I really enjoy the evening time. It’s dark outside, but bright inside. Many people leave their curtains open, for the world to view their personal lives. I enjoy looking through people’s houses from my car. I like to take note of the furniture, walls, and light fixtures. You can tell a lot about people by looking into their houses.
Problem is that I get caught on occasion, and get dirty looks. I don’t blame them. Is there some kind of gesture I can make to let them know that I am curious and harmless, and I am NOT doing anything shady such as casing their house? Do you look into people’s houses? This is kinda normal behavior, right?
Bring your gun and when they spot you and give you a dirty look, show them that you’re packing so that they know that not only are you harmless but you’re willing and able to protect their home if anyone tries to rob it.
My wife likes doing this.
I think as long as you’re on the sidewalk and not standing on a bale of hay in the bushes under the bedroom window you should just smile and wave and move on.
One Saturday morning we had gone somewhere and were coming home when we decided to stop and look at a house for sale. It had been on the market for months, and a neighbor had told us that no one was in the house anymore.
You can’t see the house from the street; the drive winds through the woods for about 100 yards or so. As we got to the house itself, the driveway turnaround brought us right up to the dining room window…where everyone in the family was in pajamas eating breakfast! 5 feet away! :smack:
We waved and left, then called the number on the sign and apologized for disturbing them. They thought it was funny, and told us we weren’t the first to do this same thing.
No. It’s creepy. It’s invasive. It’s not normal. You’ve had a few threads similar to this over the last year. Normal people do not go out of their way to peer into strangers’ windows; we respect their privacy. What the hell kind of thrill do you get from peeping into other peoples windows? Seriously?
I will look into people’s windows at night, if I can see them from the sidewalk or bus or El. I’ve never sat in a car or driven deliberately somewhere just to look in people’s windows, though. I’ve also never stopped to look, just whatever I can glimpse while going by. Stopping and staring to get a great lookie-loo would be way too creepy.
I’ve mentioned this to other city dwellers and there’s a general consensus in my casual polling that what I do is not all that unusual and others do it, too. But only on the level of what’s glimpsed while passing by, which is almost unavoidable in this densely populated city/neighborhoods where we live.
Parking in front of someone’s house and just sitting there, especially in an engaged neighborhood that has neighborhood watch or something, don’t be surprised if a squad car makes a cruise-by and stopover, and a “move it along,” because that’s really creepy and stalkery.
I don’t like for people to get the idea that I’m furitively lurking outside their houses when I look in, so I like to honk the horn the whole time. That way they know that I’m not trying to be sneaky or anything.
This seems a bit over the top, unless the OP has also posted threads about licking windows and masturbating while staring at other peoples’ homes.
It IS normal to glance into other peoples’ windows while you are walking or driving by. I didn’t get the sense the OP was sitting in a parked car staring; that would of course be unacceptable.
But looking in peoples’ windows? I’m sorry, there’s even a term for it. WINDOW SHOPPING. Because we like looking thru windows at stuff that isn’t ours.
If you don’t want anyone to even glance inside your house then you need to shut your blinds or curtains at night. Seriously.
Window Shopping: You’re doing it wrong.
(Just to be clear, window shopping is looking in store windows but not really planning to buy anything. Not looking residential windows. I don’t care if people glance in my house, I just want to point out that that’s not what window shopping is…at all).
If anyone asks why I close some of my blinds at night, I’ll just have them read this thread.
Actually, I wish the people next door would close their curtains at night. When I’m at my kitchen sink, there’s nowhere to look but into my neighbors’ living room . . . and their curtains are always open. Fortunately, the woman has some really hideous “art” hanging in their windows to discourage me.
