Is there a Miss Manners for the snow-shoveling set?

Everyone has gone completely batshit crazy because of the snow. It's like Under the Dome, when everyone goes cuckoo because of the dome, or Needful Things, where the store owner makes everyone succumb to their worst inner demons, or Tommyknockers, where everyone gets infected by aliens and becomes evil. That's exactly what's happening to this city right now. Space savers, bad drivers, T delays, bad shovel etiquette...the whole world has gone mad. And like a Stephen King novel, I'm not looking forward to the ending.

-he has nothing better to do. We are simply walking chemical reactions, and at that age...well, even if you were throwing it in his yard...what does it matter? So long as you weren't laughing about it. Where is that snow gonna go? Old people are NUTS. And not in the slightest rational. Old shut-ins...even worse. I feel for you. Surprised he didn't call the police. He probably did...and they talked him out of it...or just stroked him long enough to hang up.

And they get pissy. And sad. And mad at the world.

I'm with Suldog. For heaven's sake - talk to the guy. Maybe he's just mad HE can't shovel anymore. Or maybe he's lonely or depressed. Tends to make people lash out.

Could be if you just asked him if he minds if you throw snow in his yard instead of "technically throwing it on a fence" he'd say "Sure!"

By the way, it IS his yard. And lots of snow or not, you can't just put stuff on someone else's property without asking. Stop being a jerk. It'll pay off. I swear.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he has a sub-ground door there? Maybe he knows it'll flood his basement when it melts because he's had that problem in the past. Maybe you started blocking his furnace and/or dryer vent. Maybe it's his land and you don't get to choose to bury it in snow.

I hope his son comes over and "throws the snow at the fence"...and it just happens to find its way into her driveway again.

... she shouldn't dump her snow on other people's property -- especially after the property owner has indicated his disapproval of one's doing so. Mean and grumpy old guy or not -- the neighbor had the right to object -- and the young woman had no right to keep throwing snow onto his property.

I would note that, under Massachusetts case law, hitting golf balls onto someone's property can (under certain circumstances) constitute trespassing (in terms of tort liability). So, I would guess the same principle applies to snow.

Then Rockne must be 90.

The elderly man should call the local police and have them tell her to grow up, knock it off or else.

MGLC. 265 S. 43

(a) Whoever willfully and maliciously engages in a knowing pattern of conduct or series of acts over a period of time directed at a specific person, which seriously alarms that person and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, shall be guilty of the crime of criminal harassment and shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 1/2 years or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment. The conduct or acts described in this paragraph shall include, but not be limited to, conduct or acts conducted by mail or by use of a telephonic or telecommunication device or electronic communication device including, but not limited to, any device that transfers signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo-electronic or photo-optical system, including, but not limited to, electronic mail, internet communications, instant messages or facsimile communications.

What a horrible neighbor she must be.

This is an older man who "relies on daily visits from his son to get by" and she just dismisses him as a bitter old man & plans to dump more snow on his property in the next storm.

How could she be so horrible? She has no right to dump snow on his property, especially after he clearly asked her not to. She should be over there shoveling for him rather than upsetting him.

To the person asking why he didn't open the window - maybe he can't easily open the storm windows. Have some sympathy for the poor guy.

From the tone our your post, you kind of sound like a . . . twat. Rather than shovel snow into my neighbor's yard I carry it across the street and pile it at the curb. But then I'm not a lazy, entitled b*tch.

Serious question: where are you supposed to pile the snow, if not on someone's lawn? I don't mean the snow from my driveway; when I shovel the side walk in front of my place, I heap it on my yard. But I don't have dedicated parking, I have to park on-street. The spots I am usually able to find are not in front of my house. Sometimes they are many dozens or hundreds of feet from my house. When a storm dumps 12 inches of snow, there's much more snow to remove than can be dumped into the gaps between cars. What, exactly, am I supposed to do with all the snow that I clear off the top of my car, and with the snowbanks that the plows push into the side of my car? I can't throw it back into the road or onto the sidewalk. The spots between cars are already piled 6 feet high, and piling more on top just causes it to fall into the street or under someone else's car. Carrying it back to my lawn would take several hours. But on the other side of the sidewalk is someone's lawn. Are you all suggesting that it's not OK to pile the snow in literally the only place on the street that still has room for it?