If you have a plot of land and have embraced your inner hobbit, then you’re doubtless proud of what you’ve grown in your garden. Veggies, berries, herbs, flowers, trees, what have you. And it’s devastating when someone intentionally destroys the fruits of your labors.
Redditor u/Maggies_lens regaled the ‘Am I The Jerk’ online community with a story about how she got back at her local neighborhood teens who kept damaging her garden. And all it took was planting some incredibly hot chillies and a sign proclaiming that nobody should touch them.
Scroll down for the full tale of spicy revenge, to have a good laugh, and to see how the internet reacted to it. Bored Panda has reached out to the author for comment, and we’ll update the article once we hear back from her.
Any gardener’s nightmare is to find that their prized plants have been destroyed
Image credits: Ryan Quintal / unsplash (not the actual photo)
A woman asked the internet whether she was wrong to use chillies to get revenge against a bunch of toxic neighborhood teens
Image credits: Rodrigo Rodrigues | WOLF Λ R T / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Maggies_lens
Awful neighbors need to understand that their actions have consequences. You need to communicate and then enforce your boundaries, always
It’s a tough situation to find yourself in if your neighbors are, shall we say, less than friendly. If they’re rational people with an ounce of empathy, then talking with them directly about their behavior is the best first step you can take.
Explain to them how their behavior affects you, set out your expectations, make your boundaries clear, and get on the same page regarding any consequences. Maybe your neighbors aren’t aware of how they’re impacting you. Or maybe they’ll feel guilty and decide to change their ways.
Whatever the case might be, even if you’re completely in the right, it’s usually best not to be aggressively confrontational. When someone feels judged and attacked, they get defensive or attack back. Often, it’s best to be friendly, diplomatic, calm, cool, and collected. At least at the start.
However, if your neighbors simply won’t listen to reason (how is destroying someone else’s garden in any way excusable?), you should think about escalating things. If you have a local homeowners association, reach out to them for advice or mediation.
Alternatively, if things get really bad, you should reach out to the authorities and think about taking your neighbors to court.
Just make sure to document all the instances when your neighbors have damaged your property or otherwise made your life hell. The more evidence you have, the stronger your case.
Of course, you always have the option of taking things into your own hands. If you’re creative enough, you can get back at your toxic neighbors very quickly and efficiently.
And there’s nothing quite like extremely hot chillies to deter any destructive teen tendencies. People can change their habits very quickly when they actually have to face the consequences of their actions. Just make sure that you’ve tried being reasonable and diplomatic before going nuclear!
Personally, we enjoy our food having a bit of heat. But there have been many cases where we’ve regretted eating spicy peppers whole, even if objectively they were as mild as can be.
The California Reaper is mind-meltingly spicy, but its creator has one-upped it with something even more powerful
As reported by the BBC, Guinness World Records crowned the mysteriously named Pepper X as the hottest chili pepper in the world.
It dethroned the notorious Carolian Reaper (which the author of the viral Reddit story planted in her garden) after a decade of its reign.
Pepper X registers at a jaw-dropping, mind-melting 2.69 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU). For context, a habanero pepper is around 100k units.
Breeder and grower Ed Currie, who started growing peppers as a hobby after overcoming various addictions, said that Pepper X was “a team effort.”
According to him, “We knew we had something special, so I only let a few of my closest family and friends know what was really going on.”
Currie is also responsible for creating the Carolina Reaper. Pepper X is the result of crossbreeding the Carolina Reaper and another pepper that one of Currie’s friends sent him from Michigan.
The heat in chillies comes from the chemical capsaicin, which gives them a burning sensation while also releasing dopamine and endorphins. The Scoville Scale was created by pharmacist Wilbur Scoville back in 1912, as a way to measure how many times capsaicin needs to be diluted, the BBC explains.
The spice in chillies doesn’t actually come from the seeds. Rather, capsaicin is found in the tissues that hold the seeds. Pepper X has more surface area for these tissues to grow.
As per the BBC, at the time, Currie was just 1 of 5 people who had eaten an entire Pepper X.
“I was feeling the heat for three and a half hours. Then the cramps came. Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain,” Currie told the Associated Press.
What are your thoughts, Pandas? Have you ever had the bad luck of living next to neighbors who damaged your property? How would you handle someone destroying your beloved garden? Who is the worst neighbor you’ve ever had to deal with? What do you grow in your garden? Tell us all about it in the comments!
Later, as the story went viral, the woman shared more context about what happened in the comments
People loved the story and were on the gardener’s side. Here’s their take
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