I work in an office complex that is like a series of attached bungalows. There is quite heavy turnover in the office next to ours with which we share a wall. Most offices here are professional people, doctors, lawyers, accountants, exterminators etc. However…when I moved in the office next to mine was a massage parlor. I highly suspect that this was actually a “massage parlor” since another massage venue in the complex was raided and shut down.
In any case, the massage business suddenly disappeared and in its place was what was billed as a realty company. In over a year, nobody ever seemed to go in or out of the building. Mail and newspapers intermittently piled up. After a year or two, the sign changed to another with a generic name and no indication of what the business is. What we did find out is how paper thin our walls are. We weren’t aware until they started remodeling and drills were going in the middle of the day, making it impossible for me to hear anything through my stethoscope. We went over there and found workers and were able to persuade them to do the noisiest work during our lunch break. I also started hearing a cell phone ring every day at about 6 PM. I thought one of my employees had left a cell phone in my office until I finally realized that it was coming from the office next door.
This leads us to vomitguy. They seem to have finished all of the construction but I never see anybody come or go into that office. However, I sometimes hear someone talking, although I can’t make out the words. What I do hear is somebody retching. It sounds like the sound you make when you first start to vomit. It’s not a cough or clearing the throat. It’s a sound that makes me want to vomit also. And it happens over and over and over again.
When I am trying to take a lunch break in my office I hear it. After finishing patients I hear it. Late nights finishing up charts at 2 AM I hear it. It’s never the same time but it always sounds like the same guy. Why, I ask myself, is this guy constantly retching? It’s been months, close to a year and yet there is rarely a two day window where I don’t hear him at least once. What else could make this sound? I’m a doctor-I know vomiting. Is he bulemic? On chemotherapy? Just very sick?
I hate the sound. It makes me sick to my stomach but I can’t just go over there and tell him that I hear him retching and to do something about it. So I have learned to live with it. .But it is wearing me down and I am not sure I can take it much longer.
That sounds really weird. What sort if establishment vomitguy run, another generic realty office or something different?
I don’t know why, but your tale of woe and the mysterious vomitguy has me intrigued
Aaaaargh! I am literally sitting here at 12:11 AM and I can hear him next door right this minute. What kind of job does he have that he works at such odd hours?
Would you be okay with knocking on the door of the business and telling whoever is there that you are a doctor and thought you heard someone in distress? Or just knocking on the wall and calling out to him? If nothing else, that would let him know you can hear it and maybe he would do it somewhere else.
Yeah, not going to knock on the a stranger’s door at midnight. And I know why I am here. I thought I was crazy but just read an article documenting that I am not the only doctor spending 4-5 hours a night after patients finishing telephone calls and charts. Particularly on Fridays I like to finish the work at work and not take it home with me.
psychobunny, are you self-employed or are you working for someone else? IOW, could you relocate, or would that involve quitting your job and having to find a new one?
I know neither one is a piece of cake, but given the thinness of the walls, the problems probably will persist even after vomitguy moves on.
Very strange mystery. Maybe somebody is giving secret ayahuasca ceremonies in there, in which vomiting is a common occurrence. I don’t even think I’m joking.
Heh. This reminds me of a time we stayed in a hotel years ago. We were awakened in the middle of the night by the sounds of noisy copulation in the next room. They were evidently into some kind of vigorous gymnastic sex, because in addition to the moaning and OMGing was crashing and thumping. Shortly after that ended there was a sound of tremendous vomiting.
We thought, well, at least that’s over and we can get some sleep. But in a couple of minutes the sex noise started again! That couple had staying power. And that was one of the last times we stayed in a hotel. We’ve rented little private vacation cottages ever since.
Have you considered slipping a note under the door, while they are there, expressing your concern for their health as a medical professional? Perhaps offer a free consultation, no questions asked, maybe just get some advice for a medication to ease it?
(Maybe they are an illegal worker? afraid to go to a Dr? unable to afford meds? exposed to hazardous materials on the job site? or afraid of their boss?)
If they take you up on it, resist asking them what’s up over there, just offer guidance etc, build some trust maybe?
Another possibility, albeit a more extreme one, is to call the police the next time it happens and report your concerns that a person in the next office sounds like they are in distress. They might do a wellness/welfare check.
(Could it be related to drug or alcohol intoxication?)
You could try to soundproof the wall from your side. Hang soundproof blankets, mass loaded vinyl blankets, or put up thick peel and stick soundproof wallpaper.
Yes I was thinking along these lines too. Maybe some soundproofing carpet squares that you can stick on the walls to minimize the sounds from next door.
Hardly sounds like harassment when someone takes notice of a potentially serious event happening next door by asking if someone needs help. And @Darren_Garrison you have no idea if it’s a chronic health problem or not.
You’re right. I don’t know. You know who does know if they have a chronic health problem or not? The retcher. Do you think they don’t know that they have the problem? Anyone who tries to intervene isn’t “just trying to help”, they are harrassing them via being a gigantic asshole.
Dang. I read this thread right after I finished reading this collection of strange tales in the Washington Post:
Anyhoo, this has been going on for a YEAR? And you don’t have any idea what kind of a business is occupying the space? Is there a directory somewhere? Hell, find out the phone number, PM me, and I’ll phone the sumbitches and aks [sic] them what they’re running over there. I won’t give you away. I’m very good at this kind of phone call.
And you don’t have any idea what kind of a business is occupying the space? Is there a directory somewhere? Hell, find out the phone number, PM me, and I’ll phone the sumbitches and aks [sic] them what they’re running over there. I won’t give you away. I’m very good at this kind of phone call. 