The actual owner of the fruit tree is now asking for the internet's advice on how to proceed moving forward.
A woman has taken to Reddit in a now-viral post to get the insight of online users about a dispute she's having with her neighbor.
The viral post has 12,300 and close to 1,000to date.
The woman, who goes by username u/Ok_Spot_5629, starts the post by saying that she has "seven different avocado trees, three mango trees, four types of peach trees", and much more. This fact is now being held against her.
Fruit trees are a highly profitable business prospect, should one try to make a venture of it. Avocados, in particular, are a high-demand fruit with a steep price tag to match. 60-70 avocado trees can yield the owner close to $3,000 profit each year at the market value. This desirable price tag for a millennial favorite is exactly why this fruit tree owner has found herself in a bit of a pickle.
A bizarre conundrum.
The woman goes on to explain that, with the abundance of fruit on her property, she's granted passersby access to fruit from her property. However, this outraged the woman's neighbor, who claimed the avocados as her own.
The woman says,
"We welcome anyone to come in the yard and pick fruit and veggies throughout the year should they want [or] need to."
What constitutes ownership of a tree branch of fruit?
The woman states that one avocado tree, in particular, is "really close" to her disgruntled neighbor's yard. However, it "doesn't go over the fence".
This woman explains,
"[My neighbor] has been using the avocado trees for free for years now because she has a catering business [I didn't mind and still don't]."
The real conflict arose when someone from the neighborhood asked the author of the post if she could pick some avocados while "carrying two big baskets". The woman told them to go ahead.
Where should ownership properly belong?
The following morning, the neighbor paid a rather unpleasant visit to the post's author.
"I thought nothing of it, until this morning when my neighbor came banging down our front door asking me why I gave away her avocados. I was a bit confused so [I] asked her what she [meant]."
It turns out, the stranger from the day before who picked the avocados was the daughter of a local restaurant owner. The neighbor had been selling the woman's avocados to this restaurant for a profit for a while.
The woman explains that the neighbor continued to rant saying,
"She then said she's an avocado supplier for a restaurant a few kilometers away but I ruined it by giving the owner's daughter baskets of the avocados."
The generous fruit tree owner is now wondering if she did something wrong.
The author of the viral Reddit post, who is the sole owner of the fruit trees (including the avocado trees), is now wondering if she was in the wrong for letting strangers in the community pick from the abundance of fruit on her property.
She wrote,
"I feel bad that...giving away fruit might have ruined the neighbor's livelihood [her family really needs every cent]. [Am I in the wrong] for giving away avocados?"
What do you think? Was the woman too generous by offering excess fruit to strangers other than her neighbor? Or has the neighbor become far too entitled and taken the woman's generosity for granted?
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