Imagine living in an apartment with thin floors, and you can hear your upstairs neighbors really well when they’re walking around. What would you do if your downstairs neighbor kept complaining about noise when it was the middle of the day and you weren’t even being loud?

In this story, one family was in this situation, and they tried to be nice and as quiet as possible. Then, the neighbor went too far, so they decided not to be nice anymore.

Let’s read all about it.

Downstairs neighbor complained that we’re too loud

I currently live in a 3 story apartment building with my wife (pregnant with our 2nd child) and my almost-2 year old daughter.

Our downstairs neighbor is an old woman who lives alone (with a small yippy dog) and shall be henceforth abbreviated as OH for old hag.

The neighbor sounds really annoying.

Backstory is that on multiple occasions the old hag will knock on her ceiling (my floor) when she thinks we’re stomping too much. In the middle of the day. (Btw she often lets her yippy dog outside who bark incessantly past 11pm)

The apartment definitely has thin floors because we hear our upstairs neighbors throughout the day and late into the night. But they’re another story altogether.

A few weeks ago my wife’s parents were visiting us, and while standing outside on the balcony with my MiL and daughter, OH walks outside her terrace with the yippy dog.

The conversation was a bit weird right off the bat.

Conversation went something like this:

OH: oh, hi. Are you my upstairs neighbor?

Me: yep! We live here, just me, my wife and our daughter. (I said as I motioned to my daughter for her to see the cutie)

OH: oh… I thought it was an African American man who lived there.

Me (I’m very white): umm.. no ma’am, not to my knowledge. We’ve been here for a little over a year now.

Apparently, she wanted to complain but handled it a completely different way.

OH: I see..

Me: well it was nice meeting you… Gotta go help inside (and took the opportunity to leave)

She speaks to my MiL for another minute as I go back inside to help my wife with some lunch preparations.

Not 2 minutes later my phone rings. It’s the apt complex’s front office management saying our downstairs neighbor is reporting a noise complaint and we’re too loud. (In my mind: “Excuse me?? The freaking witch said what?!) She could have said it to my face and asked like a decent person, but that was just low.

At least property management was on their side.

My wife and I are mad, so we go to the front office to let them know that its absurd of her to complain at 2 in the afternoon about footsteps. We werent playing music or anything. Just hanging out around the house with the in-laws and kiddo.

Property mgmt confirms that she is in the wrong and county regulations state that normal noise times are from 10am – 11pm, and as long as we’re not being excessively loud (like throwing a party) she can’t complain.

Fast forward to yesterday:

I get home late, around 9pm with my daughter, wife doesnt get home til 9:30 (we both often work late shifts at our jobs, my mom watches my daughter during the day) so I keep her awake to see mommy for a bit before bed.

It wasn’t even quiet hours yet.

Wife gets home and we hang out in the living room for a bit, and my daughter wants me to chase her, so I do.

She loves playing “gonna getchu!” It’s about 9:40pm and “quiet” hours only start after 11.

Within a minute there is a pounding knock on our floor, for a FULL MINUTE WITHOUT STOPPING.

This absolutely terrified my daughter (who isn’t quite 2 yet, but is very verbose) since she didn’t understand what was happening.

I feel so bad for this little girl.

She starts crying and wailing saying “All done! Knocking! All done! Knocking!” Crying and repeating this mantra even through bedtime songs.

It took her almost an hour to calm down from this and finally fall asleep, with the last thing she mutters being “All done knocking” one last time as she falls asleep.

This old Witch is traumatizing my kid who’s learning to walk/run and I’m not having it.

Again, I’m glad property management is on their side.

We go to bed and I go to the property mgmt office first thing this morning. Let them know what she did to my child the night before, and showed them a recording of her reaction to it, saying “All done knocking” as I was trying to sing her to sleep and another video of her wailing her eyes out, clearly terrified, as my wife held her before going to bed.

Management agreed that Old Hag is wrong here and is going to kindly let her know that she is not allowed to knock on my floor during non-quiet hours. If she does, I have the right to call the police on her for harrassment. (Im even considering filing a restraining order if she does it again)

Well, the MC is now about to start:

They’re done trying to be nice.

From 10am to 11pm, whenever my wife and I are home we are no longer going to watch our step as we have been in the past. We know how awful it is since we constantly hear our upstairs neighbors stomp around, so we tried to be extra careful up until now.

Not anymore.

She made my daughter cry and in turn really stressed out my pregnant wife goving her anxiety. She is gonna pay for it.

From 10am to 11pm the elephant parade is officially in town. After that, quiet time it is!

I hope the neighbor stops knocking on the floor. I feel really bad for the little girl.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This is ridiculous!

I like this idea!

 

They should definitely do this!

Another person shares what the police told them.

The neighbor wasn’t cut out to live in a downstairs apartment.

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