When someone has been through a traumatic experience, they may experience PTSD, and there may be certain things that trigger PTSD for them.

For the person in this story, when someone loudly bangs on her door, she experiences PTSD. Even if it’s a well-meaning neighbor, she’s still traumatized by it.

I’m not really sure if the neighbor is a good person or a bad person in this story. She is the HOA president, so that makes me think she’s a bad person, and she pounds loudly on the door, so that also makes me think she’s a bad person. But other than that, I don’t know enough about her to know if maybe she is actually a good person.

The homeowner in this story doesn’t know her all that well either, and now she’s second-guessing herself after being honest about her PTSD. Keep reading to see if you think she did anything wrong.

I expressed my boundary with my elderly HOA president. Who was out of bounds?

Wednesday night, she rang my bell (single family house) and within a second was pounding on the door at 7:30pm.

She did this once before. It was the anniversary on my sons death. I didn’t answer the door.

I heard from the neighbor that she complained she knew I was in there.

Obviously she has my phone number.

She hasn’t lived there very long.

Anyway, I just recently moved in. Relocated 800 miles away from my abusive ex.

I met this woman a few weeks ago. I specifically remember telling her that I’m not the Hollywood version of “Sleeping with the enemy”, but I chose this tiny community to enjoy good neighbors. That if they ever saw a car with WI license plates, and I go missing, to be suspicious.

We all laughed.

Anyway, I take medication for PTSD. So her banging on the door like that, physically affects me.

She was honest about her PTSD.

When I finally did answer the door Wednesday, she was asking if I paid my HOA fee yet.

I told her I had and that the money was deposited in the lock box two days prior.

She questioned me suspiciously and then I had had enough. Without raising my voice, I told her that I had ptsd and her method of visiting me scared the heck out of me and she was no longer welcome to contact me that way.

Her reaction “I’m sorry” on her face made me think I took it from zero to sixty too quickly. Idk: AITAH?

I’m not sure what the problem is here. I mean, I understand that she has PTSD from the way the neighbor knocks on the door, but I don’t understand why she thinks it’s a problem that she told the neighbor that. I obviously didn’t see the reaction on the neighbor’s face, but she was probably just surprised.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an apartment tenant who is being called petty for blocking her parking space with trash cans.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

The neighbor may not have realized she was being annoying.

But this person is on OP’s side.

Another person thinks the neighbor sounds like a busy body.

This person shares their thoughts about knocking on the door.

Okay, so I have a Ring doorbell, and the only way I can hear the doorbell ring is through the app on my phone. I’m not a fan of this. I prefer an old school doorbell that rings inside the house; although, having a camera attached to your doorbell is nice.

That’s said, I often don’t hear the doorbell ring. If someone doesn’t knock on the door, I probably won’t know they’re there unless my dogs start barking. Pounding on the door might be the only way I’d hear them if I’m on the opposite side of the house.

I get that she has PTSD, but I don’t think the neighbor was trying to be annoying. I also don’t think it was wrong to let the neighbor know how her actions impacted her.

Hopefully next time the neighbor is more considerate.