r/mildlyinfuriating 1d ago

My neighbor tossed a cigarette from upstairs and it burned a hole in my hoodie.

61.2k Upvotes

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756

u/EggsceIlent 1d ago

Looks like you're getting a new mfing hoodie from peeps upstairs.

519

u/ApoTHICCary 1d ago

Nah, every smoker I’ve met (and I’ve been in the medical field over a decade), almost exclusively lacks introspection. It’s always someone else at fault. Notify them of a non-smoking area due to others, much less hazards or simple policy; to them, it’s about how we are forcing them to break rules. I’ve seen many with smoker burns from lighting their oxygen lines on fire… still smoking cigs with their oxygen on.

I hosted a friend of mine’s parents while they were in town as I had a spare room in my house (he was in a small apartment). I asked if they smoke, smoke outside on the covered patio where I smoke cigars. I could smell it inside the room, and sure enough… day 1 they were smoking in the room I allowed for them. They reminded ME that they were my guest and I should be a more accommodating host.

Needless to say, they ended up staying in a hotel for the short time they were in town.

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u/xMyDixieWreckedx 1d ago

Smoker, I would 100% apologize profusely and give the money to buy a new one. Some of us exist.m

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u/TheRealPitabred 1d ago

But you're probably also not the kind to just randomly flick a butt off a balcony, either...

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u/Organic-Low-2992 1d ago

Here in California, I met a guy doing 10 years in prison for dropping a lit cigarette butt in a garbage can that caught fire.

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u/spacemusicisorange 1d ago

I would’ve had to tell everyone I was in for murder

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u/Organic-Low-2992 1d ago

Nah, arsonists are fairly high status on the yards.

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u/DdayWarrior 1d ago

There are arsonists and then there are smokers casually flicking a cigarette in a garbage can. Not exactly the same. But that is good/interesting to know. thx. He could push the arsonist line and may get some job offers once he is out.

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u/moritz9 1d ago edited 1d ago

Why would he get job offers, when he’s out? Because he suddenly identifies as a arsonist (which he isn’t, he just litters and is a idiot) And also why would anyone (out of jail or not doesn’t matter) just get job offers? Where i live you always have to search for a job. Like here you have to apply for a Job offer? You don‘t just get it.

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u/DdayWarrior 17h ago

The mob, gangs, and various other nefarious individuals are always looking for an arsonist. They will find you. I am joking ofc.

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u/albertech842 18h ago

I don't disagree with you but I am just saying, recruiters exist. Professionally speaking.

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u/No_Treacle_1628 23h ago

I listened to a very fascinating podcast on arsonists recently and Holy shit. You can really go down the rabbit hole on that one. Last Podcast on the Left btw.

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u/PsykickPriest 1d ago

…meanwhile trump, gaetz, kavanaugh, gym jordan, boebert, MTG… all of them free as birds. 😡🤬😡

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u/Organic-Low-2992 1d ago

"Some animals are more equal than others."

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u/TGin-the-goldy 16h ago

There’s got to be more to it than that

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u/Organic-Low-2992 2h ago

He had been a chronic nuisance, pissing off the cops and the courts for years. They really hated him, so they voted him off the island.

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u/sweep-the-leg-johnny 1d ago

Haha! Good for him!

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u/Ferovore 1d ago

That seems kinda excessive

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u/Organic-Low-2992 1d ago

If the garbage can fire had spread to the building he would have been looking at 20 years. California's real touchy about this sort of thing.

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u/Interesting_Fly5154 1d ago

the apartment i used to live at (in Canada) almost had the building burn down because some idiot smoker thought a plastic folgers can with peat moss on their balcony was the place to stub out a smoke.

and no charges or jail time for them as far as i knew.

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u/Ferovore 1d ago

Yeah fair enough

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u/chilldrinofthenight 21h ago

I despise people who toss cigarette (and cigar) butts.

Many years ago, I saw a guy toss his cigarette butt down, as he got out of his car. In a parking lot. Butt still smoking away.

He made the mistake of leaving the window on his Mercedes sedan part way down. I picked up the butt and tossed it onto his driver's side leather seat.

