My first sucky neighbor complaint against me

[Catwoman2965]

Or the gaggle of little girls who play in my courtyard and shriek and scream like they're being murdered. I'm all for kids playing outside for hours vs. being inside watching tv etc. I can handle the normal yelling, noise from scooters, bikes etc. But the incessant and constant screaming, which echoes through my courtyard is driving me nuts! And the parents who are out watching them don't seem to care!

There are 7, 9, 13, I don't know how many of them, but they are loud! Besides, what if something really does happen, and they scream? No one will know if they're playing or not!

And its only escalated over this past weekend! It was nice out, so my a/c is off, and the windows WERE open, until the screaming began. my neighbor downstairs also caught them UNDER her BR window, in the flower and shrub beds, deliberately trampling on them. She yelled at them (she's 90) and said she thinks she scared them as she didn't have her teeth in!

I also decided i'm going to get the screaming on video, and go to the office. since i don't know who lives in which apt, or even if ALL of them live in my courtyard. i also told my neighbor to call and complain as well. i figure the more that do, maybe they will do soemthing. the woman who runs our complex puts up with NOTHING. no nonesense. and will take action ASAP if someone isn't "behaving"

But go figure, yesterday, after a bit in the am, it was blissfully quiet all day, and into the evening. so i don't know if they were just OUT or someone else said something and they were inside. But all i know is i enjoyed the peace!

[notalwaysright]

And its only escalated over this past weekend! It was nice out, so my a/c is off, and the windows WERE open, until the screaming began. my neighbor downstairs also caught them UNDER her BR window, in the flower and shrub beds, deliberately trampling on them. She yelled at them (she's 90) and said she thinks she scared them as she didn't have her teeth in!

Oh no they didn't! I also don't do well with screaming. I used to live near a private school and I swear one of the games they played on the playground nearest my back bedroom was "Scream as loudly as possible!" It was not at recess, it was an actual game played in P.E. (this wasn't cheering, it was just screaming) Usually if I complain about screaming kids, a whole bunch of parents jump in and tell me why I'm wrong. So I just figure I'm being a cranky person and find ways to avoid situations like that.

I really don't do well with high pitched sounds, in general, so it's not just kids. My white noise app needs to be low pitched. I tend to like singers who have low voices. (Can we say Johnny Cash?)

And speaking of things which are a part of apartment living, if I complained about everything my landlord would hate me. Nobody shuts doors, EVER. They slam them. Sometimes they need to go outside and back in many, many times and they slam their freaking door ever time. Things in my apartment rattle. And don't get me started on the stompers.

[Pagan]

Most of the stuff y'all are describing doesn't even happen here.

Doesn't happen at my place, either. The only time there's a pressure change is if someone turns on the bathroom or kitchen faucet only in my place. Which only happens when my parents visit. Otherwise, I live alone and if it happens then...we've got a problem.

Nobody shuts doors, EVER. They slam them. Sometimes they need to go outside and back in many, many times and they slam their freaking door ever time. Things in my apartment rattle. And don't get me started on the stompers.

I had someone like that next door one summer. The kids were in, slam, out, slam, in, slam, out, slam, in, slam, out, slam...ad nauseum. Until I inadvertently scared the crap out of them one afternoon. I was in the kitchen, the window of which looks out to the front of my apartment, where my tomato plants were. Little shits were out there pulling blossoms off them. So I yelled at them...I may also have been sharpening a large knife at the time... I was also recovering from a case of shingles on my face and being overdosed on the anti-viral. I wasn't in the best of moods and I still looked a little scary.

[Monterey Jack]

This past Sunday, the neighbors had their usual weekend party (which they have every weekend when the weather is nice, which is why I'm glad that fall is here), and they just kept at it until almost 1:00 in the morning. I was trying to sleep, thinking that at least the music had stopped and it was probably wrapping up, when they started playing a POLKA SONG. And my bedroom is literally not less than ten feet from where they generally set up their chairs and mini-tents, so I had talking, bright light shining through my window, and POLKA MUSIC starting up at about 12:45 AM. At that point I totally freaked, threw on some clothes, and shouted out the door at them to knock the damn music off. They thankfully turned off the music, but it was still around 20 minutes before they finally broke it up, shut off the lights, and went back to their individual apartments. Also had some kid doing that shuddery "teakettle shriek" right outside my bathroom window...while I was stuck in there attending to some business. They also let their kids run around in the halls and keep their apartment doors open so that their annoying music continually wafts out, and said kids will often start trying to open my doors and start rattling the doorknobs and knocking loudly (have to keep them locked for just this reason). Christ...

[Food Lady]

MJ, that's when you don't even say anything to them and quietly call the non-emergency police number. There are noise ordinances and they were breaking the law. Repeated calls will get them kicked out. You want partiers kicked out. If they want to do that at 12:45 am, they can rent a hall!

