Got a NOTE on my car from neighbor

[etherealme]

This passive aggressive stuff is for the birds. Sheesh...

On the other hand, I can understand wanting to play it safe when it comes to confronting someone. I don't usually complain myself until I can't possibly take any more repeat offensives and will take the honey over vinegar route whenever possible.

I also think that whenever possible, living in a neighborhood with those that have habits appropriately in-step with your own. This guy, for example, probably doesn't have as much a problem with dealing with noise on his end and can play pretty much as loud as his heart desires.

In my neighborhood, my bass playing is the least of anyone's concern.

I've got a neighbor that has boxers that bark excessively whenever he isn't home. Another neighbor my wife can hear having sex (I can't). There's the gay neighbor that has monthly "private" parties. And there's the "soon to be divorced" couple that fight louder, every month. Hot rod/midlife crisis guy with his 71' 442. Motorcycle dude that doesn't believe in mufflers. And the foreign couple that love to shoot off fireworks, at the drop of a hat.

I think it's time for me to buy a larger amp...

Great thread!

 

[totallyfrozen]

Did the note include any input about your tone? (more mids, sweet, etc.)?

I LOL'd! That's funny!

 

[spaz21387]

In my neighborhood, my bass playing is the least of anyone's concern.

I've got a neighbor that has boxers that bark excessively whenever he isn't home. Another neighbor my wife can hear having sex (I can't). There's the gay neighbor that has monthly "private" parties. And there's the "soon to be divorced" couple that fight louder, every month. Hot rod/midlife crisis guy with his 71' 442. Motorcycle dude that doesn't believe in mufflers. And the foreign couple that love to shoot off fireworks, at the drop of a hat.

I think it's time for me to buy a larger amp...

Sounds alot like my neighbors just add in a deaf old lady and a neighbor with 3 little girls between the ages of 3 and 8 who scream like they are being stabbed if another neighborhood kid takes a doll or they get hurt. Then again I practice at way lower volumes, never higher then 2 . And never late at night thats what my acoustic is for.

 

[tekhedd]

Oh, the Headphones On But Speakers Also trick, eh? I've done that one. Instead of practicing, though, it was an all-night MMO gaming session, with headphones, a Buttkicker, and Drum & Bass. I figured, hey, it doesn't make sound, so of course nobody can hear it. Right?

I had recently changed my phone number, and of course I couldn't hear people knocking on the door because of the headphones. The Buttkicker Gamer attaches to your chair, so of course it directly conducts sub-bass directly into the floor. In a flimsily built apartment building, two stories down I was seriously annoying the building manager. I was lucky--she did not kill me.

Bass is amazing, it dissipates quickly in the open air, but boy does it conduct!

 

[deesako]

Maybe the OP is a scary looking mofo

Hehe.. me scary? My car is a hatchback, how scary is that? lol.

I was so mad.. cause, yeah it's so passive-aggressive.

I "think" it must of been that apartment queen, you know, that lady every apartment unit has... probably retired, outside watering the flowers all day, knows everyone and everything.

And, is it necessary to file the complaint with my manager, when they are in another unit, owned by another manager??

So, they actually called a manager who wasn't their manager.

But, I have heard nothing from my manager, cause I think he's okay with me.

But now, I don't know who left the note so everyone I see from that building I give a dirty look j/k..


I mean, it was like, ONE time.. maybe 5 minutes.. here and there..

A warning would be nice. Or, just let me know.. by the way, I can hear it ya know? Nobody trust anyone nowdays.

They assume you already will be combative and disagreeable

 

[PastorofMuppets]

They assume you already will be combative and disagreeable

In my experience its becoming way more common.
Everyday normal respect for other people even strangers is getting colder. What should be a simple conversation turns into a pissing match or worse. Threats of retaliation are more likely now to be carried out.

So they it used to be that if a neighbor had a problem they could come and talk about it respectfully man to man or whatever but now you would need to be more cautious about it. Last thing i would want is my neighbor or his punka$$ friends suddenly taking an interest in me after I came to them with a concern.

 

[electracoyote]

They assume you already will be combative and disagreeable

My neighbor across the street used to leave his dogs out all day when he went to work. They barked constantly, non-stop. I work from my home office, and it was an incredible distraction not to mention a real detriment to an otherwise nice area.

I could tell from my brief encounters with this guy that he had a little attitude problem, and I really didn't want to deal with him, so I did the anonymous note thing, very politely written and to the point, signed "Your Neighbors." I left two of these notes on his door over the course of a few months.

Nothing changed.

I finally got fed up and called Animal Control. The lady officer comes out, sits in front of his house for about 20 minutes listening to the doggie choir going ape sh**, gets out of her truck shaking her head in disbelief, and proceeds to write a warning notice and put it on his door.

The guy gets home from work and makes a bee-line straight to my front door and starts chewing me out up one side and down the other. Now remember, this was not over a citation, but a simple first warning. And he has the nerve to imply that I'm the bad neighbor!

