Excalibre said what I wanted to say. (Thank you, dear!)
I don’t need to read her mind. I read her post. She said she’d call the cops over something that doesn’t bother her that much.
Which she has the legal right to do. What was your point again?
Yeah, we all know it’s her legal right. I just don’t find the Jr. Narc thing very appealing, that’s all.
And I don’t think she finds the smell of pot smoke in her apartment very appealing. What if her boss were to drop by? Or her parents?
What other people do is their business until it starts intruding on the rights of others. She has the right to an apartment that doesn’t reek of pot, especially if she doesn’t tough the stuff.
(Darn shame they didn’t have dryer sheets when I was in high school. We used closets and lots of Lysol.)
I would fully expect the pot smokers to be appreciative when told that their smoke is detectable outside their apartment. There’s a reason they’re smoking it inside, and not on the front porch. They don’t want the whole world to know what they’re doing. Having the neighbors place smelling like pot is probably something they will want to remedy for their own purposes.
Probably. But what if they give it their best effort and she still smells it? She’s going to call the cops.
See, my mind-reading abilities are excellent. There is no spoon, Kalhoun.
How old are you-12? When someone’s doing something that’s causing me annoyance, I have every right to complain.
You wouldn’t happen to BE her neighbor, would you?
Um, LunaV, are you in California? Just sayin’, well, MY smoking is not illegal. Mayhaps they have a doctor’s rec and are taking their “medicine”. You’d have no legal legs to stand on there. Yes, the cops might come, but if neighbor hauls out their Co-Op card, there’s really not much that will come of it.
Dude, every post you have made paints you as some lame, bitter stoner. Everyone else is coming up with good suggestions to help her out, and you’re like “Oh man, you’re bumming me out! Leave us poor law-breaking potheads alone!” It’s getting old.
A very good point. I’d still say that, even in this situation, her neighbor probably has no intention of it flooding into her apartment and a discussion may lead to her neighbor finding a new spot in the apartment/ method to get rid of the smell.
Unless the neighbor is an asshole, in which case they may just blow smoke in her face, all while cackling and eating DingDongs. 
Dude…I am an extremely casual dope-smoker…maybe 4 times a year, one or two hits, if the joint happens to pass my way. I don’t go out of my way to use it. My bitch here is that if you wouldn’t call a person on the issue for legal odors (cigars, pungent foods, even a crafter who uses solvents), it’s bad form to call them on the ones you can get someone in serious trouble over. Particularly when she said it wasn’t all that bad…not overpowering, and personally not a big deal to her. Why, then, would you threaten someone with legal action?
Everyone has offered up good solutions for her…but she’s the one that said she’d pull out the big guns if they didn’t comply with her wishes (or what if their efforts don’t work to her satisfaction???). I just think that getting someone busted for something that isn’t all that earth-shaking is lousy. I know she *thinks * she’s in jeopardy if her neighbor’s pot smell leaks into her apartment, but she’s not. A simple explanation to her guests would suffice (if they even notice it…or could even identify the smell). She could put a “Stick-up” on the wall and avoid the confrontation altogether. I’m sure her friends and family all know she doesn’t smoke pot. “Yeah, it’s the neighbors…it comes through the vent in the bathroom” is all she needs to say.
We disagree on the gravity of the situation. From her description in this thread, it is NOT worth taking legal action.
It’s a *minor * annoyance and she is willing to have someone busted for it.
Kalhoun, if she winds up taking legal action, it will be because her neighbors are inconsiderate asshats, not because she is. If she was, she already could have called the cops or the landlord. She’s looking for a way to let them know that they are impinging on her right to live in a dope-free environment. I’m betting they will be willing to find some way to accomodate her, just like neighbors of mine have accomodated me when I informed them that they were too effin’ loud and I needed to sleep. And if they hadn’t been willing to, I would have damned well called the law.
Still not much to worry about.
It’s **not ** overpowering, but it **is ** noticeable and frequent enough to make me concerned. It’s **not ** a big deal, because if it was, the cops would have been called already.
If talking to them gets me nowhere, meaning if the neighbors told me to fly a kite and expressed no interest in resolving the issue, I would consider all of the options available to me. Calling the cops is one. It would not be my first choice, as I said before. If you were faced with an undesireable situation, and one option was not popular with a small percentage of society, would that bar you from considering it? Do you expect me to say, “Oh I’ll be considered power-hungry, therefore I should put up and shut up?”
If it isn’t that earth-shaking, then they won’t mind adjusting their habits for the comfort of a neighbor. Whether they do it our of sheer goodwill, or out of a fear that I would possibly report them (which will occur to them regardless of whether I ‘hint’ at it or not) is up to them. Not my problem. I do realize it’s a two-way street (or vent) and if their adjustments aren’t working, I’d do what I can on my side to minimize the smell. If they at least make an effort, I’ll be more appreciative than if they slam the door in my face cackling and waving DingDongs.
Kalhoun, others have explained my side far better than I could have (most notably, Excalibre) and you still seem resistant to understanding my position. I should NOT have to offer a disclaimer every time I have company. I should NOT have to deal with an odor that I don’t want to, whether it be pot or limburger cheese. Part of living in an apartment is dealing with unusual smells, loud radios and shrieking children, true. Part of living in a civilized society is being considerate of your neighbor.
You asked for opinions on a public message board. If it was my neighbor, and it wasn’t “overpowering”, wasn’t constant, if I had virtually no chance of testing dirty at work (most people are in the same situation you’re in as far as drug testing goes), your birds aren’t in jeopardy, and the “odor” can be controlled on your end with a Stick-Up or some other form of air freshener, I’d let it go.
Incidently, your neighbors could say “hey…sorry, we’ll try to fix that”, and then never lift a finger to do so. I’m sure you don’t intend to enter their apartment to inspect their efforts. How will you know?
I agree that part of living in civilized society is being considerate of your neighbor. Another part is understanding that we’re not all the same, and allowing people to be who they are. Sometimes it’s less than ideal, but as long as it’s not a big deal, I would overlook it.
Bolding mine.
And yet another part of living in civilized society is abiding by the laws set out by our government. Laws voted on by the citizens and/or by the politicians we elect. Go figure.
No, it didn’t work in the dorms. It made the room smell like pot smoke and dryer sheets.
If I where the OP, I’d probably start by just putting up one of those magentic vent covers. If that doesn’t do the trick, maybe just mention to them that you did that and ask if they’ll do the same on their side.
That’s a fallacy- the approval of the majority does not make a law moral. The election of Hitler and the German people’s approval of his policies did not make them moral. I’m not in any way, shape, or form equating pot-smoking with genocide, just pointing out that what a majority believes may not be true.
That said, I’m not sure where Kalhoun is coming from; the OP seems very reasonable and eager to work this out without contacting authorities, be they legal or merely the superintendent.
LunaV, I’d be a little more direct with the neighbor- if he’s the stereotypical potsmoker type, he’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have a problem with it and are willing to keep his secret, and will probably take some steps to help.