Yeah... as if!?

There's more than one way to handle annoyances.

A man retires and buys a modest home near a junior high school. He spends the first few weeks of his retirement in peace and contentment. Then a new school year begins, and one afternoon three young boys, full of youthful, after-school enthusiasm, come down his street beating merrily on every trash can they see. The crashing percussion continues day after day, until finally the man decides it is time to take some action. 

The next afternoon, he walks out to meet the young percussionists as they bang their way down the street.

"You kids are a lot of fun," he says. "I like to see you express your exuberance like that. In fact, I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Will you do me a favor? I'll give you each a dollar if you'll promise to come around every day and do your thing."

The kids are elated and continued to do a bang-up job on the trash cans.

After a few days, the man greets the kids again, but this time he has a sad smile on his face. "The drop in the stock market is putting a big dent in my income," he tells them. "From now on, I'll be able to pay you only 50 cents to beat on the cans."

The noisemakers are obviously displeased, but they accept his offer and continue their afternoon ruckus. A few days later, the wily retiree approaches them again as they drum their way down the street.

"Look," he says, "I haven't received my Social Security check yet, so I'm not going to be able to give you more than 25 cents. Will that be okay?"

"A lousy quarter?" the drum leader exclaims. "If you think we're going to waste our time, beating these cans around for a quarter, you're nuts. No way, mister. We quit."

And the man enjoys peace and serenity for the rest of his days.