Trying to keep reasonably quiet when living in an apartment is a common courtesy.

What do you do when your neighbors make a complaint about every noise, even when the door closes due to wind?

That is what the person in this story was facing, so she is just letting the door close naturally from now on.

My neighbor has a problem with me “slamming” my door.

I’ve lived in this apartment for just over a year and I’ve interacted with my neighbor 3 times.

Each time it is for him to complain at me that I’m “slamming the doors, and making the walls shake, and it’s really disturbing.”

I would apologize too!

In the first interaction, I apologized profusely, said I had no idea, said “Oh, you should have left me a note or something, I don’t want to be inconsiderate,” said I’d be more careful, and asked if there were any other issues.

He basically kept repeating “Yeah, it just shakes the whole wall and it’s really disturbing.”

I was horrified that I’d committed the heinous sin of Bothering Somebody (I’m a recovering doormat), and also really confused because I don’t slam doors?

Ever?

I didn’t even realize he was talking about the front door at first, and my first thought was “What is he talking about? All the interior doors are propped open because of the cat.”

Ahh, well not much you can do about that.

I’ve spent WAY too much time thinking about this, and figured out that when the wind blows a certain direction, there’s negative air pressure in the hallway, which pulls the front door closed with some force, unless you carefully hold the handle the entire way and make the door close quietly.

The neighbor’s apartment is a mirror image, so his door opens the other way and he may not realize this.

It also seems to be more of a problem when I have my balcony door open.

I have legitimately tried to train myself to never let the front door swing closed.

She is really going above and beyond here.

You should see me on my hands and knees, dragging groceries in and sliding them across the kitchen floor, because I don’t want to walk in with both hands full and let the front door slam swing behind me.

But basic human “doing your best” only goes so far, and there have been two more times that I forgot and he came out to complain at me.

After the second interaction, I was really bothered that he still seemed to think I was “slamming” the door deliberately, and I left a note on his door, apologizing again, explaining about the wind thing, and reiterating that I would do my best and it wasn’t intentional.

The third interaction went like this:

I forgot my keys, ran back inside to get them off the counter, and allowed the door to “slam” shut behind me.

He came out as I was locking my door.

Him: You’re doing it again.

Me: I’m sorry, I’m doing my best.

Him: It’s incredibly disturbing. It makes the whole wall shake.

Me: I’m doing my best. What more do you want me to do?

Him: Stop slamming the door.

He went back inside and I yelled after him, “You know it’s not on purpose, right? You know it’s the wind?”

Is anything good enough for this guy?!

I am a little oversensitive to people telling me that my best isn’t good enough.

My neighbor does not appreciate my efforts, so I will no longer be making any.

As of yesterday, I’ve started letting the door swing itself closed every single time.

I may even be opening my balcony door ahead of time.

And I think the dog needs a few extra walks today.

And whoops, looks like I forgot something from my car.

He is already upset.

He’s made a noise complaint to the office, but I let them know about the situation before beginning my petty revenge.

This is exactly what he deserves.

As far as I can see, I’m perfectly within my rights to allow my front door to swing closed — you know, like everybody else does — and that’s what I’ll be doing until he apologizes for being an ungrateful, perfectionist jerk.

Or until I move out in February.

How can people in apartments demand silence, it is impossible!

I’m sure the commenters have some things to say about it, let’s take a look.

Exactly right.

Yup, he decided to live there, it is on him.

A cat walking too loudly? Come on.

More petty revenge.

Here is a good neighbor.

Just ignore him, some people just love to complain.

Hopefully your apartment manager is wise to the game.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.