Skip to content 
Her face immediately changed.
She marched toward my front door and knocked.
Hard.
I opened it.
“What’s this?” she demanded.
I pointed toward the garage.
“My electrical outlet is private.”
She folded her arms.
“But I need to charge my car.”
“I understand.”
“So unlock it.”
I almost laughed.
“No.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
For a few seconds, neither of us said anything.
Then Monica shook her head.
“You are seriously making a huge issue over a little electricity?”
I calmly replied, “You used my electricity without asking.”
“It couldn’t have cost that much.”
“Then paying for it shouldn’t be a problem.”
That stopped her.
She stared at me.
I continued.
“I checked my electricity usage. The increase began around the same time you started charging here. I’m not accusing you of anything beyond what I personally saw. But I’m not allowing it to continue.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You’re unbelievable.”
I smiled politely.
“And you’re welcome to charge your car at your own house.”
She stormed away.
I thought that would be the end of it.
It wasn’t.
The following morning, I found something strange beside my mailbox.
A handwritten note.
“You could have handled this like a neighbor.”
I read it twice.
Then I laughed.
Apparently, in Monica’s world, “handling something like a neighbor” meant allowing her to use my property whenever she wanted.
I threw the note away.
But that afternoon, I decided to check something.
I pulled out the old electricity bills I had saved in a drawer.
I compared the numbers month by month.
The difference was undeniable.
And then I realized something else.
If Monica had been charging every night, she had probably been doing it for weeks.
Maybe even longer.
I suddenly remembered all those nights when I had heard a faint hum outside and assumed it was a neighbor’s air conditioner.
I also remembered waking up one morning to find my garage door slightly open.
At the time, I had blamed myself.
Now I wasn’t so sure.
So I called my electrician.
He inspected the outlet and the wiring and gave me some practical advice about securing the exterior electrical connections.
He also told me something important:
“If someone is repeatedly using an outdoor outlet without permission, don’t confront them physically. Document what you’re seeing and protect the property.”
That advice made sense.
So I installed a small security camera facing my driveway.
I wasn’t interested in revenge anymore.