OK, in reply to the replies, yes, I understand he is a frail old man, and no, I will not stop shoveling his side, but it was just the salt that was the issue.
I am pretty sure a 90 year old lady in an electric wheelchair can still salt her driveway. And if he can afford the effort to go out there with a broom, he can salt his own.
It was solely a matter of principal. Not at all about cost or effort.
I am not upset about this anymore, just a little conflicted on my response. If I confront him, straight to his face, then I am still going to have to live beside him after for years to come. It could make life hell. If I do nothing, he will probably do it again.
I did have one idea. It's probably the worst thing I can do, and I probably wont do it (at least not sober). I think I might get liquored up and salt his garden. He wont be able to tell I did anything until the spring. And even if he questions me about it, my response will be, "maybe it's just a bad patch of land"
But again, there is no way my conscience would let me do anything like that. But I've done some really stupid things while drinking.
You never know.
Qracle said:
Take buckets of water, dump them over his side of the driveway.
Nice. I actually thought of this before, but the driveway kind of slants down on my side, so that would only affect me. Great idea though.
burningdragoon said:
I say be the bigger person and just let it go and next time you out salt down put it on both halves. If you must confront him, just offer to do it next time and say something along the lines of "sorry for the misunderstanding". Seeing how you are neighbors, you should try to come to agreement/understanding with each other.
This is the path I will most likely choose, to be honest, but if I get a single foul comment during this exchange, I will reign down salt on his earth.
zfactor said:
Well, I would have salted his driveway to begin with, thus avoiding rage.
You didn't salt his driveway because he didn't shovel yours? He's 70 years old, he only had the stamina to shovel one driveway (my grandfather would cut his grass in about 4 intervals, stopping to rest every half hour or so). Maybe he was going in for a break when you came home. Maybe he was going to shovel your half, but you interrupted him. Maybe his grandsons came over and only shoveled his half.
If you salted both driveways, it would have showed you had no hard feelings (even though you didn't) about whatever occured that prevented him from shoveling your half (even if it was you neighbor's mind). He might have come over and thanked you. It could have been the start of a beautiful friendship.
So next time, be more forgiving. It's better in the long run.
You know, maybe I should mention that I may be over doing it with the frailty of this man. Like I said, he is about 65-70, but he plays hockey at least 2 times a week (from what I've seen). He also has a Mustang in his garage that he was working on pretty heavily most of the summer. So old, yes, but frail, doubtful.
Hader said:
Confront him about it. Nicely though.
However, I wouldn't use salt in the first place. Not on my driveway. At least where I live, it's useless to waste money on salt when it's just going to be shitty snowy weather no matter what. It's just a little bit of ice too...nothing my 10 years of hockey experience can't help me handle.
I live in bumfuck nowhere town Canada. We NEED salt. The roads leading to my town are not plowed, they are packed and sanded. Thats how much it usually snows.
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Thanks for all the replies guys. You've all been really helpful. Just to be clear, I am not at all a spiteful person. I probably wont end up doing anything too hurtful in the end, but I just wanted ideas. We all dream of being bigger assholes than we actually are. That's what gets chicks, right?
haha
I wasn't really sure this would be a proper place to post a question like this, but I don't really like any other forums.
