Gardener exposes neighbour over loud mowing complaint
A neighbourhood “bully” has been slammed online after threatening to call the police on a gardener for making “too much” noise while cleaning up an overgrown property.
James Selmes, from Lush Cut Lawns, was tidying a garden of a home in Blacktown, west of Sydney, when the disgruntled neighbour approached him to complain about the noise.
“Mate, I’m just from up the road, how long are you going to be doing this for?” the miffed man asked.
Mr Selmes told him he had been working on the lawn for a couple of hours, and that he’d likely be working a few more.
“All morning you’ve given me a f***ing headache. You need to finish it up,” the man demanded.
The gardener said it had only been two hours and that he was “allowed to mow lawns”.
“It’s as simple as that. The neighbours have seen this lawn bad, and no one has even bothered to come and help them,” Mr Selmes said.
“Perhaps if you guys helped, we wouldn’t have this issue.”
The neighbour rejected his comments, responding “Do you think I care about that?”
“Let me tell you again, I’m going to be a nice guy, 15 minutes alright? 15 minutes before I call the police. I can’t have this all morning.
“So are you going to be here another two hours?"
Mr Selmes advised him there were no laws against mowing during the middle of the day.
“I’m allowed to mow lawns in the morning or any time during the day between reasonable hours,” he said, with the neighbour hitting back, “yeah, reasonable!”
Mr Selmes again attempted to argue his point.
“I’m here mowing the lawn, I’m here to help somebody out, that’s all I’m here to do,” he explained.
It was clear the neighbour paid no mind to Mr Selmes’ remarks as he maintained he was going to call the police.
“Fifteen minutes, I’ll call the police. You make up your own mind,” he said.
At his wit's end, Mr Selmes encouraged the neighbour to call the police if he deemed it necessary.
“Go and call the police then, I don’t really care. Seeya!” he said.
Once the neighbour left, Mr Selmes said it had taken 18 months for him to receive a negative reaction to his work.
“Well, that’s a first. It took me a year-and-a-half for someone to complain about the noise. Oh well, what’s he going to do? It’s not against the law."
“Tough sh** as they say. I’m just here to do a job and that’s it. People can be kind of weird, hey.”
The video of the encounter was uploaded to YouTube, attracting more than 1.8 million views and nearly 5,000 comments of support.
“I bet that guy is a pain in the a*se to the entire neighbourhood. You did a great job on this lawn. And you told the guy what you thought of his threat,” one comment read.
“After that encounter with that miserable neighbour, I would have definitely taken my time and made sure every inch of that property was perfect,” another added.
“He is the same type of neighbour I had who would yell at the kids for laughing too loud as they played outside. Blessings to you for not letting him bring you down,” a third wrote.
Image credit: YouTube