[Catwoman2965]

Oh no they didn't! I also don't do well with screaming. I used to live near a private school and I swear one of the games they played on the playground nearest my back bedroom was "Scream as loudly as possible!" It was not at recess, it was an actual game played in P.E. (this wasn't cheering, it was just screaming) Usually if I complain about screaming kids, a whole bunch of parents jump in and tell me why I'm wrong. So I just figure I'm being a cranky person and find ways to avoid situations like that.

I really don't do well with high pitched sounds, in general, so it's not just kids. My white noise app needs to be low pitched. I tend to like singers who have low voices. (Can we say Johnny Cash?)

And speaking of things which are a part of apartment living, if I complained about everything my landlord would hate me. Nobody shuts doors, EVER. They slam them. Sometimes they need to go outside and back in many, many times and they slam their freaking door ever time. Things in my apartment rattle. And don't get me started on the stompers.

HAHA. I have slammers too. the guy next to me, downstairs is one. My complex has two front doors sharing a stoop, and his and mine are those. I originally thought it was the former tenants upstairs from him, until the apt was empty for a while, and i realized it ws HIM!. He unfortunately has been in the hospital and rehab for a number of weeks and its been quiet.

and no, the high pitched screaming makes me want to scream right back at them! I had my a/c back on yesterday, so couldn't really hear them, but it did seem that they maybe were a bit quieter than they've been. I'm wondering if someone said something. And now is going to be raining for several days, so no outside play! YAY

But I'm with you on the every little thing annoys me. I am the same way, so I try and pick my battles. But if they continue, i'm recording and going to the office.

[Racket_Man]

Speaking of screaming

about 25 odd years ago I lived in a kinda shady 6 building apt complex. There was ONE woman know as the Screamer. The Screamer would start about 5 or at the latest 6am. She was not fighting with someone, not yelling at someone, nor talking loud to someone.


Can you guess what was happening??????

[greek_jester]

Can you guess what was happening??????

We used to have someone living in the terraced house next to us who would get it on, very loudly, in the living room at odd hours. We nicknamed her Shagger.

I wanted to bring the stereo into the front room, push the speakers flat against the wall, and play "Let's Get It On" very loudly every time she started up, but my sister wouldn't let me.

[taxguykarl]

There was ONE woman know as the Screamer. The Screamer would start about 5 or at the latest 6am. She was not fighting with someone, not yelling at someone, nor talking loud to someone.

In my first Chicago apartment (late '80's), I had a neighbor who did that (as well as pounding on our shared wall) at all hours of the night. After frequent police visits and complaints to the rental office, her lease was not renewed.

[wolfie]

my neighbor downstairs also caught them UNDER her BR window, in the flower and shrub beds, deliberately trampling on them. She yelled at them (she's 90) and said she thinks she scared them as she didn't have her teeth in!

Pity she couldn't have not noticed them, and taken the lazy route to dispose of some unwanted liquid (e.g. a beer that had got warm, flat, and stale) - after all, it's HER flower and shrub bed that she would have been dumping the liquid on.

[protege]

There are 7, 9, 13, I don't know how many of them, but they are loud! Besides, what if something really does happen, and they scream? No one will know if they're playing or not!

I live across the street from that. There's an annoying little brat, probably about 11-12, who has a much-younger sister. He's old enough to know better, but will scream his head off if his parents aren't kissing his ass. Then his sister will get upset, and she'll start screaming as well. Throw in the dad dropping F-bombs, and you have a situation. Who needs Springer when I can see it unfold live?


They weren't as bad this summer. Last year though...it's probably a good thing that I don't have access to cruise missiles

[wolfie]

it's probably a good thing that I don't have access to cruise missiles

With Cobalt bombs as warheads? That's a pretty Cavalier attitude.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

MJ, that's when you don't even say anything to them and quietly call the non-emergency police number. There are noise ordinances and they were breaking the law. Repeated calls will get them kicked out. You want partiers kicked out. If they want to do that at 12:45 am, they can rent a hall!

Or call 911 on a Saturday night around 11 pm or just after when you're outside on your front porch and hear what sounds like repeated gunshots (or fireworks) and report it. Bonus points if the 911 dispatcher can hear the noise in the background while you are on the phone w/them.

Took 30 minutes or so for a police officer to come to my home about the matter. Officer who showed up said they turned out to be fireoworks (which I couldn't see through my trees on the porch b/c they cover so much of the sky above) but he did go around the corner and tell the partiers to quiet the fuck down (had a group still partying hard at that hour and their music could be heard in my yard plain as day.)

I have no problems calling 911 when needed. If it's too loud and too late for that crap, I'll call. Neighbors don't like it, tough shit.

[GOInsanity]

I am so grateful that I never had bad neighbors like this in my apartments. I even had one that the windows and door all looked out over the tennis court and pool about 20 ft away, and I never had a problem with loud noises at odd hours. Or shrieking.