Assclown neighbors complained about me!!

The BBQ Pit
1

Hey, my first Pit rant! And it’s pretty lame!

OK, some background. I’ve lived in this apartment since Mar. 2000, and outlasted most of the tenants in the other (12) units. So I’ve seen all kinds.
Last November I decided it was time to start playing the violin again, so I purchased an instrument to replace the old one and started taking lessons. For the last several months, I practiced 3-4 times a week, usually between 7-10 PM weeknights or on weekends. And the whole time, apparently naively believing that if anyone could hear or had a problem, they’d come to me about it.

Then, today, I get this in the mail from the leasing office:

First, a big “WHAT THE FUCK??” to that part about “loud walking and bedroom noises.” I know what it sounds like, and I’ve never so much as brought a woman home, let alone anything else. “Loud walking??” I don’t stomp around like a goddamned Clydesdale or anything, I hardly even wear shoes!

So, the violin playing… I checked the lease and it actually says that residents aren’t supposed to engage in vocal or instrumental lessons or practice. But someone had to complain to the leasing office about this? And if it was so offensive, why did they wait 5 damn months??

Did I fucking complain when a downstairs neighbor played her TV so loud I could hear it distinctly? Did I complain when the woman across the hall screamed at her husband for 20 minutes at 1:30 in the morning for coming home late? Do I complain when the other people downstairs have their parties? Well, I’ll tell you: Not Once.

Now I’m torn… do I confront the people downstairs and next door and try to work out some kind of agreement? Do I complain about every little thing everyone else does? Or do I learn another instrument in addition; the bagpipes, maybe? Could the leasing office actually evict me over this?

Asshats… if they did, it’d be a favor… :mad:

2

Yeah, I understand. Someone should have talked to you before reporting. But our society has become obsessed with this fear of talking to others because their are so many unreasonable people out there. For a society that whines about authority and claims to be rebels, I notice we run to authority first, before trying anything else.

OTOH, I can relate to your story. I remmeber when I was in college and every single day, at 5:00 a.m., my downstairs neighbors turned on their stereo with a thumping base. It would actually vibrate my walls. I could not hear the music, just the gosh darn base ( you all know how annoying base by itself is, you just hear the same thing over and over again for every song. It sounds like it is the same three beats repeated for hours). This went on for at least 3 months and I never complained- I just chalked it up to living in an apartment.

Then, in October, I had the women’s intramural volleyball team come down to my apartment from another university (the captain was an old friend and they needed a place to crash).We had a “mild party” that weekend, nothing crazy. In fact, the whole town was a party (Halloween in Athens).

The Sunday, after the girls had left, a couple buddies came over and we were listening to Cyprus Hill at about 1, maybe 1.5 on the stereo. I could not even hear it in the back rooms. We did not have the bass turned up or anything. We were not talking loud, nor really moving at all. The next thing I know, I get a knock on the door. It’s the COPS!!! Not the neighbor, but the COPS!!! They told me my neighbor (downstairs- they should not have told me but they did) complained about the noise. They noted that it was not turned up loud at all and did not cite me. But, I could not fucking believe it. The damn COPS. Here, I put up with their bullshit all quarter and then ONE time (I did not even have a stereo- someone brought over a boom box) they call the damn COPS on me.

It is amazing that people do not look at themselves before they start complaining. I was absolutely amazed.

All I can say is, I am so glad I do not live in an apartment anymore.

3

First, I’d frame that thing about loud bedroom noises.

If you have neighbours that would complain once, they’ll complain a hell of a lot if you complain about them. I would not confront them either. Is it possible for you to play the violin earlier in the day? AFAIK, the violin isn’t that loud. Am I correct?

Then again, maybe bagpipes are the way to go.

-M

4

Waiting 5 months to complain about violin exercises shows a certain degree of tolerance (maybe they were hoping you’d give up).

Sounds like you can be evicted over this.

Different folks have varying tolerance for noise, and walls can be thin in apartment complexes.

Is there a nearby college with a music dept. that would let you use one of their practice rooms?

Do you commit the loud walking and bedroom noises simultaneously? :smiley:

5

Holy Moly! I could only dream…

6

This, this is why I’m going further and further into debt, renting a house I can’t afford – to avoid apartment living at any cost. People are such jerks, the jerkiness is just concentrated in apartment houses.

I used to give a piano lesson at a guy’s condo at 5 or 6 in the evening. It was 99% talk, we hardly played the piano! And yet every time a single note was played, the guy upstairs would immediately pound on the floor. (My student practiced with headphones exclusively.)

I do think close to 10 o’clock is a little late for violin, especially – it’s a bit of a piercing tone. If you’re going to make noise at all, I’d wind it up about 8:00 in the evening, if not earlier.

As Lissa said, they didn’t complain directly to you because, who knows, you could be some psycho who would thereafter make their lives hell if you knew exactly who complained. I must admit, I’d be tempted to go the same route myself. Although I do deplore the trend of ignoring humans who live very close by.

