Neighbors: The Good, The Bad, and the OH MY GOD WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM HELLO

[3894]

Got any neighbor stories?

Almost all my neighbors are great. Then there's Nancy.

Nancy accuses without actually accusing. It's always something really banal - an orange cat has been seen around the neighborhood and this neighborhood loves birds, for example. We have an orange cat so then we have to explain. It's never "Did your cat get out?" It's more vague: "An orange cat is outside."

I have tried stony silence to Nancy's accusations. It doesn't work. Every time you see Nancy, you'll get accused of something trivial.

The other evening, Tom and I were walking our beagle. Nancy is out on her bicycle. She stops.

Nancy: "There's a big dog in the neighborhood leaving big calling cards on lawns."

My first reaction is to hold up the two baggies I always carry on walks to clean up. My husband has the very same feeling of being accused. He says, "Jack isn't a big dog, Nancy."

"The neighbors are talking," Nancy said as she bikes off.

"It's not Jack," Tom calls after her.

Your turn.

[Morrigoon]

Nothing half so juicy. But it's funny you bring up neighbors since we were just talking about the people across the walkway from us who don't seem to realize that single-pane windows mean one shouldn't yell and scream at their s.o. or play the music so loud that their neighbors can't hear the movie they're watching in their own home.

[Snowflake]

I think I've posted before, but our neighbors downstairs (I hate to sully the word neighbors to describe them) often leave notes slid under the door to complain about various and sundry things, such as walking on the floors, running a fan that hums, slamming doors and my cat making noise jumping down off the furniture (they also complain about a cat litter smell, if my apartment does not smell like cat litter, why does theirs?).

Last time they sent a note, I went down and confronted them and advised them they live in apartment building. I do not complain when their BBQ blows smoke in the windows, nor their parties go on too long or loud. We do, after all, live in an apartment.

Beside, the should have the dear 82 year old lady who lives over me, she makes more noise than any 82 year old has a right to! But god bless her, she does walk her treadmill only 15 minutes a day, I should be so disciplined!

[JWBear]

OMG... Where do I start!

White trash neighbors who just moved here from Tennessee. Mother gets drunk nearly every day and screams at her family. 10 year old son who seriously needs to be on Ritalin and is as loud as his mother. Moody teen son. A dog, who is very sweet and friendly, but is never on a leash or behind a gate and runs loose all over the neighborhood.

This family has now become best buds with the odd, but formally very quiet, couple who live on the other side of us. Now both households party together - loudly.

We were very fearful of what this weekend (and last night, in particular) would be like. We, and our neighbor behind us, had our fire extinguishers and garden hoses ready. Blissfully, the Tennesseans seem to have gone away somewhere.

Bill could tell you all the horror stories. He's here all day long, every day.

[JWBear]

I do not miss apartment living. Not at all.

[Ghoulish Delight]

We've had one good run in here.

The HOA put a notice in the montly news letter last summer. Something along the lines of, "Please don't congregate outside people's windows, you make a lot of noise and people would like to be able to keep their windows open."

It just so happens that we 1) live at a crossroads of the walking paths in our complex, 2) do not socialize with any of our neighbors, and 3) are one of the newest residents.

We do get people outside our window, basically daily. We often close the window if they're too loud.

We did NOT call the HOA.

But one lady decided to play detective and came to the conclusion that it must have been us who called the HOA. Does she knock on our door? Oh no, she marches up the path until she's facing our window, and shouts, ostensibly to our next door neighbor something like, "I hope I'm not talking too loud. I guess we're not aloud to have conversations anymore."

It was totally surreal. This was so completely out of left field that, despite being so blatant, it took us a minute to realize it was directed at us. I first started yelling it her just (yeah, I probably could have handled it a little better) becuase she was being so damned loud. Then I actually took the second to think about what she'd yelled and put it all together. Then I think I yelled a little more. Fortunately CP handled it from there.

It ended with a, "We're sorry. She's pregnant and we just didn't know you guys, so hormones and all." Pregnant or not, she was far to interested in creating drama than anyone I'd like to associate with. But whatever, it was a good enough apology/excuse making that successfully let the issue drop and I've literally never seen them since, so maybe it was just a bad day for her, who knows.

[CoasterMatt]

Maybe the dinosaurs taught her to fly?

[Kevy Baby]

We live in a condo. Surprisingly, we never hear anything from the sides, but the people above us are another story.

The last owners were quite loud in their lovemaking. And had a very squeaky bed. We were usually successful in ignoring them, but if we were in the middle of our own "activities" and they started up, it was always a different rhythm and just ruined the whole moment.

Then she moved out and (after a couple of quite renters), her 18 year old son moved in. It was his first time out on his own. We put up with the noise of he and his buddies for a while, but after a talk with them, they were a little more respectful (and quite).

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I was a bit worried that there would be further backlash with that pregnant woman, but thankfully there wasn't.

Now I'm focused on our neighbors to one side who have a humongous dog stuck on the tiny porch all day. It has gone insane and barks at every sound. When taking my bike in and out or getting to my car, it isn't out of the ordinary for me to sprayed in the face with dog spittle as it attempts to kill me through the fence. After talking to them a couple times they got the message somewhat and now come out to quiet them down when they're home...but quite often, they are not home. Often we have to endure the noise while attempting to watch TV or just exist at home.

They need to move. Now. Stupid mortgage industry.

[BarTopDancer]

In my place in HB the walls were paper thin. My next door neighbor would play his music so loud the walls would shake until all hours of the night. After futile efforts by the complex security to get him to stop (or document properly) I started calling the non-emergency police number. The police came, knocked on his door, then pounded because the music was so loud (walls vibrating). He opened the door after a few minutes and said to them "what music, I was sleeping". Thankfully the officer told him he was full of it and said if he had to come back he would be fined. He was.

Guy below me would blast his TV. I asked him nicely once if he could turn it down just a little and was really nice about it and did for months. Then one day he moved his TV by the shared vent and started blasting it at 5:30am. After a few weeks I left him a nice note asking if anything was wrong and could he turn it down. That night he blasted his music, security came (I didn't call) and he came up pounding on my door about it. I ignored him and he left me a note that he spent money that he didn't have on ear phones so I could have silence. Never asked for silence, asked for a bit of respect.

Place in Laguna was fine as was the place in RSM. We had an odd neighbor at my other place in Irvine who asked us if the TV was to loud and then turned it up more.

Love my current place.

Some noise is to be expected in apartment living. Shaking walls from music is not.