AITA for picking up my neighbour’s lingerie?

A Reddit user shares a peculiar situation involving their upstairs neighbors and a recurring laundry mishap. Despite the user’s attempts to help, the husband accuses them of being “creepy” for handling his wife’s lingerie after it frequently ends up on their balcony. The wife seems grateful, but tensions have escalated with the husband. Is the user at fault, or are they just being a good neighbor? Read the story below.

‘ AITA for picking up my neighbour’s lingerie?’

So there’s this couple who lives across from me (as in our balconies face each other) on the floor above mine. Now ever since they moved in, I’ve noticed the wife tends to do her laundry typically on the same day, and she has her husband hang it out on their balcony to dry once it’s finished.

Now I don’t know if he’s just ignorant or just doesn’t care, but he sorta just drapes the clothes over the railing rather than hanging them up properly. What ends up happening is that smaller and thinner pieces of clothing like lingerie (bras and underwear and whatnot) end up falling off the railing where the wind then carries them to MY balcony.

Even so, mistakes happen so I take any that fell inside, make sure they get properly dried, and hold onto them until I can awkwardly return them the next morning. The wife is obviously embarrassed but thankful towards me for not letting her lingerie get lost.

Fast forward many months and this is still happening like clockwork on a weekly basis. Me and the wife are now pretty much on an unofficial schedule that she comes by my apartment to pick up her lingerie the morning after laundry day.

It doesn’t matter how many times she tells her husband to fix the problem it never changes (she works during the time they need to be hanged so she can’t do it herself. Now after all of this, I run into her husband one afternoon and he’s ANNOYED at me.

He didn’t shout, more sharply worded, but he made his point clear. He doesn’t like what I’ve been doing, I shouldn’t be touching his wife’s lingerie let alone keeping it overnight in my apartment. According to him, me taking a married woman’s intimate clotting is creepy and violating.

And if I was really just returning it I wouldn’t keep it overnight and instead come to their apartment late at night to return it immediately. He also spent a while completing that his wife was giving him a hard time for how he was hanging the clothes thanks to me.

Calling it an “a**hole move” on my part. I don’t believe I’m the a**hole in this situation. I’m the one making up for HIS mistake’s and returning the lingerie to its owner at my earliest convenience. Like a good neighbour SHOULD do. I get that it’s a very intimate item but I feel like I’m innocent here. AITA?

These are the responses from Reddit users:

_mmiggs_ −  NTA. Going in to their apartment and rummaging through her underwear drawer is creepy. Picking up her underwear when the wind blows it on to your balcony is a neighborly act. If he doesn’t want you to handle his wife’s underclothes, he needs to peg them out properly. This is all on him.

30ught6 −  The only a**hole I can identify in this situation is the other ladies husband. I guess just throw everything that falls on your balcony, either in the trash or over the rail. Or donate it to the goodwill. That fella sounds like an insufferable p**ck

crazyheather345 −  “Don’t touch my wife’s underwear! That’s disrespectful” says man who shows zero respect for his own wife’s underwear.. NTA

ExistenceRaisin −  NTA. This is insane. HE is the reason you have to handle his wife’s lingerie. This is his fault, not yours. If he doesn’t want this to happen, he needs to learn how to hang washing properly

DefiantUpstairs1651 −  lol. NTA, just throw the lingerie down your balcony to fall where it may after telling the wife her husband is feeling so insecure that you’re afraid to help. That’ll solve the issue.

sneerfuldawn −  NTA. Start pushing them off your balcony and let them chase the lingerie down. I would stop doing them any favors. The husband is weird.

Organic-Source-7432 −  I would just throw it off your balcony he can go pick it up off the ground in the morning if it’s still there

mileslefttogo −  Obviously, you are NTA, but the husband and wife both are. First the husband for being upset with you because of his failure. Secondly for the wife allowing it to continue for so long without setting the husband straight. If it was so embarrassing to everyone it would have stopped after the first time.

olive_us_here −  NTA- It’s a kind thing for you to do, and I’m surprised they haven’t tried to fix this issue. Husband is out of control that he wants to inconvenient you more. Next time you give back the undergarment, include some clothesline clips.

serenityrain85 −  I find it interesting that only her lingerie is falling. Not her dainty tank tops, not his boxers, but ONLY her lingerie. After this long, and this many times of being told how to correct the issue, the only logical explanation is he’s doing it for his own thrills.

He’s trying to show off her panties in an exhibitionist sort of manner…. Also, lingerie dries pretty fast, those things could easily be laid out on a table in the house.

Is the user crossing a line by keeping the items overnight, or are they simply doing what any considerate neighbor would? How should situations like this be handled to maintain boundaries and avoid conflict? Share your thoughts below!