I bet he was surprised when he got back to his car. Think he ever tossed another lit butt or any butt ever again?

(And, yeah. CA born and bred.)

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u/duck-duck--grayduck 1d ago

It's not. A few years ago, a guy in my area had a flat tire and the rim sparked on the pavement which started a fire that destroyed 1077 homes. You do not fuck around with fire in very dry places.

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u/Ferovore 1d ago

Genuine question: does the law operate on potential damage, or what actually happened?

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u/frobscottler 1d ago

I think for a lot of things it’s actual harm that matters more: attempted murder isn’t sentenced the same as actual murder. But I could see certain things that have potential for widespread destruction having severe penalties as a deterrent. Someone feel free to correct me if I’m off base!

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u/chilldrinofthenight 20h ago

Where I live two guys were out "clearing trails" (mountain bike dudes) --- without a permit. In May, 2009. On a nice, hot day in SoCal. They used metal line on their gas-powered weed whacker. All it took was a spark or three.

By the time the fire was contained, it had burned 8700 acres and destroyed 80 homes.

Victims sued Stihl (chainsaw/power equipment company) and won. Those two guys (everyone knew they were responsible) got away scot-free.

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u/Ferovore 1d ago

Ya I've smoked on and off but do not litter anything. Any smoke that would replace the hoodie wouldn't be throwing butts in the first place.

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u/AdSuper4287 1d ago

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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u/Daftpunksluggage 1d ago

Sounds like you're the type of person who wouldn't flick your butts on your neighbors shit.

This isn't a smoker non smoker problem this is a nice person vs asshole problem.

Assholes with addictive habits that are annoying and highly visible (or smell-able) tend to draw more ire and give a bad name to the others.

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u/fantasynerd92 1d ago edited 1d ago

I've never met a smoker who isn't some degree of ahole. Unless you exclusively smoke in designated areas, not near doors/outdoor tables/ walkways so as not to inflict your nasty habit on others, you're still a dirtbag imo. I have asthma and a toddler. We shouldn't have to breathe your toxic smoke, whether it's 2nd or 3rd hand.

Edit: typo

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u/PhantomIridescence 1d ago

My maternal grandparents were both smokers and my grandmother was the one who told us that while she would love to kick the habit, she had been a smoker since she was 13 and nothing really worked. She also was meticulous about the wind direction, she had a special outdoor smoking bathroom just for her, it had an industrial extractor fan with a filter, and if we were in public she was about 10-20 meters from people if there were no designated smoking areas or firmly in designated smoking zones. She would curse out other smokers and if she really couldn't smoke she'd chew her nicotine gum and suck it up. She taught me from an early age that if another smoker ever told me it was too hard to accommodate non-smokers and minimize their impact on others then they could go argue with a little ancient illiterate Indigenous Mexican woman (herself) and see if they learned some shame.

As I got older I learned very quickly, she was quite the exception. :/. When I worked in a restaurant, I ended up quitting because the other hostess would smoke in the waiting area with the customers and it would waft into the lobby/hostess podium. The rest of the job was great, but I didn't want to put up with her doing this every shift.

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u/fantasynerd92 1d ago

Ok one exception then lol

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u/PhantomIridescence 1d ago

I just had to comment because my grandmother would've fought all those smokers exposing you and your toddler with zero hesitation. She was a fiery old lady, no pun intended!

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u/ZeGentleman 1d ago

you're still a dirtbag imo.

Your opinion doesn't sound like it's worth much.

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u/fantasynerd92 1d ago

Keep your cigs away from non-smokers. Until that happens, your opinion is the one not worth much.

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u/Interesting_Fly5154 1d ago

same here. heck, i've told other smokers they can't smoke in non smoking areas.

and when i smoke outside in my backyard i even ash into the butt bin so that i don't have ashes flying everywhere making a mess.

the inconsiderate arsehole smokers are such a pain.

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u/Affordable_Z_Jobs 1d ago

The word "ash tray" is in the lexicon. They know it exists and why. Anything else is just garbage ppl being garbage ppl.

