We had some guests drop off something they borrowed from us, and they parked on the street in front of our property. As they were getting back to their van, this man, who was on his balcony adjacent to our front door neighbor's house (we live in a condo townhouse) noticed a(n almost empty) pack of chips fall to the street from the van and in his loudest, booming voice started screaming at my guests (a respectable family) about the chips who had started picking them up from the street without any word (they are the most polite people we have ever known). At that point since I was absorbed with saying goodbyes to the rest of the family I did not really know what was going on, except that they seemed to be picking up something from the side of the van which I couldn't see, instead of hurrying home to leave (it was 10 p.m.). Even as they were picking the chips up I could still hear this neighbor say "Why don't you shove it up your a--?" and none of my guests were even looking at him or challenging him or anything. My next door neighbor came out wondering what the commotion was about and I asked my guest what it was and he just smiled at me and said it was nothing. After 30 minutes when they got home I phoned them and asked them what happened and they told me that a half-eaten pack of chips fell from the van and our neighbor started screaming. I thought I heard someone screaming but I did not realize it was them being screamed at, or being humiliated/harassed. I don't have his number and if I had I would have called him and asked him what his problem was. I am thinking of going to his house and telling him he has no right to do this to anybody. (He is white and my guests were people who wore headscarves---Asian---could this have been a racist thing?) I could not go out since it was chilly and I have two small kids I could not take out at 10:30 p.m. for a confrontation.

We are very tolerant and polite to our neighbors--we don't make a fuss if they suddenly park in our driveway and we have to park at visitors' and walk our way back to our driveway/house; we help those who need it; we watch out for kids and drive very carefully and slowly for the road to be safe for the kids who just suddenly dart out of their driveways. My husband even picks up trash from other neighbors lawn sometimes--you know Coke cans, burger stuff, coffee cups.

What should I do with this neighbor--should I write him a letter or confront him (politely but firmly) about the harassment he did? Does the condo management have anything to do with stopping similar idiotic neighbor behavior from happening again? I do have a chance of being screamed at to get off his porch but he should be told about his lunatic behavior. If he had a problem he could have said "Hey guys, you dropped something!" nicely, or if my guests ignored him, which they didn't, he could come up to our house, knock and say, "I noticed your guests dropped some chips on the street and I am really concerned about cleanliness--do you think you could clean it up?"

I am so upset and embarrassed--those guests are like family.

Thanks for reading my vent

misscanada