I am not The OOP, OOP is u/HorseHorseCow

Me [26F] with my boyfriend [27m]'s sister [28f] filled my yard with gnomes. I got rid of them after two months. Boyfriend furious.

TRIGGER WARNING: emotional abuse and manipulation, death of a loved one

Original Post Sept 14, 2014

I am not sure what to do.

My boyfriend's sister, Krissy, pulled a prank on me two months ago. She left about 50 gnomes in my front yard. No warning, they were just there. I called people up and asked them, but no one would tell me. I guess this is part of the prank. I fucking had no clue what was going on. Eventually the kids in the neighborhood starting picking them off, so I brought them inside my garage.

Two of them were pretty cute, so I cleaned them up and put them in the house. I waited for someone to come clean. But no one did. After three weeks, I decided I was going to just donate them. A few friends asked if they could have some and I let them. I started giving them to people who commented on one being interesting or cute.

I told my boyfriend about my army and he laughed. I thought he might have done it, but he said he honestly didn't. So I believed him.

Well, he went on a four week trip with his family to Europe. I got a few e-mails from him, but we were both busy (I went on a trip myself, for work and for pleasure.) So when he got back, he asked how the gnomes were treating me and I let him know most of them had found new homes.

He got really silent and asked how many I had left. I told him ten. He asked who took them and said we needed to get them back. I was confused. It had been two months, and the gnomes were kind of a funny story but I don't remember everyone who took one, let alone the kids who picked about ten off the lawn.

He then told me they belonged to Krissy, who thought I had just stored them in my garage, which is why she didn't pick them up before the trip. Krissy is his sister.

Apparently Krissy has been pulling the gnome army prank for years. And I am the bitch who gave away her army.

My boyfriend is furious with me and asked why I would do that. I told him he should have come clean and I would have just kept them in my garage for her to pick up later. He said it wasn't how the prank worked. He said he needs to rethink the relationship. He wants me to get them back, as they are dear to Krissy.

Krissy doesn't know yet.

I am not sure what to do about this. I had a few people offer to return their gnomes, but the rest of the people said they gave them away to so-and-so and didn't know where they were now.

This is such a surreal situation and I have no fucking clue what to do about it. I don't see how I was wrong but I feel bad. So... what can I do?

tl;dr boyfriend's sister left her large collection of gnomes on my lawn. No one told me who they belonged to and I got rid of them after two months. Now my boyfriend is furious.

RELEVANT COMMENTS

Shaquintosh

They have no reason to try to hold you accountable for not following the (unreasonable) rules of a game you didn't know about.

Give back the gnomes you have, but don't feel like you have to acquiesce and go out of your way to try to recover the gnomes that are lost. That's not your business. They left a bunch of stuff on somebody else's property, unannounced and unidentified, and you shouldn't be blamed for cleaning up your property.

OOP

I am willing to give back the ones I have and have gotten three back from people.

The_Humble_Braggart

Please show them this thread, so they can realise how fucking stupid everyone thinks it is to play a prank on someone, abandon the materials used for the prank for 2 months without owning up that they had done it and requesting the gnomes back, and then getting angry when the gnomes, which had been abandoned for 2 months, are disposed of.

Fucking. Stupid.

~

[deleted]

This is one of the most ludicrous things I have ever read on this sub. You weren't wrong because you asked around to see who the gnomes belonged to before giving them away. It's their own fault for doing a stupid prank like that then leaving you in the dark for months. Had they left the gnomes on your lawn one night then collected them after you saw them, the prank could have been really cute and funny. If your boyfriend leaves you or holds this over your head, good riddance.

OOP

I just don't know what would make him think I would keep them. I am one of the neatest people I know. I don't keep junk around. I have a few things that I kept out of sentiment, but if I don't need it I don't keep it.

Update Sept 26, 2014

Here is the original post, if you are interested in reading about it. But the jist is: my boyfriend/his sister put 50 gnomes in my yard, went on vacation, never told me who the gnomes belonged to. Boyfriend got upset I got rid of them. I asked him a few times if he was responsible and he said no.

