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Neighbors jealous of the Model S :(

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gg_got_a_tesla

Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Jan 29, 2010
6,534
789
Redwood Shores, CA
Hey all, thought I'll share this while waiting on the lights to come back in New Orleans and for the 49ers to come back as well. Please bear with me.

So, we live in a nice planned community (with a lot of professionals, high-tech workers and such) on a street that ends in a cul-de-sac. There are these neighbors at the end of the street where it intersects with the cross street so, we essentially turn the corner and drive by their house as we come onto our street. They are a young family too with two boys, one 8 and the other 4.

So, their kids play on the street often and usually, close to their home rather than down in the cul-de-sac so, essentially quite close to the intersection. My wife and I are always mindful of that as we approach the intersection and slowdown a lot to look for kids on the street.

Just yesterday, I was driving the S back home and as I was turning the corner, noticed the kids and a couple of their friends on the street with the dad in the middle of the street with his back to me. He obviously didn't even hear me coming and I was patiently waiting at a standstill for atleast 15 sec or so before the older kid alerted his dad. Now, this guy (who's a stay-at-home dad) smiles at me and goes "wow, is that a Jag? A Maserati?"; I had my window down and mentioned what it was - the older kid actually knew what it was and was all excited about it. The dad goes "wow, it looks great! Can't imagine what it must have cost ya."

And, that was that. Had always had brief but pleasant interactions with this family before in the past 7 years or so while our kids played in the cul-de-sac together on the weekends.

Today, as my wife was driving her Mini (with its turbo growl and all) back from errands, she was in the exact same situation and came to a stop and was waiting at a standstill for the younger kid to get off from the middle of the road. All of a sudden, the mom (who was standing in her driveway) rushes onto the street and goes "why don't you show off your expensive cars elsewhere?" and so on while accusing both my wife and I of always speeding on our street and other such choice nonsense! I wasn't there but, the guy also apparently got into it and said something like "do you know how much your car weighs? Take your 4,200 lb car elsewhere". So, he had clearly done his research after yesterday!

My wife was very upset by this point and came home quite distressed.

Well, that's that. We have to look out for these folks from here on given the nastiness and the reason for it. Sucks... Thanks for letting me vent :)
 
Hey all, thought I'll share this while waiting on the lights to come back in New Orleans and for the 49ers to come back as well. Please bear with me.

So, we live in a nice planned community (with a lot of professionals, high-tech workers and such) on a street that ends in a cul-de-sac. There are these neighbors at the end of the street where it intersects with the cross street so, we essentially turn the corner and drive by their house as we come onto our street. They are a young family too with two boys, one 8 and the other 4.

So, their kids play on the street often and usually, close to their home rather than down in the cul-de-sac so, essentially quite close to the intersection. My wife and I are always mindful of that as we approach the intersection and slowdown a lot to look for kids on the street.

Just yesterday, I was driving the S back home and as I was turning the corner, noticed the kids and a couple of their friends on the street with the dad in the middle of the street with his back to me. He obviously didn't even hear me coming and I was patiently waiting at a standstill for atleast 15 sec or so before the older kid alerted his dad. Now, this guy (who's a stay-at-home dad) smiles at me and goes "wow, is that a Jag? A Maserati?"; I had my window down and mentioned what it was - the older kid actually knew what it was and was all excited about it. The dad goes "wow, it looks great! Can't imagine what it must have cost ya."

And, that was that. Had always had brief but pleasant interactions with this family before in the past 7 years or so while our kids played in the cul-de-sac together on the weekends.

Today, as my wife was driving her Mini (with its turbo growl and all) back from errands, she was in the exact same situation and came to a stop and was waiting at a standstill for the younger kid to get off from the middle of the road. All of a sudden, the mom (who was standing in her driveway) rushes onto the street and goes "why don't you show off your expensive cars elsewhere?" and so on while accusing both my wife and I of always speeding on our street and other such choice nonsense! I wasn't there but, the guy also apparently got into it and said something like "do you know how much your car weighs? Take your 4,200 lb car elsewhere". So, he had clearly done his research after yesterday!

My wife was very upset by this point and came home quite distressed.

Well, that's that. We have to look out for these folks from here on given the nastiness and the reason for it. Sucks... Thanks for letting me vent :)

That's pretty sad...
 
Awww, gg ... sorry you and your family have to deal with this. Totally hazarding a guess, but since his son was excited about it, possible that there was a 'we need to get one, Dad!!' exchange that evening that didn't go so well. (Especially since he'd clearly been online looking at things.)

Maybe time to go over and say, 'seems like there were some issues earlier?' and get the whole thing calmed down. Or not. In any case, truly sorry that there is that kind of tension in your neighborhood.
 
They're in a crappy mood because their older kid probably won't stop talking about it and saying how awesome the car is and bugging the hell out of them 24/7 to buy him the car; and when they say hell no he's probably telling them they suck and how much he hates his life and he hates them and that he wishes he had his neighbors as his parents as they would be cool and buy him the car. OR it's the husband and the wife is being a ***** and won't let him buy one thus causing marital stress. that's why I didn't ask my wife before I reserved one. better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission, haha. well, that's my 2c. ;)
 
My wife was very upset by this point and came home quite distressed.
You might want to try approaching the husband separately (no kids, no wife) with an offer for a beer (or coffee) and use that venue to bring up a discussion along the lines of "my wife came home visibly upset the other day." Any respectable adult husband should have at least some emotional reaction to that opening, and you might have a productive discussion out of it.
 
