Annoying Neighbors

One of the problems with being a renter is the inevitable annoying neighbor. I know that you can live in a house, and have annoying neighbors too, but they are usually closer in rental situation. No matter where you go, you just can't escape them. They are just a wall away from driving you crazy, but you can't say anything, because that usually makes the situation worse. You can complain to the landlord, but they very rarely ever do anything. Most of the time you find yourself stuck, having to live next to a nightmare.

For about six years we lived in an apartment in Connecticut. There was a 25 year old guy that lived above us, and he was not too bright at all. We asked him (nicely) on several occasions to turn his music down, and his reply was always, "I like to feel my music." I unceremoniously told him that I don't like to feel his music, especially when I was trying to sleep because I worked a third shift job. Yes, he knew. I even went so far as tell him what nights I worked, and what hours I usually slept, but he was too brain dead from doing drugs to even remember. Eventually his girlfriend kicked him out. We were so happy!

Well, we moved to North Carolina, and thought we had managed to escape (for once) the nightmare that comes with living next to rude, and selfish people. We thought that, because we had actually moved in between two guys who never left the house. We never heard a peep out of them, and they each only had one car, so parking wasn't a problem (our community allows two spaces per unit). Guess what? They moved.

We are now the unfortunate neighbors to two women, and one teenage girl. They have three dogs (the small, yippy kind), and a cat. They also have three cars, and frequently take up other people's parking spaces. That doesn't really bother me too much since we only have one car. The thing that really gets me though is the fact that they have recently acquired two orange cones. You know, the kind they use in construction. In sharpie they have written the word "reserved" on each cone, and when they leave in the evening they put a cone in the spot they were parked in. Why is that so annoying? Because this is a rental community, and everyone who lives here has just as much right as they do to park where there is space available, because they frequently take up other people's parking spots, and then have the nerve to say, "You can't park in my spot", and because when you rent, you are borrowing someone else's space, it's not yours, and you can't behave as if it is without written permission from the owner.

By the way, did I mention that they dug up all the grass out back so that they could put a rug, a rubber mat, and a grass carpet down? It looks hideous! Then they put a fence up (the manager is working on getting it taken down) so that they could leave their back door open and the dogs (yippy ones) can go in and out as they please. If I go out back, they come out and start barking at me! Plus, they poop inside the fence, and it sits out there all day.

If I had my way, I would buy a house where the neighbors live at least a quarter of a mile away!