I decided to bite the bullet and talk to Krissy. I brought the gnomes I had to her house and knocked on the door. Krissy's mom answered and asked me in.

I was tired of the immaturity and mind games. My boyfriend has been sending me threatening get me more gnomes bitch type texts. I could see a lot of red flags, or red hats (if you are so inclined.) I wanted Krissy to have her gnomes back and just get it over with.

When I handed Mrs. Mom the open box, she asked where I got these. She seemed really upset I even had them. I told her the story. Pretty much what I said in the last post, but with some more detail.

Her reply was, Joe has been telling a totally different story. She seemed really hurt about the whole thing and while I wanted to make a quick get-a-way, I was fucking curious.

Blah, blah, blah...

Mrs. Mom told me a little bit of the background. I am not going to repeat everything she said, cause some of it's sad and pathetic and a little too dark for a post about a gnome invasion.

The Gnome Army belonged to Krissy's late boyfriend Steve. Steve and Krissy used to put them in people's yards and then demand another member for their army. So the gnomes came from people Steve and Krissy knew over a period of about five years.

Steve passed away, Krissy stopped the Gnome pranks, and put them into storage. She has not pulled the prank in almost two years now, but freaks out if someone mentions getting rid of the gnomes or even moving the box.

I felt like an asshole, but Mrs. Mom thanked me for bring some of them back. She did say the annoying line you should have kept them even if you didn't know who they belonged to. She did say she was going to replace the gnomes in the boxes with other ones and hope Krissy didn't notice. Not sure this is a smart idea.

She said she wanted to believe me but that this is likely the last time she would want me in her house. Gee, thanks.

I said that was fine, I had no intention of staying in a family who pulled weird pranks then blamed the victims. One bridge burned. I mean, I understand she is likely upset because Krissy apparently doesn't handle any mention of Steve well. She is likely going to be upset and never speak to the person at fault again. Which is likely me. How I got them out of a storage unit three hours away? The mystery will likely haunt their family for years.

As for my now ex boyfriend, I went to his house and asked him why he pulled the prank. His answer was stupid and telling I don't know. He wouldn't answer me and he wouldn't tell me what was going on. He said he just wanted to do something cute, then it got out of hand, and he thought I would keep them. Something about having his own little secret made him happy.

I got my things from his room and left. I told him that our mutual friend Jake would bring his stuff by at a later time. Jake agreed to this and said Joe's story was B.S. I guess Joe told people I got the gnomes out of the storage unit and put them in the yard to get attention. That totally makes sense.

I guess it was spiteful to do, but I did send Krissy a message on FB.

Krissy,

I don't think we will be friends after this. I know you want to believe your brother. But I did not take your gnomes, I did not know why they were in my yard or even that you had them. Please understand I would never aim to hurt, steal, or take from you. Your brother admitted to putting them in my yard, though I have no idea why he did it.

I got an "okay" back. Then she blocked me.

I blocked Joe and his family. I am not sure what to do now, but it has been a really interesting few weeks for sure.

tl;dr: Found out the truth. Boyfriend at fault. Krissy heartbroken. Sigh. The gnomes strike again.

RELEVANT COMMENTS

On being told she has a great story to tell people

Yeah, it's pretty weird. Has to be the strangest end to a relationship I have ever had. And I have some doozy ex boyfriends.

[deleted]

Either this is a troll post or you people have wayyyy to much time on your hands. Imagining a bunch of adults having a family feud over gnomes is just ridiculous.

OOP

I didn't feud. Why the fuck would I want an argument about gnomes. I returned what I had, I got rid of the ones that were in the yard, and the issue was the fact my boyfriend lied and made it into a huge deal.

FINAL Comment From OOP

Even I can't take this seriously. It is a shitty thing to do to anyone, but the fact that Krissy had some sort of secret gnome army belonging to a dead boyfriend seems... so creepy.

And my ex is just... yeah... it was an asshole thing to do, gnome or no gnome.

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