When new neighbors move in next door, you always hope that they will be great people with whom you get along well. Unfortunately, that is not always the case, even when they seem perfectly nice.

What would you do if your new neighbors were culturally very different from you, and while they weren’t awful people, they were constantly annoying you with the things they do?

That is the situation in this story, and one of the biggest problems the family has with their new neighbors is that they set up a security camera that frequently has audio announcements, which drive them nuts. They really don’t know how to get them to turn off the camera without being mean about it.

I can certainly see how this would be annoying, but I think they need to just walk over and have that awkward conversation. Maybe the neighbors will be happy to turn off the audio. Read through all the details below and see what you think they should do.

I am losing my patience with my new neighbors and I feel terrible about it

Hi everyone! Our new neighbors moved in about 6 months ago and…it hasn’t been great so far.

Cultural differences can be hard to overcome.

It seems like everything they do drives me nuts and I feel really terrible that I feel this way.

They are from another country and the cultural divide is VAST. Sometimes I just think we are so different and live so differently that it is hard to bridge the gap.

Let’s see what the neighbors have been doing.

Second, this family was a victim of a high profile, violent, home invasion prior to moving here. They have a lot of young kids who were also present for the incident. So, yeah I feel like a total jerk for always being annoyed at them.

Here’s a snapshot of the stuff that has been happening:

First, the kids were kicking soccer balls very hard into our house. When we didn’t return the balls immediately, the kids either let themselves into our yard through our gated fence or climbed the fence to get the ball when the fence was locked.

Ok, so far both of the complaints have actually gotten fixed.

We tried to work it out with the kids, and when that didn’t work, we went to the parents. They were actually super nice about it and we haven’t had a problem since.

Next, they put a swingset up against our fence so closely, that it was constantly banging into the fence. The kids broke the swingset, so problem temporarily solved. Sidenote: These kids always run and play in the street without looking and they are always unsupervised. Again, just a huge cultural gap here.

This type of lighting would be annoying.

They also put in crazy bright lights in their basement that completely light up the front of our house and garage, where we always hang out.

You know those bright surgical white lights that seem like you can see them from space? They are in their basement and then on their porch and in their lamppost and on their garage.

It is like gas station lighting. Blinding. Nothing we can really do about it, it doesn’t shine directly in our windows, so whatever, just something else to be annoyed by.

They should ask the neighbors to turn that off. Or at least narrow the range.

Now for the problem I really came here for. They put up a security camera on their garage 3 months ago and activated the audio notification that says “Hi! You are currently being recorded!”

They set a MASSIVE range on this thing. It goes off every time a car drives down the street. It goes off everytime someone walks on the sidewalk on both sides of the street. It goes off when we or any of the other neighbors surrounding their house walk up and down our own driveway. It’s insane.

Why not ask them to disable the audio?

At first we thought, “Oh they dont know that dumb audio notification is on, they will turn it off”. Nope. Then we thought, “Oh they will get annoyed by the hundreds of notifications they must receive daily when that camera goes off and detects motion”.

Nope, its been up for 3 months now, and they sit on their porch as this thing constantly goes off, so they obviously want it to behave this way. We also hoped other neighbors would say something to them by now, because this thing goes off when anyone pulls in or out of their driveway. Nope, nobody has said anything.

Yes, it would be an awkward conversation

I really, really dont want to have to go back and have another awkward conversation about them doing something that is bothering us, especially because its something that probably makes them feel safe.

I imagine it will also be hard to explain that you shouldn’t have that set up that way because it is a nuisance. Again. Language and cultural gap.

Don’t bring up their past; just focus on the problem.

It is just so obnoxious. Record everything all you want, I really dont care, but do you have to have that effing notification on?! Why?!!

What can I do to avoid an awkward confrontation where I’m basically like, “Hey I know you went through something horrible and you are understandably scared and probably have mad ptsd and my heart breaks for you and your family, but this shit is annoying”. I feel like such a total jerk!

Do not do these things. Just have a conversation.

What can I do? Give me somw ideas! Dend them an anonymous letter? Do something slick to somehow break the audio notification on that thing?

Is a conversation really the only way to go? If so, what are some talk tracks I can use to make it go smoothly and not offend them?

Just suck it up and have the awkward conversation with them. Focus only on how it annoys you to hear it all the time. Don’t make accusations or be upset; just ask if they are willing to adjust it. If not, then at least you know, and only then can you look into other solutions.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say.

This commenter has a similar problem.

Here is something to consider.

Maybe they can’t force them to change it, but they can ask.

It is very likely that the neighbors can just turn the volume down.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who steps in to stop illegal driveway construction for friends down the road.

This commenter thinks they need to talk to the neighbors.

Sometimes you have to have those uncomfortable conversations in life. It isn’t fun, but it is the only way to get what you want.

It seems that the neighbors have been willing to change things in the past, so there is no reason to think that they wouldn’t here.