A bit of a rant !!

I am just a wee bit , NO! More than a wee bit frustrated with apartment life right now. I knew it would not be easy. There would be adjustments needing to be made. I hate beige walls, and beige carpet...but I can live with it. I hate having to carry groceries up the stairs, but look on the bright side, I have help most times and well all the stairs help raise my bottom line. I hate the shower floor that show and retain dirty foot prints ....oh the list could go on and on and on...but they are all minor and they are all livable.


 No, my frustration lays with noise. NOT the normal noise of living in an apartment, the doors slamming, the occasional noises that carry in from other apartments, the kids that are too old to play on the tot playground, but still do, or the teens that think it is a cool place to hang out after 11 pm, when I am trying to sleep and they want to chat on their phones or play on the equipment. No, my noise complaint is from our down stairs neighbors.

I already knew what we would be dealing with and my vision of becoming friends with them were dashed day one, when I smiled and said "hello" to the man that lives below us and he scowled and said nothing to me past a grunt. Then when I passed the wife and she was on her porch swigging coffee , puffing away to the point of looking like a chimney in her bathrobe at 1pm ...I knew we would not be close buddies. I am dealing with her being up till all hours on her porch on warm nights smoking, drinking and chatting away...though it makes it hard to sit on our porch or have our windows open when she is home. But I am dealing and putting up with...it is apartment life and she pays her rent too.


 NO! My frustration , my noise frustration/complaint is that since nearly day one, they have turned up their surround sound for TV, video games and music ( screech and a drum beat mind you) so loud the couch vibrates, the windows rattle, the walls quiver so that pictures go crooked!!!! It on a regular basis sounds like I am sometimes in a war zone, perhaps on a rocket ship, at a rock concert, have a semi driving UNDER my living room floor....or am stuck in a persons heart with a constant THUMP-THUMP. My head starts to do the same after awhile. This went  on day after day , night after night.

I filed a complaint after several days as it got louder and louder and was excessive. They said they would look into it. It happened again. I went in again. They called and left a message. Then again, and well I left a note under the door and they called them again....too lazy to go to the door to speak to them. Then one day after my youngest was trying to nap, as she had an opening shift and had been up since 5 a.m. , she complained and they actually went to the door and spoke to the people. It got better for a time. We were hopeful. We thought perhaps they did not realize how the sound carried. I had peace , I had quiet, past the normal , expected noises of course.

 But then it began again. I started a diary. It made me feel better, not sure what it would help past that. I wrote times, dates, descriptions. At first it was every 2-3 weeks and a day here and there. THEN Summer hit. The frequency has gotten closer and closer to each other, my diary pages fill up ....the sounds got louder and louder. Because of my chronic pain issues and being sound sensitive because of it, I hurt more and more, and feel like the stress from it has me on pins and needles! I can hear it though ear plugs, with the washer, dryer, and dishwasher ( which is SOOOOOO loud all on it's own) and the TV on. One day I was so frustrated I jumped up and down and pounded on the floor, nothing.

 My husband who is not home often is not quite as frustrated. He is sympathetic to my stressing about it, and agrees it is annoying, but he deals with it much better, but then he is not hurting and well could sleep through a jack hammer  or a marching band going down the street...he has in the past...REALLY!! TRUE STORY! But last night, it hit a peak. It was the worst it had EVER been. But we put up with it. Till it hit 11:30 p.m. It was still happening. Past the 10 p.m curfew. 

He called the security patrol, then all hell broke loose! Nearly 30 minutes later they patrol arrived ...UM exactly how long does it take to get from the front gate area to two buildings behind it??? Anyway, apparently the S.P guys walked the parameter to see if they could hear the noise, and then went to go knock on the door when they confirmed they could and that someone was home. The man that lives there came out the door like a raging bull ! Yelling and screaming and cussing and accusing them of being peeping toms! Then said he knew the law, cause he had been in the service....he could have his noise at 70 decibels and be legal for not disturbing the peace. He berated and lectured these two poor security officers and THEN called the local Police !!! Not them, HE did, to report them for being peeping toms!!!

 

This all went on till 1 a.m. I felt so bad for the security patrol and even our Police department that they had to deal with these people. They were being irrational, confrontational and even made the officers take a defensive pose ( yes I was peeking out my window...I was up anyway, who could sleep?) .

My husband just went to the office and spoke to the management. Apparently the manager was not made aware of our first two complaints and only one is on record. THAT is frustrating. Now this is officially complaint number two. She has the security officers report, and our side of the story, and this will be an offical warning, IF they do this again, well 3 strikes and they are OUT!

Now I hate to make people homeless, I know what it is like to be forced to leave your home, and already fear if rent goes up too much of not having money to make a move ourselves, and they have a baby ( can you imagine) and well this is a very nice complex, despite some rules I do not like dealing with what you can have on the porch, but it would be a dream come true if they moved. Is it bad of me to feel that way?? I hate to be the B**** and complain and be as I said the cause of them leaving...but I sure hope they do on their own free will once the lease is up, cause truthfully those people scare me and I am so not ready for a face to face....which is why for the last few months we had kept our frustrations to ourselves.....praying and hoping we can avoid them and not have something happen ....but somehow I am thinking that is unavoidable....and THAT is frustrating as well !!!

Well, so that is my rant....Ok now I need a bit of shop therapy....unfortunately it is going to be shopping for bras and THAT is a whole other rant!!