The Mango Entitlement Rant!

OK, first off, I get that it's totally awesome to have a mango tree. I love my tree and I love mangos. My tree is a prolific fruiter, so I am happy to share! But I cannot wrap my head around the absolute sense of entitlement that some folks have about this effing fruit!

Part of my tree overhangs the street; anything overhanging the street is fair game. But every year, someone will come with professional tools and a ladder and completely denude the street side of the tree! It just happened this weekend; I returned home and there was a guy with at least five 5-gallon buckets filled with fruit! Anytime I encounter this and suggest the fruit picker may want to consider leaving something for others, they tell me it's over the street; it's theirs.

A few years ago, there was a storm in the forecast, so I was proactively trimming the tree. A guy shows up with his kid and was like, "I'm here for mangos, can you move, please so we can get to it?" So I said, "I'm trimming the tree, there is a storm coming". And he replied, "I'm entitled to anything overhanging the street and I'm doing this for my kid, move now please". WTF?! Spoiler alert, I didn't move! I kept trimming.

What happened earlier this mango season really flabbergasted me. I am on a corner, and garbage pickup is on the side of my house. I had my front door unlocked and the gate open because I was putting stuff to the curb on the side of the house for bulk pickup. I came back inside and there was a woman I had never seen before standing in my kitchen!!! She said, "I'm here for mangos". I ordered her OUT!!! Who does that, especially in a state with stand your ground.

People have NO VERGUENZA!!!