I probably should have posted this two years ago when it happened, but I was too big a pansy to register back then.
Around here we suffer through an annual plague of idealistic young college students working for a “public interest” group.
One fine day, a fresh-faced young commie (sorry Twist) rang my doorbell and asked permission to measure the water level in my well because they were “tracking the rate of subsidence of the water table.”
Nobody had ever measured my well before, and one data point doesn’t constitute “tracking” of any sort. There had been no recent new construction on the aquifer footprint beyond the odd garage or barn on slabs (no excavation). I can also think of about twelve better ways to measure the water table than to crack residential wells.
More to the point, it’s my well. As far as I know it has never been touched since it was drilled, which was when this kid’s parents were likely in grade school. I don’t want him (or anyone else) mucking with it. The rest of the conversation went like this:
Me: No.
Him: Don’t you care about the environment, blah, blah, blah…?
Me: Don’t touch my well.
Him: This is a very important SCIENTIFIC study! You’re probably not qualified to understand blah, blah, blah…
Me: Don’t touch my well. Get off my propert and don’t come back.
I closed the door in his face. That may seem rude to some of you, but you didn’t have to listen to the Junior Crusader.
A couple of minutes later I just happened to look out the window, and the kid is screwing around with my well cap. I grabbed the cordless phone, called the police, and marched out to confront the stupid kid.
Me: I thought I told you not to touch my well.
Him: I’m going to do it anyway.
Repeat, ad infinitum while I have the phone line open to the police.
I have to give the cops in my town credit. They arrived really quickly. The kid had managed to get a screw out of the lid, and thus was charged with vandalism or something as well as trespassing. It probably didn’t help that he gave the cop the same kind of wiseass he gave me. I don’t remember much of that part clearly. I was seething.
Don’t get me started on the Jehovah’s Witnesses.