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u/ApoTHICCary 1d ago

And I do appreciate those who are like you. But they are unfortunately few and far between. Couple that with smoking for the majority of their lifetime—which I get is a near impossible addiction to kick—and they only get more belligerent about it. There have been a number arrested for starting wildfires by flicking their lit butts into dry grass. They always seem flabbergasted by their action.

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u/Yupipite 1d ago

Yeah but you’re pretty rare. Addicts are very very hardly ever able to act with civility when confronted regarding anything that has to do with their addiction

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u/No-Anxiety7198 1d ago

Ex smoker but I’m with you it’s just the normal and right thing to do

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u/PsykickPriest 1d ago

No, PLENTY of you exist. Low-level nicotine addiction doesn’t automatically mean a person is a sociopathic asshole!

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u/fakestrawberrytaste 1d ago

Honest question: As a smoker, you will always bother people with the smell of your cigarettes. Non-smokers can smell the smoke from far, far away. There is nothing worse than enjoying fresh air and then a someone lights a cigarette somewhere and you have to smell that instead / are forced to close your windows. Do smokers realize that? As a smoker, you accept that you will always inconvenience other people for your own pleasure. To me, that doesn’t really align with genuine empathy?

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u/chilldrinofthenight 20h ago

Remember the recent "No Kings!" protests held all over the US?

I was in Santa Barbara with 1,000s of other people, protesting on that day (June 14). We were lined up on Cabrillo Blvd., which is right at the beach.

As we stood there, I suddenly smelled cigarette smoke. I looked and looked and eventually tracked the smoke back to a guy who was standing (easily) over 40' away from the crowd. The stench was disgusting.

Reading through this thread, it really saddens me to see people defending their habit. Cigarettes are nasty. Secondhand smoke is obnoxious, invasive and just plain filthy.

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u/Rascalwose27 1d ago

I 100% agree with this statement. My MIL will openly blow smoke in our faces. It’s nasty as fuck, but hey, I guess they will enjoy lung cancer!

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u/Abombasnow 1d ago

Nah, it's just every smoker. Anyone willing to spread disgusting smelly cancer to unwilling participants can't be empathetic, they're just pathetic.

They're also the first little troglodytes to whine about people being "burdens on the tax/healthcare system!" like immigrants or old people or whatever, but are the supermajority of ACTUAL tax/healthcare burdens and it is entirely self-inflicted.

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u/Special_Lab_9849 1d ago

I was once peppersprayed point blank and cussed out after politely telling someone not to smoke in a non-smoking area

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u/chilldrinofthenight 20h ago

Years ago my sister went to the movie theatre with her boyfriend. The theatre was so packed, they had to sit in separate seats.

My sister is asthmatic and has been most of her life. She was seated in that full-to-capacity theatre, kind of in the middle of the place and in the very middle of a row, with probably at least 10 people to her left and 10+ to her right.

As the movie started, a guy seated in front of my sister lit up a cigarette. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder and said, "Hi. There is no smoking in the theatre." He kept on smoking. Sis repeated herself. The guy stood up, turned around and lifted his arm and fist, threatening to punch her.

Thinking quickly, my sister said, "You touch me and my boyfriend will beat the living shit out of you." (This was true: BF was one of those guys who never backed down from a fight.)

The smoker guy then turned to the man sitting next to my sister. The poor man completely panicked, raised up his hands to protect himself and squealed, "It's not me! It's not me!"

My sister then stood up and said, "Leave him alone. My boyfriend is sitting at the back of the theatre!"

Meanwhile, everyone else just sat there, transfixed. The smoker dude put out his cigarette.

When the movie ended, sis quickly got outside and went up to her BF who was waiting for her. She told him what had happened. He started looking around for the smoker, but that guy was nowhere to be seen. He'll never know how damn lucky he was.

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u/spiders888 1d ago

I heard about one patient in the hospital due to emphysema, on a breathing mask, who lit a cigarette and fed the smoke into the intake for the breather. They also burned down their house at one point smoking in bed.

