Woman’s Contractors Damage Her Condo And Her Neighbor’s, But The Neighbor Is Blaming Her
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When you hire construction workers, it’s to fix problems not create them, but sometimes accidents happen.
In this story, a woman hires contractors who end up having an accident. She doesn’t share details about the accident, but it was really, really bad. It was so bad that she moved to a hotel while her condo is being repaired. And it’s so bad that her neighbor’s condo was also damaged.
Now, her neighbor, who was pretty picky to begin with, is really upset. I mean, who can blame her?
But did the person who hired the contractors actually do anything wrong? Let’s read the whole story to decide.
AITA for not apologizing on behalf of my contractors to a neighbor?
I live in a condo on the second floor. My downstairs neighbor is K.
A couple months ago, contractors I hired made an honest mistake. The accident destroyed my home and damaged K’s home.
K wasn’t talking to me prior to the accident for reasons below.
Now she’s looking at me like I’m pure evil and telling everyone who will listen that I am a bad, selfish person.
It’s not about money.
We both plan on living here for years, so if I really am the jerk, then I’ll reach out to try to mend the relationship. But I think she is unreasonable and has taken to hating me as her new, favorite hobby.
For context, the contractors were insured, so money isn’t the issue.
Instead, I think K, a retired woman, who sees herself as the condo “mother”, wants me to abide by her rules.
Here’s an example of her rules.
They start with extreme quietness.
Since the first month I moved in, she has complained about noise from my unit, instructing me how to get out of bed in the morning, to shuffle instead of walk, and to place cabinet doors closed instead of letting them close on their own.
I capitulated to her for years, even going so far as to not use my living room and dining room for 4 months of the pandemic because we were both forced to be home and I wanted to be a good neighbor.
She couldn’t be silent forever.
My capitulation broke when she complained about the noise from my holiday cookie baking, and from having 2 friends over for brunch, and for kitchen cleaning.
I told her no, that these were reasonable living noises and I have a right to live in my whole home.
She basically stopped talking to me after that.
By the time of the accident, she was actively giving me the cold shoulder in the parking lot.
Then there was the accident.
When the accident happened, I texted her to say that there might be damage.
She didn’t respond to me, but walked into her home and started screaming.
Others have told me that she asked if my place was more damaged.
When she heard my place was fully destroyed, she said, “Good!”
OP is trying to be considerate.
I kept my distance.
She also red faced raged at me in the parking lot several days later.
Since then, I have only spoken with her to give her necessary information like insurance details and HOA required reconstruction notices.
When she told me she was having a planned surgery, I delayed reconstruction on my unit for 3 weeks so she could recover in more peace. (She is still in her home. I moved to a hotel.)
She’s not sure if she did anything wrong.
K has also tried to delay my reconstruction because she believes (according to other neighbors) she is the greater victim and thus her place should be fixed first.
Fortunately she hasn’t been successful, but it has added a lot of stress.
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Neither one of us wants anything to do with the other, but we both plan on living here for years.
Am I in the wrong for never apologizing for the contractor’s accident? If so, what should I do now? I hate having someone look at me like I am pure evil, but I think I was reasonable given the circumstances.
It’s not like she caused this accident. Her contractor’s did, and it sounds like they will make it right eventually. I can understand why K is upset, but I don’t think OP did anything wrong.
Let’s see how Reddit responded.
This person would’ve handled it differently.
Another person doesn’t think there’s any point in apologizing.
This person points out who should apologize.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who takes advantage of an inexhaustive HOA-approved plant list.
Here’s some more advice.
Her neighbor was already annoying. Apologizing to her for a problem her contractor’s caused isn’t going to fix anything. This is up to the contractors to resolve.
That neighbor sounds really annoying.
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