Comments | etimodnar: Squatter Bother

etimodnar

Squatter Bother

Nov 06, 2013 10:14

Across the road from us, in the bush land, live a small community of squatters. Their numbers fluctuate frequently, there does seem to be some consistency in who lives there. And they use the water tap at the front of our house for their water source ( Read more... )

Comments 8

unmowngrass November 6 2013, 04:05:14 UTC

oh no! you poor thing :-( The pushing the boundaries thing is one of the reasons I had to leave working with the homeless (metro-homeless!) at Wings (the soup kitchen). And I could walk away from that, because it wasn't right on my doorstep! No wonder you're frustrated, anyone would be ( ... )

etimodnar November 6 2013, 06:15:01 UTC

In response to your questions: No, I haven't tried getting to know them. But James has, and hasn't experienced much success. They aren't interested in a relationship. However, as he has made efforts, so they have made efforts to get more stuff out of us. It seems the more they know us/him, the more likely they are to come take advantage of us ( ... )

unmowngrass November 7 2013, 02:22:26 UTC

Sorry, I hadn't realised the cultural differences you were dealing with! Yeah, um, ouch? headdesk?

nicwhite86 November 6 2013, 08:00:10 UTC

Fuck em. They're being exploitive and you shouldn't even answer the door. In fact you should call the cops whenever they set foot on your property.

etimodnar November 6 2013, 08:06:51 UTC

Hahahaha! If only! The cops are very familiar with these squatters. As is the town council when I called to complain about them MONTHS ago when they first set up camp.

nicwhite86 November 6 2013, 08:30:29 UTC

I guess there's a lot of other issues for an under resourced police force to deal with in the area. I'd still not answer the door at all. If you ignore them enough so they know they won't get anything out of you they'll stop coming around.

etimodnar November 6 2013, 08:57:40 UTC

1. I don't know who it is until I answer the door. Could be someone important/friends
2. How many times had she come around last term wanting to store her food in our fridge? I mean, seriously!? We were BOTH working and no one was at home. How many times had her request been refused because we simply weren't there? Now that I'm home, I'm able to actually answer the door and tell her no: yay(!)

I was chatting with James and I think next time this occurs, I'll drive her to IGA, get her to buy an esky and ice and then advise her to buy ice every couple of days to keep the esky cold. One of the prices she must pay if she's continues to choose to not to live in a house.

That way I feel like I'm helping, but not enabling her behaviour by allowing them to exploit me. Not so subtle hint: take care of yourself!! Here's one way to do that!!

spally November 13 2013, 23:05:06 UTC

Yikes! What a stressful situation, both cause of what they are doing and the confusion about how to handle it. I'll be praying for you and James as you work it out, in the midst of all the other changes you are also preparing for!
By the way, what will they do while you guys are in Perth?