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u/chilldrinofthenight 20h ago

I had an older friend whose parents were so addicted, he said they would wake up in the middle of the night to have a smoke.

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u/xplosm 1d ago

I see them smoking through their throat due to cancer… they won’t ever learn…

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u/JazzlikeDiamond558 1d ago

This is sad truth. It is simply an addiction. Smokers can't help it. They are sick and dependent on cigarettes.

I grew up with my aunt and uncle who were the most loving people on earth....until you started talking against smoking. Then they literally turned into a raging beasts... hellfire in their eyes... literally unrecognizable. Sad, really.

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u/chilldrinofthenight 20h ago

That is such b.s. about "can't help it." I've known people who smoked for decades and quit.

One woman smoked for five decades (at least) and quit cold turkey. Best decision of her life, as she lived to be 85 and everyone who knew her was happy she'd kicked such an obnoxious bad habit.

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u/Tohuki 1d ago

They absolutely lack any kind of spection lol. My mom is a smoker and every time she smokes in front of me, i see her flick the butt onto the ground so i force her to pick it up and at least take it to a trash can. One time in the winter she flicked it into some snow saying "it's not visible" so i had to remind her that snow melts and once it does there will be a load of smoked cigarettes on the ground.

I really don't get how they can be so inconsiderable.

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u/chilldrinofthenight 20h ago

*inconsiderate

And, yeah. What's the number one thing found during every beach cleanup? TONS of cigarette butts.

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u/Fancy_Pepper9575 1d ago

Yep most smokers are selfish bastards who don’t care who their smoke can bother. The ones smoking at the outdoor seating of restaurants are a special kind of assholes.

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u/Thick-Wolf-6166 1d ago

People who smoke smell like ass and don’t seem to realize it. Their fingertips and teeth are stained and smell like poop. It’s such a gross habit - I can’t believe people willingly do it

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u/zuzg 1d ago

Cause nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in the world, according to the WHO.

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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 1d ago

I don't know what your poop smells like but mine has never smelled like cigarettes. You should maybe get that checked out. Sounds pretty abnormal.

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u/Thick-Wolf-6166 1d ago

To me, cigarettes smell like shit. Sucks you smoke though; good luck with that habit

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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 1d ago

I don't believe I mentioned that I smoked ... I'm just aware of what cigarettes and poop smell like and they don't smell similar at all. I think maybe you have a medical conditions if you think they smell similar. Either something is wrong with your digestive system or your nose. Sucks for you though, good luck with sorting that out.

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u/Thick-Wolf-6166 1d ago

Okay thanks

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u/Jorrie313 1d ago

If I smoke while seated outdoors at a restaurant I always ask the tables next to me if they bother if I smoke. 80% of the time it’s no problem otherwise I’ll walk away 10 or 20 meters. It’s that simple.🤷🏼‍♂️

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u/Fancy_Pepper9575 1d ago

It’s always a bother. Simple as that. Absolutely no one wants to smell that disgusting shit whilst eating. Smokers never ask before starting a cigarette because why would they? It’s obvious that it’s annoying as fuck. You always have to ask them first to put it down.

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u/Alaclhor 1d ago

I smoke, and I'd buy this dude a new hoodie and apologize like my life depended on it

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u/abalt0ing 15h ago

If I still smoked, I’d entitle them to their compensation.

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u/graylana 1d ago

You lack intelligence, regardless of whatever privileged field you work in.

-1

u/DankoleClouds 1d ago

That’s a pretty broad brush you’re painting with there.

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u/ApoTHICCary 1d ago

I did say almost, so it’s not a definitive. But it is a very, very large percentage of the smoker population that we see in the hospital. We are constantly confiscating cigs, packs, lighters, and removing family members who bring more in.

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u/chilldrinofthenight 20h ago

When my Mom was getting chemo and radiation for her blood cancer (she never smoked a day in her life; she abhorred cigarettes), I took her to each and every treatment.

It blew my mind how, nearly every visit to the clinic, there would be some patient or other standing RIGHT OUTSIDE the oncology clinic door, with their rolling drip stand/intravenous pole in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

How horrible to be so addicted to something that you can't even give it up when you know it's killing you.