That told me two things: First, the guy knew his dogs were a nuisance and knew whose household it was affecting, and second, he didn't care one bit about the impact it was having or fixing the problem.

Long story short, I tore into him like armeggedon and proceeded to light him up with my own brand of colorful language, making it clear that I will continue to call Animal Control until they take his dogs away if he didn't come up with a solution soon.

He quickly softened his approach and now I almost never hear his dogs. But now I can't stand to look at the guy, and I'm not his favorite person either.

So yes, because of a-holes like this schmuck, I assume the worst in people and will be calling law enforcement immediately to do the job they are trained and paid for, instead of trying to be diplomatic and negotiate with potential sociopaths.

 

[pbd]

at least they left you a note, my neighbors just call the police on me, I would rather talk to someone about a problem they are having with me than talk 3rd person through a police man.

I love the comment about how your tone sounded lol that was great!

Todd

 

[Rocker949]

I got a nasty note in my mailbox from my new neighbor over my barking dog; I live on a 1 acre lot. I walked over to his house and he wouldn`t answer the door. So I went home and called him. I explained to him what steps I would try to quiet the dog down - he demanded I get rid of her. I explained to him that one can hear barking dogs all over the neighborhood, and since it`s my yard, there`s not alot he can do about it. I also explained to him that in the future, just talk to me face to face about problems; do not stuff notes in my mailbox in the middle of the night. I bought a swanky bark collar, put up a privacy fence, moved the dog house to the other side of my yard. Worked for awhile. Then he calls late one night and my teenage daughter answers the phone: he proceeds to scream and cuss her out because the dog was barking ! I snapped, and was ready to go over and whip his a**, until we found out why the dog was barking: they were repo`ing his car in the driveway ! After I watched the tow truck speed off, I called him and told him my dog was fighting through the pain of being shocked, trying to warn him that his car just left on a tow hook, but he wouldn`t listen. Laughed in his face, told him not to ever speak to anyone in my house again but me, and to worry about his own troubles instead of giving me grief. Never heard from him again.

Great post.

 

[jimmy rocket]

Kind of a long story, but probably worth it:

One time while the wife and I were engaged in other activities in the bedroom, i hear my doorbell, and my dog, who is an otherwise super mild mannered golden retriever starts barking her fool head off. She does this sometimes with UPS or FedEx drivers and the occasional Jehovah's Witness, so I thought "whatever, she'll quit it soon" and continued gettin' busy.

The doorbell ringer in question proceeds to ring three more times, and at this point my dog is absolutely going nuts, and it's kind of killing the vibe so my wife tells me to go check it out and so I get dressed as quickly as possible and head out the front door to see the Animal Control truck sitting there.

I went down to talk to the guy, who informs me that some neighbor has called them in on me because I leave my dogs out 24 hours a day and they're barking all the time. Three things wrong with that:
- I only have one dog
- She's hardly ever outside alone
-she was in the middle of being treated for heartworms so she wasn't allowed outside at all except on a leash.

The Animal control guy calls the man who made a complaint, who happens to live two doors away, and he comes out apologizing because it wasn't my house at all but someone who lives behind us (who incidentally does have some barking dogs). The guy introduces himself and in an act of contrition offers to take me fishing on his boat. I don't know how my facial expressions could have possibly been interpreted as "hey, I'd love to go fishing on your boat sometime," but the joker was grasping at some straws of self-respect.

The kicker is that he and his wife have these two barking dogs that they leave out all the time.

never in my life...

 

[MatticusMania]

Ive never been so bothered by someone else's barking dog that I felt the need to complain.

My fiancee and I live in a condo, and this condo has a Home Owners Association. People make all kinds of dumb complaints. We once got a notice saying that our dog was barking at all hours of the night and it was disturbing our neighbors. We don't even have a dog.
Im convinced the President of the association does not like us because we are renters. Recently heard from the neighbor that the pres. was asking her questions about us, claiming that we're loud and have trash in our patio. For one, we're not loud, we're 3 (have a roommate) young adults who rarely ever have anyone over and stay to ourselves. Secondly, there isnt anything in our patio but a BBQ and a vegetable garden. We used to have recycling cans out there, but moved them into the garage about 2 months ago.

 

[Surly]

My neighbor didnt like my tone either...I live in a townhouse and have had my neighbor bang on my door like she's trying to break it down when playing (twice). Last time I didn't answer the door. Keep in mind I keep my amp on the outside wall not connected to anything. Still, I was a little too loud. Now she has renters who make so much noise they wake me up, stomp dancing, slamming doors, yelling in the backyard, etc. So these days I play louder...

 

[mkandolf]

Got lots of small yappy dogs in the neighborhood. I can never understand why people keep these things and then never take time with them. Only two non-noisy dogs in the neighborhood are my Saint and the next door Black Lab which are both well taken care of.

As for neighbor noise, during the day it's never that bad except for kids playing which isn't bad at all. If the neighbor's get too loud with outdoor parties at night (all single family dwellings) I've been lucky enough that I just go out, smile, ask nice, and they quiet down and apologize.

