Sunday, October 11, 2009

Normal Expectations or Nasty Neigbor?

So, I am suffering in one of those self-created conundrums that plague people with a tendency to over-think...well, everything! To cut out the blubbering the gist is this: we live in a tightly packed neighborhood. Every building has at least four families in it and most have six. That means, obviously, a lot of noise. This is compounded by the fact that, to put it bluntly-but honestly, we do not have the highest quality neighbors. So, since we live in the ghetto, noise is to be expected. I understand that. I really do. People have to talk, dogs have to bark, cars have to start. However, I firmly believe that all these activities should be restricted to matters of life-or-death after the hours of oh, say, 1:00 am. I think that is being more than generous. However, my very near (across the street) housing companions do not share my opinion. As a matter of fact, their opinion is that all fun must be had between the hours of midnight and 4:00 am. Yep, every single weekend, without fail, they are outside talking,drinking and generally carousing. Clearly they are not decent people because all of those are in bed!

So, tonight I decide to take matters into my own hands. It is Columbus Day weekend and all the soldiers are off until Tuesday. The "neighbors" decided to start up their ruckus again-for the third night in a row. So I decide to call the Military Police. The operator seemed to believe that four day weekends are an excellent excuse to party it up until all hours of the night. "Well, ma'am (so very condescending!), it IS a four-day." As if that provides a license to do whatever one please whenever he or she pleases!

That leaves me in a quandary. Is it rude that I demand that my neighbors follow the rules of polite society? Am I truly just being a fun-ruiner? I don't know. All I know is that my mom always said that nothing good happens after midnight- so true!:) And that I just want some uninterrupted sleep...

5 comments:

  1. That's a tough call and believe me we've been there. I think it's lame that MP won't respond appropriately. I guess all the partiers are child-free?!

    You could be vindictive and have your car alarm "accidentally" go off several times between the hours of say 6am and 9am???

    Or you could try to block out the noise by running a fan, playing your own music, or wearing ear plugs.

    I hope it improves once the weekend ends :)

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  2. Reminds me of a past blog post we posted.... =) We have some neighbors right now who are very interesting creatures.... hopefully we'll be moving soon and we won't have to worry about it. =)

    ~Jen

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  3. I can't believe you MP's were SO callous! When I called mine they rushed right over and ran everyone off. We have "quiet" hours here, look in your family housing handbook to see what yours are and then you can "share" with the MPs;)

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  4. You have EVERY right to request and expect your neighbors to have common courtesy. Perhaps they didn't grow up with an understanding of what that is and if so you have the unfortunate opportunity to inform them. We have some party neighbors, albeit more so in warm weather, but they've never carried on past midnight which means it's fully possible for them to have a good time without keeping the neighborhood up to do so. You can't go somewhere else to sleep but they can go somewhere else to party. Yes they have 'a right' to do what they want in their own homes, whatever, but you also have a right to request respect for their environment (ie, neighbors). Do you have a noise ordnance? Do you have to work strictly through the MP's versus requesting backup from the city police?

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  5. Our quiet hours are from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. I tried running the fan but it is too cold! Also, the MPs are our only resort. Happily, even though not compassionate, they did take care of the matter promptly and our house was not TP'd or egged!:)

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