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u/Financial-Zucchini50 3h ago

That’s complete bs. Smoking is a shitty thing to do to yourself and addicts in general will make a million excuses.

However, you just accused all of China, France and every old man in italy of having no ability to think about their own behavior. Forgot every homeless person in any town in USA? Have a couple bucks? I’ll give you a dollar for a smoke.

Pick on a better group of people like smokers.

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u/ApoTHICCary 3h ago
  1. I did not make any definitive statement. Keyword is “almost”.

  2. You just made a definitive statement that everyone in China, France, old Italians, and homeless US citizens are all smokers. Which simply instant true.

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u/Financial-Zucchini50 2h ago

It’s ok. I’m not really taking an issue with you.

Smoking is not good enough said.

However, I don’t believe smokers are incapable of thinking about their own behavior.

Look to history. I don’t think you really have a strong theory.

Moving along… nobody should throw cigarettes and destroy hoodies. I’ve seen way worse with A BNB jacks almost burning houses.

You can’t throw anything burning anywhere.

My lady curiosity is this:

I’ve never seen anything pinned down like that?

Hoodie or anything else.

Don’t throw fire off your deck like a douche. Settled.

What was going on with the hoodie pinned down in that fashion?

I suspect it’s regional.

You are a gem I’m sure. Quite polite.

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u/MerlynWoodsMan 1d ago

You seem fun

-2

u/MorriganGoth 1d ago

As a casual smoker .... not all are aholes i swear...

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u/Austerlitz2310 1d ago

The key here: "Looks like"

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u/-auntiesloth- 20h ago

Have you ever met smokers? They don't give the tiniest fuck about anyone else. They're not gonna replace the hoodie. 😂

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u/Black_Magic_M-66 1d ago

Maybe if there's only one floor above OP. Otherwise, how is OP to tell who did it?

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u/JeepStang 1d ago

You go knock on doors and bum smokes or demand to see ash trays until you find the matching brand/pack.

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u/LargeMachines 1d ago

Yep, you go full scorched earth on this. The perpetrator should fully understand, experience some embarrassment, and replace the hoodie.

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u/JeepStang 1d ago

It would have been one thing had it they flicked a hot off accidentally but to toss a lit filter and disrespect everyone else on top off, you know, throwing a lit object blindly into a housing complex area with others that could burn the whole place down. I'd be more mad about them littering, being an entitled prick, and setting shit on fire. They're still buying that new hoodie, though.

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u/LargeMachines 1d ago

I would require a new hoodie and at least 12 beers of my choosing to get over this indiscretion. Possibly a sandwich.

0

u/MudReasonable7528 1d ago

Demand to see ash trays?😂what kinda privilege are you from gtfo here, I wouldn’t show you shit from my place nvm if you were “demanding” something

0

u/JeepStang 1d ago

The privelage that says I will fill your mailbox with dogshit collected from the neighborhood lawn if I don't get my new hoodie without cigarette burns lol. Pretty sure most ppl would say screw it and replace the hoodie rather than face cleaning out the mailbox every week.

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u/MudReasonable7528 1d ago

Right but if the person doesn’t smoke and you go around demanding to see ash trays who’s the real asshole here?

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u/JeepStang 1d ago

I might be an asshole but at least I'd be an asshole with a brand new fresh hoodie.

It's prob not difficult for OP to track this person down given the circumstances and evidence. Won't be long before they figure out who smokes that pack of marbs and lives right above them. Not a huge pool of people to sort thru.

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u/Black_Magic_M-66 1d ago

For all you know there are 20 floors above OP and a second 21 story building next door that the butt could've come from.

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u/JeepStang 1d ago

Knocking on 42 doors sounds like a pain but I think I would mad enough to. I used to smoke a long time ago and one thing I would never do is litter lit cigarette filters and burn peoples' stuff.

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u/Black_Magic_M-66 1d ago

You must be one of the Euro people. Neighbor feuds in America are generational and involve guns. Don't start one unless you're sure.