tmidgett wrote:You might be surprised. The bldg manager might make it uncomfortable for them to stay, if you are good tenants who pay the rent on time.

This is what I'm thinking. I've talked to our manager about maintenance several times before, and she's always been pleasant. Once it's a little later, I will probably call her. We've been in this building for over a year now, and the other guy less than a month. I am sometimes up to a week late on my rent, which our manager assures me is no big deal, as several other people in the complex are months behind.

I really don't want to talk to this guy. I already have a hunch that he is incapable of rational thought, and the temptation for me to get all Irreversible on his ass with the fire extinguisher in the hallway is much too great. Plus, I wouldn't do too well in jail.

It sounds like this guy is a total shit, and so I'm not sure if the diplomatic approach will work. You probably know this yourself. Do you think it would turn into a fight?

Neighbours can be a real problem.

We had ones for about twenty years (since I was a baby) and the man in the house was an utter fuckwit. He flooded our bathroom twice which resulted eventually in dry rot (which ruins your house) and claimed it was not his responsibility, and we had to move out for a year as he wouldnot contact his insurance company to make a claim. He also used to stand outside our bathroom window. He was a creepy fucker. He also let his dog shit on our front lawn, even though my Dad asked him not to, every week. When we first moved in, he claimed there was a problem with the roof (a shared responsibility) so my Dad (being slightly naive) paid half of the bill to have it fixed (the man upstair's friends did the work....) However, when my Dad later read through the receipt, it turned out he actually had his whole roof heavily insulated to save money in the winter which was certainly not something we should have had to pay for. Scumbag.

Is there some sort of council or government organisation you can contact for help?

Rodabod wrote:It sounds like this guy is a total shit, and so I'm not sure if the diplomatic approach will work. You probably know this yourself. Do you think it would turn into a fight?

Is there some sort of council or government organisation you can contact for help?

I am 98% certain that I would tell this guy to get fucked. One of the most common responses to this would be to take a swing at me.

I doubt that this is something the government could/should/would be involved in.

horsewhip wrote:I wouldn't do too well in jail.

Do you have rosy cheeks?

horsewhip wrote:I doubt that this is something the government could/should/would be involved in.

Yes, not the government, but I meant a government organisation, like "environmental health" which we have here.... I thought you might have an equivalent in the US.

There's no point in having a fight with the guy. I'd maybe start by speaking to the apartment manager.

horsewhip wrote:I really don't want to talk to this guy. I already have a hunch that he is incapable of rational thought, and the temptation for me to get all Irreversible on his ass with the fire extinguisher in the hallway is much too great. Plus, I wouldn't do too well in jail.

You have already said it then. Hie thee to the building manager immediatement!

rachael wrote:

horsewhip wrote:I wouldn't do too well in jail.

Do you have rosy cheeks?

No, but bears love me.

Tim's advice is right on target. It seems like your new neighbor has an unrealistic expectation of apartment living. Some people are not reasonable or capable of being placated. These people suck. I used to manage over a 1000 rental apartments and frivolous noise complaints from crazy people would take up a large chunk of my day. Let the manager know that you are a reasonable person and that this person does not appear to be a reasonable person. Many times noise/music travels strangely between apartments, so let the manager know that you are willing to work with this person to help eliminate excessive noise, but that you do not think that it is reasonable to have to tiptoe around your apartment. Good luck.

tmidgett wrote:I would ignore the people and go straight to the bldg manager.

Double that. Someone that high strung and oblivious is not going to be willing to deal anything with you. Good for you for being a reasonable neighbor and turning the music down.

I lived in a basement place once where we admittedly had a few very large, loud get togethers that I'm sure could be heard throughout the building. After repeated calls from a neighbor (also on occasions when we weren't doing anything, I was later to learn), our landlord came over with the intention of evicting us - which he was probably within his rights to do at the time, based on our behavior. We swore up and down we'd never have people over again, and stayed quiet as church mice for the rest of our tenancy. Over the next few months, the woman continued calling him and complaining about "the noise." Not us, ever. He realized she was nuts and we were now behaving. Hopefully your landlord will get it.

Wikipedia wrote:It has long been realized that infrasound may cause feelings of awe or fear. Since it is not consciously perceived, it can make people feel vaguely that supernatural events are taking place. In a controlled experiment published in September, 2003, people at a concert were asked to rate their responses to a variety of pieces of music, some of which were accompanied by infrasonic elements. The participants were not aware of which pieces included the infrasound. Many participants (22%) reported feelings of anxiety, uneasiness, extreme sorrow, nervous feelings of revulsion or fear and chills down the spine which correlated with the infrasonic events. In presenting the evidence to the British Association, the scientist responsible said "These results suggest that low frequency sound can cause people to have unusual experiences even though they cannot consciously detect infrasound. Some scientists have suggested that this level of sound may be present at some allegedly haunted sites and so cause people to have odd sensations that they attribute to a ghost—our findings support these ideas".

I know it's virtually impossible but I've always wanted to try this on shitty neighbors.

Get yourself a well-made, "low-reaching" subwoofer and plug it into your trusty bass-amp. Now get that queer keyboard out and tape down, say, a low b note. Whenever you leave the house, turn everything on loud enough that you can feel "a presence". Then, when you come home, turn up the Motorhead and turn off the keyboard/amp set-up. Your neighbor will now be relieved to be listening to the Motorhead and won't even know why.

It worked for Hitler anyway.