When you live in an apartment building, you have to follow the rules, including being quiet during the late-night and early-morning hours.

What would you do if you worked the night shift, which meant that you were generally up all night and sleeping during the day, and then you got a noise complaint about talking, doing housework, and other normal activities?

That is what happened to the couple in this story, and now they are upset because they aren’t doing anything out of the ordinary, but they are living their lives according to their schedule.

I think this couple is failing to realize that the quiet hours apply to them even though they have an unusual sleep schedule. Read through the full story below and see what you think.

AITA for continuing to talk normally in my apartment after 10pm despite my landlord telling me not to?

I (22F) live in an apartment with my partner.

Working the night shift can make things very difficult.

I work night shifts in customer service, so my schedule is nocturnal, and sometimes talking at night is literally part of my job. My partner is also nocturnal.

Our apartment has very poor sound insulation. We regularly hear our neighbors’ TVs, conversations, music, etc and there have even been times when their noise affected my partner while he was working.

If they are up at night, they are going to make noise, which is going to bother people.

We’ve never complained because we understand that apartment living comes with some unavoidable noise.

Recently, my landlord contacted me about noise at night. She said we were being extremely loud and that neighbors were complaining.

These are all normal things, but most people do them during the day.

I understand the concern. I’m not expecting people to tolerate us intentionally making excessive noise late at night. However, the activities that apparently counted as “extremely loud” were me taking a shower and my partner washing dishes.

She sent messages saying things like, “There’s a time for everything and there is no reason for you to be awake right now, stop whatever you’re doing and JUST GO TO SLEEP”

This couple doesn’t want to cause problems.

She also said we were “talking extremely loud” that we “should not be talking at this time” and that she didn’t understand why we were awake at 11 PM, despite knowing that I work nights. She also mentioned calling the police and said that “NO NOISE MUST BE HEARD AFTER 10 PM”

I told her I completely understand that people need to rest and that I’m willing to lower my voice and avoid unnecessary noise.

Normal activities like this are not normally done during the night.

However, I don’t think normal activities like showering, washing dishes, cooking, cleaning, or having a conversation are things we should have to stop doing simply because it’s after 10 PM.

I also explained that my schedule is nocturnal and that I can’t always control the fact that neighbors may hear me talking when talking is part of my job.

If the apartment building has ‘quiet hours,’ then they need to follow them, even if that isn’t their preferred schedule.

I pointed out that we regularly hear our own neighbors too, which suggests the issue is partly the building’s poor sound insulation.

I specifically told her that I understand being considerate, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to have to whisper or walk on eggshells inside our own home just to make sure absolutely nothing can be heard.

Maybe the landlord phrased things poorly.

My biggest issue wasn’t even being asked to reduce noise. It was the way she spoke to us.

There’s a difference between saying, “We received a noise complaint, please try to keep it down” and telling us there is “no reason for us to be awake” that we should “JUST GO TO SLEEP” that “NO NOISE MUST BE HEARD AFTER 10 PM” and that we may need to find somewhere else to live if it happens again.

I don’t think they realize that being loud at night is not acceptable.

She became more upset and kept repeating the same points. That’s when I started wondering if i’m the one being unreasonable

I’m willing to make reasonable compromises and avoid unnecessary noise. But I don’t think two adults should be expected to stop doing normal things in their own apartment after 10 PM.

AITA?

Honestly, yes. She needs to be quieter at night even though her schedule is nocturnal. The quiet hours of the apartment don’t apply exclusively to first-shift workers.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say.

I agree with this commenter completely.

This commenter thinks the apartment needs to add some soundproofing.

Here is someone who says the landlord is out of line.

As long as they are being reasonable, this commenter thinks they are fine.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who documented times of noise spikes and turned their neighbor into a model tenant.

This person doesn’t think they are doing anything wrong.

They are allowed to live their life, but they should also try to keep as quiet as they can. It seems to me that they and the neighbors are being unreasonable.

Doing the dishes or even showering during non-quiet hours could go a long way.