Effusive gratitude
By Fleur
@Fleura (32936)
United Kingdom
October 21, 2025 7:31am CST
We live in a little cul-de-sac of five houses and on bin day we have to take our wheelie bins to the end of the road – and then back once they’ve been emptied, obviously.
We never like to leave the bins out there too long because for one thing, passers by can sometimes be tempted to drop their own rubbish in, which can be annoying especially when it’s the wrong bin (e.g. litter in the garden waste bin) and we have to get it out again, and secondly, leaving them there too long gives the impression the residents might be away from home, which is something we don’t want to advertise.
So when I saw our neighbour’s bin still there a day after collection day I wheeled it back in. I thought nothing of it; isn’t that the sort of thing neighbours should do for one another?
But now we have all received an email saying ‘Many thanks to the kind person who brought our black bin back to the house...Very thoughtful and much appreciated.’ This over-the-top gratitude for such a simple act is just making me uncomfortable, and making it seem like a really big deal.
Previously if we had been away I would have asked one of the neighbours if they would mind bringing our bin back in, but now I feel as if it’s such a big thing that it would be a massive imposition! And as for asking for help with something more major – well I don’t think I would dare!
How would you feel about being thanked so effusively?
All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2025.
7 people like this
7 responses
@porwest (109696)
• United States
21 Oct
@Fleura Let me just say this, if you live in a trailer park, you are more likely for your neighbor to shoot you than help you. So, in a more "posh" neighborhood, I'd not be surprised at all if someone "went the extra mile." Just saying. lol
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (160164)
• United States
21 Oct
I wouldn't have noticed. My neighbors couldn't email me if they wanted to. I don't give my phone or email out to mere neighbors. Friends have one or both but neighbors don't need that information.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (160164)
• United States
21 Oct
@Fleura I see... We all have plenty of room for deliveries. That's what driveways are for. No need for nosy neighbors to know our business.
Alarms are for police to check and take care of. Again, no need for nosy neighbors to be up in our business.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (17054)
• China
21 Oct
I guess the reason why the neighbour sent an email was that he/she was worried lest others would say "take others' good deed for granted".
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (203975)
• United States
13h
I would have been quite flattered that someone took the time to be grateful. There's so little of that these days.
1 person likes this
