” read the handwritten note.

“This is not allocated to your property and you are taking up space not allocated to you on the busy day of the year. Next time I will let the council know, a photo has been taken.”

As mentioned: the car was, in fact, parked legally.

“Karens” get themselves in trouble with their notes.

There was even a case in WA where a Qantas passenger discovered a baggage handler had left a crude four-letter word on their heavy suitcase. Charming.

Look, I sympathise with neighbours dealing with a noisy dog, or cars parked illegally on the street, but what I don’t understand is how an angry letter is ever going to help.

If anything, it’s going to inspire the recipient to either park their car on your lawn or allow their pooch to poop all over it. Or is that just me?

I understand that it’s not easy to knock on someone’s door and politely explain your issue, but it could just fix the situation.

I’m sure many dog owners don’t even know their animal is an issue – after all, problem barking would also be a problem for them too if they were home. So at least give them a chance.

As for the parked car, well, that’s trickier if you don’t know who the owner is, but if you’re going to leave a note, at least make it nice.

Alternatively, leave it alone! Try just letting it go, it does wonders for your stress.

The bottom line here is that while leaving an angry, anonymous note might make you feel like you’ve done something to address the issue, all you’ve really done is show yourself to be a coward.

Indeed, therapist Clinton Power told the ABC the reason that people leave anonymous notes is so they can escape the consequences of their actions.

Just like faceless keyboard warriors, it’s easy to be abusive and mean when you don’t have to own your behaviours.

So while there is nothing wrong with being bothered by some neighbourhood issue, within reason, be brave and own your annoyance.

Because leaving an angry, anonymous note is truly the calling card of an a-hole.

Originally published as This is the ugly result when Karens go too far with anonymous notes