Have I become a cranky old lady?
I live in an tree-lined, relatively quiet urban neighborhood. Most of the houses are single family, owner occupied. Lots of front porch sitting at all times, the houses are close together. Multi-age families, everyone knows everyone else.
My next door neighbor (who is one of the few renters) is on vacation and has his younger brother house sitting for the dogs. As one might expect, the younger brother is taking advantage of house sitting, and has invited about 12 people over. It’s now 3:30 am and they have been out on the front porch since 11:00 pm drinking and talking extremely loudly. The noise is enough to wake me, and prevent me from falling back asleep. I wouldn’t mind the voices so much, but someone keeps slamming the front door every time they close it, and it wakes me back up. I am getting a headache.
Am I being an unreasonable grouchy old lady? Should I say something to them about the noise? Or do I let it go, and get even by mowing the lawn at 8 am tomorrow?
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Most cities have noise ordinances. Call the police and let them handle it.
I agree with @hawaii_jake. If your cranky its not because of your age. Go next door and politely let them know that you can’t sleep because of the noise. Let him know that you don’t want to involve the police out of respect for his brother because you don’t want him to get in trouble. If he continues than call the police. When your neighbor returns let him know you are sorry but you did warn his brother. Has nothing to do with age btw. Its a matter or regard for your neighbors.
That is enough to make my twins cranky, and they just turned 13. Protect yourself.
Well… Life is short and it’s Friday. That said, they should still respect the fact that other people are sleeping. Blast AM radio and that should shut them up, promptly. I’m a little drunk, so you might want to ignore this. But I’m just being playful and fun, not mean.
No you are not. Yet anyways. They’re in the wrong. Go over there with a shot gun and tell them, “SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I GO RAMBO ON YOUR ASSES!”
You are most certainly NOT being unreasonable. We should all be entitled to sleep as and when we want.
Either call the police or wait until it goes quiet and you know they are sleeping, then start making your own noise!
Perhaps they will then realise just what a nuisance they are!
Good luck.
I’d get pretty pissed off if someone was doing that.
I would just go over there and ask them if they would try and quiet it down.
Report this to the authorities. For me,I’ll call them first to warn them and if they’re being ignorant then without hesitation I will call the cops.
If you have your neighbors phone number, call them first and let them deal with this situation. if this does not work, call the police. you have a right to your privacy. from your description, they are disturbing the peace. the police will help you in this situation.
All the above, plus mow the lawn at 7 or 7:30a.m (after you let the other neighbors know). And no you are not a cranky old lady, but if you are I’m sure you earned the right to that title:-D
Luckily for them, it rained this morning, so lawn-mowing is out of the question. I finally went over there at 4:30, and asked them to take it inside. Politely. Politely-ish. I did use the f-word to describe the door-slamming habits. I couldn’t help myself. 15 minutes later, one of the guys came over, knocked on my door and apologized.
I’ve reached the conclusion that these must be people who normally live in the middle of Farmville, with no close by neighbors, and have no idea how loud they are. What woke me at 7:30 am was a woman standing across the street, yelling at a guy on the porch about what what he would like from McDonald’s. I suspect this is why developers make subdivisions with 5 acre lots.
Glad this worked out for you. you took a big chance going next door. people inside could have been on drugs and addicts will sometimes commit criminal acts and not realizing it. next time, call the police. they are prepared for just about anything. this is why you pay taxes.
“What woke me at 7:30 am was a woman standing across the street, yelling at a guy on the porch about what what he would like from McDonald’s” WTF is the matter with people? this is as bad as picking someone up and sitting in the driveway honking at oh dark hundred. There should be spike lined pits for people like this.
@john65pennington, I thought about that, but I really do know all my neighbors on my block (both sides of the street) by name, and have phone numbers/e-mail addresses for them all. It’s like a big Mayberry. I would be extremely surprised that my regular neighbor’s brother was not a nice guy underneath it all. I’d rather the police deal with the bar rowdies a few blocks away, and send them safely back to suburbia.
@Trillian, obviously their parent forgot to deliver the “You are not raised by wolves” lecture that my mother gave me and I in turn gave my children, nor the “This is not a barn! Come back here and shut the door correctly” admonishment.
I like the idea of a spike-lined pit.
@PandoraBoxx Yes, and I like the idea of saying; “Would you please stand on that x?” ;-)
Why don’t you invite Clint Eastwood to come over to your house tonight?
“Am I being an unreasonable grouchy old lady?”
Yes, and you have a right to bring that “unreasonable grouchy old lady” out when you feel the need to. ;-)
@janbb, it they do it tonight, I’m calling @john65pennington to drive up here and whup them. Nashville’s not that far away.
@john65pennington or Clint Eastwood – I think either one would do it! Sounds like a plan!
Oh, @PandoraBoxx, yes, you are becoming a cranky old lady. About once every few months I have to listen to the the people who live behind me blasting Armenian music. Add the disco lights and loud conversation, and it’s hard to sleep or relax. I deal with it. They usually wrap it up around midnight, so I just wait it out. Like they say, if it’s too loud, you’re too old.
@tinyfaery But midnight and 3:30 a.m. are two different things!
Still, it’s not going to last forever. My junior year of college I lived across the street from 2 fraternities. I could live through anything, now.
And I just mean this in general. If I was in your exact situation and this happened any day but Friday or Saturday, I would call the police.
Yet another update – the girlfriend of the brother brought over a plant to thank me for not calling the police on them. The guys were high school buddies of her boyfriend who all went to Afghanistan together right out of high school. They were back in town for a 5 year high school reunion, and decided to get plastered.
That was most gracious of her, and the fact that they are vets for some reason makes me glad that I didn’t call the police.
Oh – so I guess I’ll tell Clint not to go. That does seems like a sweet gesture, and also the reunion something of a valid reason for the plasteration.
Maybe that’s what they call it in York, but in Jersey we know it’s “plasteration”!
@PandoraBoxx But I could send you George Clooney after I’m done with him?
@janbb, if he’s on his way home to see his mamma, I can pick him up at the airport and deliver him to Nick and Nina’s doorstep.
You know that if you leave the door open, someone’s gonna walk through it. Mizewell be me.
Indeed, you have become a cranky old lady. The certificate is in the mail. There is a small stipend to go along with it, but it’s barely enough to buy you coffee each day.
Oh, and that 8 am mowing thing? Capital idea!
I say mow at 3:30 in the morning.
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