You might want to try approaching the husband separately (no kids, no wife) with an offer for a beer (or coffee) and use that venue to bring up a discussion along the lines of "my wife came home visibly upset the other day." Any respectable adult husband should have at least some emotional reaction to that opening, and you might have a productive discussion out of it.

GG, sorry to hear about this, but I agree with Brianman...approach this with just the husband (and perhaps the young son), and you will easily clear this hurdle. It's not like you live in a low-rent neighborhood, anywhere in SFO/Silicon Valley...and that is before you figure in the cost of gasoline!
 
Sublimation is such a nasy trait - sorry that the lack of insight of a few adversely affected you, but my mantra at these time is "this is not about me." As suggested earlier, a calm discussion would likely result in the admission of insight that I am sure he has already acquired and an apology, as I am sure that he is embarrased, probably too much so to do so on his own. :)
 
Boy, that 's really unpleasant. It's no wonder your wife is upset. Given the fact that you have to drive by their house every day just to get in and out of the neighborhood, the situation is not likely to improve unless you go to them and tell them you're sorry they're upset and see if you can find out what's at the root of their overreaction.

I bet your neighbors are embarrassed by their outbursts. Give them a chance to apologize before you read them the riot act. My guess is they're freaked out at the perceived danger to their kids from having a nearly silent Model S driving in and out of the cul de sac. Maybe they've had financial difficulties and they're afraid of losing their house. In my experience, most bad behavior is motivated by fear, and there are few things more terrifying than danger to your own child, not to mention money worries.

As hard as it might be, you may have to let them vent some, too, and reassure them. Almost anything is better than living with angry neighbors. Try to be understanding, model the behavior you want to see, and good luck.
 
Oh man that sucks. We have one neighbor on our street that nobody likes (the guy is not rational), so it makes for eggshells to walk on, to be anywhere near when he's around. No fun when you can't escape them. Keep your head high, and know you can rest your head in peace every night.

+1 to Steve841 comments.

@Bonnie, you're on your toes tonight, a Saint! Thanks for all your mod'in.
 
I've seen family breakups cause by envy but neighbors ....really ?
That's a tough one.
Had a neighbor that fired up his diesel truck early winter mornings.
The noise was one thing but we would wake to the smell diesel fumes in our bed room and had a young family at the time.
Thank goodness they moved.
Some good suggestions but one has to be careful.
 
Today, as my wife was driving her Mini (with its turbo growl and all) back from errands, she was in the exact same situation and came to a stop and was waiting at a standstill for the younger kid to get off from the middle of the road. All of a sudden, the mom (who was standing in her driveway) rushes onto the street and goes "why don't you show off your expensive cars elsewhere?" and so on while accusing both my wife and I of always speeding on our street and other such choice nonsense! I wasn't there but, the guy also apparently got into it and said something like "do you know how much your car weighs? Take your 4,200 lb car elsewhere". So, he had clearly done his research after yesterday!

Idiotic comments from both of them, given that your wife was driving the Mini! ;-) Seriously...sigh, wow, I'm really sorry they were first-class a-holes to your wife.

If you do decide to talk with them (and I'm not so sure it's a good idea; clearly they're jerks, and that means it could escalate into more lunacy) . . . make sure to point that no matter which car you're driving, you've always kept an eye out for them, their kids, and everyone else on the road. I doubt they could (honestly) say the same; people sometimes accuse others of their own guilty things.

Really, there's so much there that is downright offensive (and WTF does the weight of the car have to do with squat?!), I wouldn't know where to begin, if I went to talk with someone like that. I'd probably write a nice long letter dissecting the mistakes they made and asking for an apology, and we'd probably never talk again--so don't listen to me. ;-)

I agree it's jealousy and/or their kid whining about the car. It's not concern for their kids--though that could be an excuse they make, if you talk with them.

I wonder what the heck they drive and how much it weighs (I doubt they know what their own cars weigh, what a stupid thing to look up).
 
I wonder what the heck they drive and how much it weighs (I doubt they know what their own cars weigh, what a stupid thing to look up).

A valid data point; you better believe this: a Chevy Avalanche and a Mercedes E-Class both from a few model years ago.

And, the Avalanche is almost always parked at the curb right on the street corner and rarely in the garage or on the driveway, thus creating a big blind spot for cars entering or exiting the street. This has even been pointed out on our community mailing list.

My wife and I will tread carefully given this whole situation.
 
Sorry to hear that your adult neighbors handle their jealousy less well than their own children. I am not a fan of having to provide adult daycare.

Seems like their mommies and daddies forgot to tell them about how to play nice with others. No reason at all for grown adults to behave in this manner. The person who should be talking to someone is this husband to his wife.

I had a similar situation with my next door neighbors over my dogs when I first moved into my current home. The wife was totally unreasonable blaming our dogs for all neighborhood barking, calling us on the phone to complain. The husband was nice, but did not fix the situation. I waited for the culprit neighbor's dog to bark, then took a video clip showing that dog barking and my dogs sitting in my back yard silently. I sent it to them on email and told them never to call me again about dogs unless they had video proof it was mine.

I haven't really talked to them much since then (3 years ago) but they don't harass us anymore. I might suggest keeping a log of your speeds as you drive down the street every day for a month. Then place it in their mailbox and tell them to complain again when they have radar gun proof that you were speeding. Until then they owe you an apology.

Good luck

Cheers