# Neighbors spying on you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392 "2011-07-18T00:08:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/21 "2011-07-18T15:20:54Z")
Some of our neighbors _want_ us to be spying on them and seem indignant that we’re not. “You know that car [which was parked illegally] belongs to my niece, who is visiting me from New York, don’t pretend you don’t.” Uh…no, I don’t pay enough attention to anyone to note who has guests. “You know how often that happens.” Uh, nope, I’m blissfully ignorant. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/22 "2011-07-18T16:22:14Z")
Not spying on me per se, but my Mother can be a little “difficult” (even before she developed Dementia), and I’d end up yelling myself hoarse that I was upstairs and couldn’t attend to whatever ‘emergency’ she wanted me to attend to … Pretty sure the entire estate knew when I was in the shower/using the toilet/washing my hair/getting dressed. I did toy with the idea of yelling that I was too busy shagging … ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/23 "2011-07-19T04:07:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Here’s my question: How the hell do they think they know that you never leave the house unless they also never leave their house? If you’re going to be judgmental, at least be intelligently judgmental. Because picking up the newspaper was mentioned, I thought the meaning was that we almost never travel, rather than suggesting that we never leave the house. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/24 "2011-07-19T06:45:39Z")
Would be fun to flick the lights on and off for a while, see what kind of reaction that gets. S-O-S-S-e-n-d-h-e-l-p ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/25 "2011-07-19T13:52:59Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > I They would literally peak in my windows.I saw one of them peaking in . “PEEK”! Not peak - that is a totally different thing. And I am sure I have been the target of gossip occasionally in my neighborhood. Everyone is friends and relatives. We keep to ourselves and are quiet. When I see my neighbors I am always nice and make a point of being friendly and chatty. My SO doesn’t get this at all, but I know it pays off to at seem normal, even if I don’t match up to their idea of a neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/26 "2011-07-19T14:05:02Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > LOL, well sort of. I think it’s sometimes done out of lust. And sometimes done to try to figure out the other guy is gay by how he reacts. Oh, no, no. I’ve been the recipient of the “gay stare” on many occasions. If you look carefully in the pupils, you’ll see it means: “He wore that belt with _those_ shoes?!? Some people never look in a mirror.” ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/27 "2011-07-19T14:11:10Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > Oh, no, no. I’ve been the recipient of the “gay stare” on many occasions. If you look carefully in the pupils, you’ll see it means: “He wore that belt with _those_ shoes?!? Some people never look in a mirror.” LOL! ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/28 "2011-07-19T18:58:47Z")
People care what their neighbors think of them? Weird. I can see being worried if you think you’re being plotted against. But what happened in the OP sounds like a few people just being drunk and obnoxious, not ill-intended. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392/29 "2011-07-19T20:39:33Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Every apartment complex or neighborhood has its [Mrs. Kravitz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_Kravitz), the spy/gossip, that likes to people watch and talk about everyone else’s goings on… This was a large factor in the Stasi’s ability to spy on East Germans. Didn’t they keep getting overwhlemed with the volume of reports they had to sort though? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighbors-spying-on-you/589392.md?page=1)