Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Elephants Upstairs

So, you remember my post about “hotel life” …what I said about it preparing me for apartment living was true, and terribly off at the same time! The family that lives above us is so inconsiderate of others it boggles my mind. Honestly it sounds as if there are elephants walking running across our ceiling, sometimes our ceiling fan even shakes. This also confuses me because it’s right above our dining table (where is theirs?). I believe the older son is home-schooled and school begins between 4:30 & 5am… with “home etc.” aka, breakfast, always including a blender and the banging of dishes in the sink -- yes at 4:30am! This is promptly followed by “music class” aka, u'kulele & singing… really bad singing. There is usually a fight between him and his teacher (dad) at some point during the day, the mom joins them for lunch, the little sister screams and cries whenever she doesn’t get her way, and dinner is just as loud as breakfast. Just from their loud conversations I have learned their children's names, heard the woman rant to her friend about a mutual friend's diet & supplements, pretty much always know what's for dinner, and more. Then… the kicker… they play music ALL NIGHT LONG. I only got 4 fitful hours of sleep last night, I was such an angry person today, I’m not an angry person… *sigh*

I should mention that most of us don't have A/C and those that do avoid running the window units at all costs because of the toll they take on the electric bill. So, we all have our windows open all.the.time... advantageous for the trade-winds coming off the ocean, not so much for quiet.

Everyone has told us to simply confront them and "kindly remind them you live below" but, I just don't know if I can do the "kindly" part... and honestly how can they NOT realize how extremely loud they are?!

I know there are other "neighbor/apartment horror stories" out there... let me hear them!

7 comments:

  1. Oh man. That is super sucky. When we lived in GA, we also lived beneath people. It was the worst part about living there. Every day after school (around 3ish), the kids would come home, and run through the 900 sq ft apartment...while SCREAMING. And we're talking little girl screams here. At one point, the teenager got a puppy - a pit bull. She let it off the leash one morning and it ATTACKED Jasper. After I complained, the dog was forced to move. That's when the late night, LOUD parties started. I even got out the broom and banged on the ceiling. People are incredibly inconsiderate.

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  2. We have had the worst luck with neighbors. In every place we have lived (except one), our neighbors have argued loudly at all hours, cops have been called, terrible fights, etc.

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  3. in Spain my parents live in an apartments complex. the walls are not thin at all but i swear the floors and ceilings are. they live on the 2nd floor and there are 3 floors total. well, the upstairs neigbors dont seem to know how to walk and stomp...with heels on. and forget it when the parents are out of town, its like a riot broke out upstairs. downstairs the mom and son, who is about my age, fight 24/7. to the point you can hear what they are fighting about. one time my brother was ready to call the cops cause they decided to argue at 5am on Sunday.

    i hope things get better for you!

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  4. if you are renting from an apartment complex there are these things called "courtesy police" that the manager will give you a number for... when there is music playing all night that is past the "noise ordinance" so you can call them and they will come out and confront the neighbors for you and they get a warning or a fine (depending on how loud it really is).

    Our last apartment my biggest problem was another building near ours had a family that would lock their kids out during the day and they would come crying at my door hungry for lunch and ask me to feed them. I reported them so many times - but didnt let the kids in for lunch because they were little thieves!

    Our first apartment had a dog that barked ALL DAY and would wake up my newborn constantly during the day. And our other neighbors drank every single night and there was always someone passed out on our porch. And another neighbor would steal stuff off our porch and then use it right on theirs!!

    I am SO glad to be renting a house now! Although one brother and sister duo open our gate and let themselves into our back yard... a lock will be purchased soon.

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  5. I had a very similar situation! (I've blogged about it before.) I am scared of confrontation, but I did leave a note on the upstairs neighbor's door- things are somewhat better now. It can be maddening though- I totally understand!

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  6. Hey, I think you have MY previous upstairs neighbors living above you!

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  7. There are some times I just HATE apartment living! At the moment I had a new neighbor move in and since day number one she has been awful!
    The first night she came over and asked my husband to have the "band" leave and turn the guitar off because we were being too loud. He apologized and politely explained that there was no band. She INSISTED that he was lying to her and that there was a band. So Jacob made sure that the television was turned down a little and kept on. Well for days on end every time she would see him she asked about the "guitar noise" and would tell him how it bothered her. He started not responding to her and just walking inside, politely of course.
    He then was hanging the POW/MIA flag on memorial day and she came outside and asked "What, are you a Nazi or something?" She didn't know what it was and was COMPLETELY disrespectful! Jacob was so angry.

    Then last week she came over and knocked and asked about the guitar again and this time I stepped in. I politely explained that we have a large television with speakers built into the bottom (68 inches) and that she was probably hearing that. But the television volume was set to 16 and we would keep it as low as we could. She made me come in her apt to "listen" and it turns out she has too many people in a 2 bedroom so she sleeps on the sofa against the wall where our television is, or course she hears it!!! I tried to explain that to her and that it was not my problem she knowingly got too small of an apartment and couldn't have an upstairs bedroom. It didn't click with her. The following night, while my television volume was set to 12, she called the police on us for "band" practice!!!! After I have explained numerous times we do not have a band and just the night before spent 45 minutes talking about it with her!!
    The police were nice and we didn't get in trouble but I am so overly annoyed with her!

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