Funny thing though one time I had the cops called on me because I had my iPod Touch pumped through my hi-fi and then had to show off my latest app - iGun - to my son. My son and I got carried away with the screaming and gunfire forgetting the windows were wide open. We wondered why the cops came up the street with sirens and lights blaring. Wasn't funny anymore when they jumped out of the car guns pulled and heading toward the door double-quick!!!

 

[RH434]

This thread is awesome. Haven't lol'd this much in a while... Seems like a bass player is the last person to pick a sound fight with.

I'm currently living in the middle of nowhere, and can play as loud as I want, whenever the wife isn't home.

Just bought a house in the suberbs. Nice quiet neighborhood. I have two labs, we've already talked about bark collars. I guess the loud practices will be over when we move in.

Once had a neighbor who left their dogs out all day and evening. The dogs would bark non-stop and I could see the people just ignoring them and walking around in the house like nothing was going on. My issue was, I worked second and third shift at the time and could not get a good nights sleep for almost two months. Tried earplugs and everything.
Finally, I had to go over and say something. I was nice as can be, said please, and asked if they could try to do something. Well, word travels fast, and suddenly I'm the jerk of the neighborhood who hates dogs. (like I said, I have two labs, who can be obnoxious, but I don't let them bug the neighbors)
We got ugly looks from them and their friends until we moved out two years later.... It takes all kinds, but at least they did try to keep the dogs a bit quieter.

 

[Pearldiver]

I would leave a note stating "Hey, I know which car is yours too!"

 

[SactoBass]

I would find out who left the note, and then leave a note for them saying:

We apologize for our equipment module's low frequency generation a few suns ago. We are from the planet Remulak. We are conducting tests to see if the humans in this building are fit for consumption.

 

[DONZI97]

Thats a lot of excitement for St Clair cops... Just like here in Algonac

Got lots of small yappy dogs in the neighborhood. I can never understand why people keep these things and then never take time with them. Only two non-noisy dogs in the neighborhood are my Saint and the next door Black Lab which are both well taken care of.

As for neighbor noise, during the day it's never that bad except for kids playing which isn't bad at all. If the neighbor's get too loud with outdoor parties at night (all single family dwellings) I've been lucky enough that I just go out, smile, ask nice, and they quiet down and apologize.

Funny thing though one time I had the cops called on me because I had my iPod Touch pumped through my hi-fi and then had to show off my latest app - iGun - to my son. My son and I got carried away with the screaming and gunfire forgetting the windows were wide open. We wondered why the cops came up the street with sirens and lights blaring. Wasn't funny anymore when they jumped out of the car guns pulled and heading toward the door double-quick!!!

 

[iridiumrocks]

Oh, the Headphones On But Speakers Also trick, eh? I've done that one.

I did this too when I was a teenager and still living with my parents. I came home way later than I was supposed to one night. After going to great lengths to be very sneaky and not make any noise to wake my parents, I decided to put on the headphones and listen to some music. I cranked up Black Sabbath's Paranoid album really loud and forgot that the speakers were still on. The next thing I see is my mom in my face screaming at me. When I took off the headphones to see what she was yelling about, the music was blasting and I found out that I woke up everyone in the house. I never heard the end of that one...

 

[iridiumrocks]

You would be surprised. If there is a water or sewer main running underneath both units, bass can travel. I used to have a neighbor the next house over--separated by a driveway and building setbacks from the property line--whose bass could be clearly heard in my bedroom (but not other parts of the house). A sewage main was the culprit.

This is very true. In the past, I worked for a radio station and we were building new studios as part of a remodeling project. Studio designs go into every detail to make the room totally soundproof. One of the biggest problems is bass frequencies traveling in/out of the room over hard connections such as electrical conduit and sprinkler pipes. All electrical connections were flex cable and sprinklers used a rubber hose surrounded by a wire mesh to give it enough strength but block any vibrations that would travel down a metal pipe. The entire room is also built on a raised floor with a sound-damping material between the studio floor and the building floor to isolate any vibrations. I was surprised at how easily bass frequencies can travel.

 

[laboitenoire]

This is very true. In the past, I worked for a radio station and we were building new studios as part of a remodeling project. Studio designs go into every detail to make the room totally soundproof. One of the biggest problems is bass frequencies traveling in/out of the room over hard connections such as electrical conduit and sprinkler pipes. All electrical connections were flex cable and sprinklers used a rubber hose surrounded by a wire mesh to give it enough strength but block any vibrations that would travel down a metal pipe. The entire room is also built on a raised floor with a sound-damping material between the studio floor and the building floor to isolate any vibrations. I was surprised at how easily bass frequencies can travel.

We actually do similar things in high-powered microscopy labs for materials science and other fields... Nothing kills a good image at 10 nm resolution like vibrations.

Anywho, living in a college dorm has taught me to deal with noisy neighbors. Luckily, my friends last year were good natured about it. They cooperated when I asked them to tone down their drunken festivities at 3 AM on a school night.