Tell him that *next time * you don’t want it as short or you won’t let him do it any more.
Wait until he’s just fallen asleep, then mow his lawn. If that doesn’t communicate the message, plant a bunch of trees in his yard when he’s not home.
It’s a slippery slope; one morning you will wake up to find him shagging your wife and wearing your clothes (although possibly not at the same time), mark my words.
Her lawn needed trimming.
This is a tuffy, since NDN did something ostensibly nice, but with a nasty undercurrent of “you’re not doing it right.” You could always say hi, shake his hand, look him in the eye and say “Don’t mow my lawn again.” and leave it right there. If you try to be too nice about it he may not get the idea that you were offended.
There is a wider issue here - what is the etiquette for asking someone who has done something nice to not do it again?
I’m sure most of us run into this problem regularly. I’ve been on both ends of it - I used to always do the kabbess’ laundry until she had to point out to me that I’m not very good at laundry and was shrinking her clothes (hey - not my fault if they make women’s clothes out of strange materials that can only be washed by moonlight or something. Give me plain ol’ cotton, man.)
It’s a tricky issue. I don’t like telling people not to do stuff at the best of times - when they’re feeling good about helping you it becomes even harder.
pan
Then pick up one of the blades of cut grass, cup it in your hands, and sob “Timmy! Speak to me, Timmy! Don’t leave me, Timmy!”. Odds are that not only will your neighbor never come onto your lawn again, but will put up a fence.
I’ve been guilty on occasion of shovelling snow from the sidewalk in front of a neighbor’s house without asking, but mowing someone’s lawn without asking is a bit bizarre. Bury some bits of metal piping in the lawn with a short length sticking out, then see if he mows your lawn more than once.
Hmm… Since it was the first time he has done it, I think you should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was just trying to be nice.
Rather than saying anything to discourage him from doing it again, perhaps you could just drop a hint by leaving a chair on the lawn or some kind of ornament he’d have to move?
If he did it again, you could just thank him but tell him not to bother in future as you’re not sure what you’re going to do with the lawn yet. (I.e. you could be planning a flowerbed for all he knows). You wouldn’t have to do anything, but I doubt he’d go back there after you’d told him (albeit nicely) not to.
Alternatively, you could stick up a barbed wire fence, buy some attack dogs, and spend everyday patrolling your lawn armed to the teeth with Uzi’s while periodically stopping, staring over at him and make the slitting your throat action. 
You know you have to confront the guy. There probably isn’t an easy way to do it. Ask him why he thinks he is entitled to mow your lawn and then just tell him that its your lawn and you will mow it when you think it needs mowing.
On the other hand, I once had a neighbor who was very proud of his snowblower. At just a hint of snow, he would be outside, blowing out every driveway and sidewalk in sight. That guy could have mowed my lawn twice a week and I wouldn’t have said a word.
I’m sorry if you resent it, matt, but you of all people should know how most 16 year olds are.
Hint: they ain’t all like you.
Heh heh.
Uh…yeah, Cull, that’s exactly it! :rolleyes:
Dork.
Question, though…does “Teach” know that you’re playing on the internet during Algebra class?
I like Racer1’s suggestion here. I agree that his doing that was a little bizarre, but unless you can be sure of whether it was
a) “non-lawmowing lazy ass neighbor- I’m gonna show him!”
or
b) “It’s a beautiful day-I’m not up to much-as long as I’m out here, lemme be a good Samaritan and mow Lordvor’s yard. He will be so sruprised and pleased, and this weekend, he’ll have a few more hours to play with his kids/dog/self. I love being a nice guy!”
It would probably be best to assume it was -B-.
I’d hate to think of the guy’s feelings getting hurt. Just telling him that you’re going to try something new with the lawn, though, keeps the peace, doesn’t offend him, and keeps him out.
I like jr8 's idea of the metal pipes. Or, just nestle a few rocks in the grass. Hell, just booby-trap your whole yard and then watch the show.
I had a neighbor a few years ago who would mow our lawn, but my roommates and I were greatful, we were renting a house while in college and didn’t have a lawn mower. Our neighbor would just take 10 more minutes and do ours. It doesn’t sound like this is your experience, but is it possible he is trying to be nice? Have you been sick recently, had any reason he might think he is doing you a favor, is he an older, kindly gentleman who tips his hat and has been watching Oprah, practicing random acts of kindness and senseless beauty? Is he paying it forward? No? Then tell him to leave you the fuck alone.
I would never mow the lawn of someone who had a “Danger! Landmines!” sign in their yard. No, siree.
First off, I would suggest the polite approach. If you get confrontational, you are going to be the one who everyone in your neighborhood thinks is the asshole*. “Bob mowed LordVor’s lawn and LordVor jumped all over him for it. What a jerk. See if I ever do him a favor.” See? Of course, if you don’t care, go for it.
Whether Bob had unpleasant motives or was just trying to be nice, he will be able to play up the nice angle and come out smelling like roses.
I would suggest, “While I appreciate you doing such a nice thing for me, I would feel more comfortable if I mowed my own lawn.”
When he comes back with, “I was just trying to do something nice for you,” you can say, “Oh, yeah, I understand completely and I’m quite thankful. It’s just one of my things.”
Put all the blame on yourself and he likely won’t even remember to be offended the next day.
I don’t like people doing things for me, because I feel like they then have leverage over me. I wouldn’t want someone mowing my lawn, because I’d feel that when they wanted help cleaning their gutters/repainting their house, I’d be obligated to help.
*I don’t think LordVor is an asshole. I’m just telling you what everyone who hears the story from Bob is going to think.
matt_mcl sdaid:
Wow. You don’t even own a lawn, and yet you’ve gotten right to the heart of what a lawn is. I’m impressed.
Jeez, guys. Not every person doing something ostensibly nice has an evil motive to do it. As noted above, the safest (not to mention most sensible) assumption is that the guy was just trying to be a good neighbor. (Maybe we’re so unused to that these days that we don’t recognize it when we see it?) So IMO the question is how to tactfully ask the guy not to do it again.
My two cents: Thank him sincerely for mowing the lawn, but then regretfully give him a reason you must ask him not to do it in the future. The suggestion that you like to keep the grass a little longer to keep down weeds is a good one. Or you could admit, with a smile, that seeing him out there doing your work just makes you feel guilty, which you’d prefer not to feel. Or say that you don’t feel comfortable taking a favor from someone when you know you won’t have time to pay it back. There are several friendly ways to ask someone not to repeat a favor, so long as you preface the request with an acknowledgement that it was a favor and that the person’s intentions were good. You don’t want to make the guy feel bad; you just don’t want him to do it again.
So, basically, what THROATSHOT said. 
Also, lawns are in no way uncomfortable. You try lying out on concrete or gravel and seeing how far you get.
I don’t think this was meant to be taken seriously, but on the off chance it was – this is a Very Very Bad Idea. Don’t do it.
To begin with, after NDN cuts rsa’s lawn, please send him over to mine - the weeds could use a good trim.
I think you need to work on a tactful way to ask “What were you thinking?” and then somehow explain your lawn mowing strategy. You should probably do it sooner, rather than later as your neighbor might be sitting in his house resenting your hippie long hair grass.