7

Bollocks! I didn’t complain when the neighbors upstairs were having a vicious, kill-each other fight. No sir! I didn’t complain when they did their loud walking, stomping, jumping around, bowling, or whatever. Uh-uh!

Bummer, dude. Do they have an actual noise curfew there, like no noise after a certain hour? I mean a specific hour, so at least you’d have something to shoot for.

8

well, are you a beginning violinist?

the loud walking thing has me stumped, it sounds like such a whiny thing to complain about

9

Well, I take my lessons at the Peabody Conservatory, but that’s in town and I live in the 'Burbs. I’ll be damned if I’m going to drive half an hour into town just to practice. And during the school year, for a non-student such as myself, finding an open room is just about impossible.

Well, Mercury, I suppose I can practice a little earlier, but some days, by the time I get home from work, get myself dinner and/or come back from jogging, it’s already 8:00. I recently picked up a mute from a music shop; we’ll see how much of a difference it makes.
dantheman, no explicit curfew or anything. Just a seemingly blanket restriction on anything that can be considered offensive.

So, speaking of offensive, while pausing in between scales, I discovered the source of the bedroom noises. My upstairs neighbor was clearly and loudly getting it on with someone. Or maybe just jacking off really hard. In any case, it certainly wasn’t me.

10

That’s very odd. The only rule in my complex is that after 10:00, you shouldn’t use loud appliances - washer/dryer, vacuum, etc. My upstairs neighbor does anyway, but I have to listen closely for it, and I don’t care. She also practices piano, and it’s kind of nice. I wonder what they’d do about our baby - he can be awfully loud at inconvenient hours. :slight_smile:

11

Good Lord, sounds like the movie Delicatessen!

12

Yeah, it was pretty amazing. Nine women, in a two bedroom apartment. They were getting all dudded up to go out and they must have felt comfortable around me because they walked around in bras and shorts for a long time. They had so many bathroom appliances plugged in to the outlets around my apartment, they blew every fuse. It was weird when the lights went out, I had this fantasy that when they came back on, they would all be naked. But alas, it did not happen. The funny thing is, that halfway through their preparation session, my girlfriend arrived to visit me from out of town. Explaining the girls in bras was a little difficult at first.

I thought I was going to plotz when they started bouncing the volleyball around in the room while waiting for the bathroom. It was like a penthouse forum letter, without the orgy that was supposed to follow. I had the beginning of the forum letter in my head:

“It was a quiet day when the team showed up… While they were bouncing the ball around, one of the girls thought it would be fun to take off their tops. They started to gather around me and then Dee Licious started to take my pants off…”

13

Excuse me, Lissa’s husband, but I think it would be more appropriate to get your own screen name to avoid confusion.

14

Hmmm. I did not think this would be a problem. I really did not see a need for it. We sort of trade off on the computer and I found it easier.

Am I breaking a rule?

PLease let me know because I definetely do not want to do that.

15

Whoops, I just realized that was an administrator. I guess that answers my question. I will take care of it. Sorry.

16

Sunofagun. I just came from that site, too…

17

I used to play violin. There is an easy and cheap solution to this. Get a practice mute. Its a big heavy mute that slips over the bridge, and cuts the volume way down, but you can still hear fine.

I have a nieghbor, a little old lady who lives across the street, who has become a royal pain in the ass. I have a band, a blues band, and we practice in my studio once or twice a week(always in the middle of the day, usually on a saturday). We all play through earphones(in-ear monitors), no live amps(amp simulaters…pod and jstation), I run my keyboards direct into the board. No live speakers at all. The only thing you can hear is the drums, and we have taken great pains to soundproof.(I live in a house, BTW). So, a couple of times at practice we notice the cops over at this old ladys house. Its always been while we were taking a break, and they didnt come over so we didnt know it was about us.

But finally the cops showed up while we were playing and one comes over. He says that the neighbor is complaining, but that it doesnt seem that loud to him…but to keep the peace if we could make it quieter…

The drummer switches to lighter sticks, and we play again. We take a break and sure enough the old biddy is over there talking to a differant cop.

So, later that week, the drummer comes over, I take a Sound Level meter, and and stand across the street in front of her house and take readings. The sound level of the drums is around 64 db. To give you an idea of how loud this is, a brand new caddilac drove by and the reading was 70 db…just the wosh sound. So litterally you couldnt hear the drums over the sound of a car driving by. Some people just like to complain and raise a stink. State law, BTW, says that it has to be 85 db to be considered unreasonable noise.

18

possibly you could lose the herman munster shoes?

19

Does your complex have party rooms? Maybe you can practice there…

20

What a friend of mine (in high school) did when he was learning the violin - he would go to the park, put a hat in front of him, and practice there. He made money (not that much) while he was practicing! Of course there was always the witty people who would ask him “how much is it to make you stop playing?”