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Topic: A rant about my downstairs neighbors
| Author | Message |
| Mirage | Posted – 1/28/2008 5:23:36 PM | show profile Honestly, after speaking to your neighbor nicely and getting no results, I'd either (a) report the fire hazard she has created, or (b) "accidentally" leave the door open so that her strollers are vulnerable to theft. The hallway is not her private storage space, and you should not have to climb over her mess to go in and out of your residence! And please ignore everyone who says that you're not cut out for apartment living. Your neighbor is the one who doesn't understand common decency, not you. |
| mad fingers | Posted – 1/28/2008 10:34:37 PM | show profile Ok, I have a different suggestion. Kill her with kindness. I don't mean try to become her BFF, just be nice. The ruder she is, the nicer you should try to be. This worked for me with a crazy (as in certifiable) neighbor I had, who was the scourge of our building in the Bronx. He was a six-foot something squirrelly Viet Nam vet, who used to scare the bejesus out of pretty much everyone. When I moved in with my then boyfriend, he came up to warn us about not making too much noise. He was actually twitching. Instead of getting my back up or wilting in terror (the two responses he usually evoked), I told him I appreciated his concerns and would try to keep the noise to a minimum. I actually smiled at him. He was so confused, he just went away muttering. He did complain about noise once or twice after that, but I always treated him the same: kindly but firmly. By the time I moved out, some years later, I could do no wrong. Just a thought... |
| wineaux | Posted – 1/29/2008 11:30:55 AM | show profile That is brilliant, Mad. I put myself through J. School waitressing, and that was my method for getting great tips. Worked like a charm. |
| Unemployed-gal | Posted – 1/29/2008 11:54:17 AM | show profile Wow, I never realized that my b!tching and moaning would engender a whole conversation about the subject. I've been living in apartments (in different cities around the world, including Tokyo, which is notoriously cramped) all my life, but I never had to deal with this kind of thing before now. Even when my family were expats in Japan and Singapore, and my sister and I were stroller-age, we always kept our things in the apartment. Anyways, I appreciate all of your suggestions for dealing with the neighbors (even if some of them were tongue in cheek!). I did talk to the landlord, who said she'd talk to my neighbors. The boxes have been cleared out, though by the super, and some attempt has been made to organize the strollers (to the poster who wondered why they have so many strollers--yes, they use two of them for junk they don't need anymore, which makes me wonder why they don't just wheel those out to the trash). I just don't want to have a confrontation with someone I barely know. |
| Donna Chang | Posted – 1/29/2008 3:09:50 PM | show profile What irritates me about your neighbor, UG, is that she feels a certain societal privilege has been bestowed on her just because she is a parent. Of course she should be able to leave a gaggle of strollers in the hallway because her life has been made so difficult because she created a few mini-hers, and other people should understand and accommodate her. After all, it takes a village. Ugh. Having kids does not mean everyone you ever encounter should go out of her way to make your life easier. It irritates me how parents gain privileges for willingly complicating their own lives. They have more liberties at work because they have to take time off to take care of their kids or they get vacation priority near holidays because their kids are out of school. They even get more tax cuts! Having kids is a choice, not an obligation, therefore, the rest of us shouldn't have to be so accommodating. I have a convertible and don't expect my neighbor to give up his indoor parking space so my roof doesn't leak. Geesh. |
| jr_designer | Posted – 1/29/2008 3:31:57 PM | show profile Donna Chang - I couldn't agree with you more! |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 1/29/2008 4:13:59 PM | show profile This is a legitimate fire hazard. Call 311 and say you'd like to report a fire hazard. They'll file the complaint for you. Those strollers will be gone by the end of the day. NYC's fire marshalls don't piss around. And you can rest assured those strollers won't ever be back, after your landlord pays the $500 fine. |
| Mirage | Posted – 1/29/2008 5:30:40 PM | show profile Donna Chang is my hero(ine). |
| writesonwater | Posted – 1/29/2008 7:34:20 PM | show profile Gosh, people with kids are such a pain. Talk about entitlement ;) Done right, parenting is not the best excuse you could possibly have to get off work. It's a massive responsibility -- just ask anyone who has nursed kids through major illnesses, learning disabilities, anything that doesn't go away with a kiss and a bandaid. Admitted -- sloppy neighbors need to get their act together, whether they have three kids or none. And if someone is depressed or overwhelmed by life's responsibilities, that may or may not have to do with childrearing. Maybe your parents were crappy or used you as an excuse, but I think it's safe not to generalize that all parents aren't crappy neighbors. Usually having kids means you don't have loud parties late at night, for example. |
| HisGirlFriday | Posted – 1/30/2008 10:41:39 AM | show profile Yes, Donna Chang!!! That's exactly it! I'm all for helping people out, cutting people slack, but when someone uses the common space in a building for their personal crap THEY are the ones who shouldn't be living in the city. I am so sick of parents using the fact that they are parents as excuses for why they should not be polite, decent, considerate human beings. If it was one stroller, neatly folded in the corner it would be one thing but FOUR strollers. Get a grip, people. *I'm* a parent and I would SO totally swipe the stroller to teach them a lesson ;) "Oh, I thought that since this was in the hallway it was trash and you were done with it ...." bwah-ha-ha ha ha ..... |
