So I literally stood and watched my house get robbed in plain view. That's a first.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Here's what happened:

I was taking our new puppy for a walk to the end of our street. He's pokey and curious and jumpy as puppies naturally are, so I can't just sit still with him.

I'm walking back and as I near my house I notice that there is a landscape/maintenance guy working on one of the houses across the street from us. (I can't see exactly which one.)

Then I see him walk across the street in the direction of my house. No clue as to why. He then disappears by the far side of my house for about 10 seconds and then re-emerges holding something.

I'm still a good 150 feet or so away from my house and just me stopping has my dog jumping and trying to pull me all different ways.

I squint to see what he is carrying, and it turns out to be a garden hose nozzle. My garden hose nozzle from my garden hose, actually.

I immediately deduce that this maintenance guy was probably using the hose across the street and the nozzle on the hose was either broken or missing entirely, and spotting the hose on the side of my house with its nozzle, he decided that he needed to use it.

Now, for the record, I have no problem with this. Had he asked me, I would have surely given it to him. And even if he hadn't asked, so long as it was returned to my house, I wouldn't have minded. Even if he didn't bother to screw it back on.

My immediate intention was just to go over to him and let him know that was my nozzle, and he was free to use it so long as he returned it. However, at this point my dog is going absolutely crazy and I want nothing more but to bring him back inside.

So I just decide to make a judgment call, and presume that this maintenance guy is honest and upright and will do the right thing by returning the nozzle when he is done, he will return it to me. I'm a believer in the goodness of my fellow human being.

And I go inside via the near entrance to my house because that's where my dog desperately wants me to take him.

Well, I go out later in the day and there is my garden hose, still completely nozzle-less, long after this maintenance guy has long departed.

Worst of all, while I know he was working on one of the houses across the street, I don't know which one, and none of their hoses are visible in plain view. Nor was I able to get the name of whoever this guy was working for.

Now, I'm completely realistic. It's a five dollar nozzle, and I'm not going to call the police and have them write up a report about a five dollar nozzle.

Nor am I going to be snooping into my neighbor's backyards to retrieve said five dollar nozzle.

But still.....I mean, come on man. You couldn't have just returned the nozzle from where you took it?

I'm disappointed in you.

Whoever you might be.

[ret5hd]

1. STAND YOUR GROUND!

[spooky3]

2. Sorry you experienced this. Years ago when my neighbors

Moved in, I came outside one day to find the wife filling a kiddie pool using my hose and my water. I was too taken aback to say anything. If only they had asked...

It was a harbinger of things to come, though they have not been terrible—just not respectful of others’ rights.

[Midnightwalk]

3. That really sucks

I really do sympathize and hope you can maintain your positive attitude.

It’d be horrible if it this incident hosed your outlook of your fellow man.

Sorry again.

[Nay]

4. My apocryphal story: Years ago we lived on a small farm out in the country.

We lived along a country road with neighbors every quarter mile or so. We had several thefts during the time we lived there, but this one did me in.

It was Mother's Day. My lovely husband and our child and I went out to a Mother's Day thing. When we left, all my gladioli and day lilies were tall and flourishing, all blooming.

When we returned, they were all cut down, all the way to the ground, and had been hauled away.

Someone stole one mother's flowers, on Mother's Day, probably to give to their mother. I hope the woman was innocent and liked them, because she has a total jerk for a child.