She Thought Her Neighbor Was Just Being Friendly, So Now She’s Keeping Her Distance
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Sometimes, it can be hard to know if someone is being friendly or creepy. What starts out as friendly can sometimes quickly move into unsettling territory, and it can be best to play it safe and trust your gut.
In this story, one young woman is dealing with this exact situation with a new neighbor. She thought he was being friendly at first, but now, she doesn’t really even want to talk to him. She doesn’t even want her boyfriend hanging out with him.
Is she overreacting, or are her concerns justified?
Let’s read the whole story to decide.
WIBTA If I cut off my ‘too friendly’ neighbor?
I need an advice as a young person living alone for the first time in my life.
So me (18f) and my boyfriend (18) are living in a tiny town in Europe for education. And because of the current situations we’re staying at home all the time.
Last month a man (around 50-60) moved to our apartment building -actually not like a full building,just 2 floors and stairs to our condo in 2nd floor from outside- How the building is shaped is important for our situation.
I go outside to smoke multiple times a day and sit on the stairs -which are visible from outside- (the first step from our door) and go inside back.
She thought the neighbor was being friendly.
So once this times our neighbor saw me and said hello.
Where we live,people tend to be very kind and they say ‘hello,good morning,etc.’ all the time so i thought this was just a normal act of kindness.
Then he proceeded to talk,turning this into a tiny chat. He wanted to show me some photos about our topic so he called me downstairs to show ‘em.
I thought saying no would be very rude so I went away with it.
She no longer thinks the neighbor just seems friendly.
I stood on the entrance and he kept saying ‘Come inside’ but I rejected saying I got a cigarette in hand.
That talk ended in 5-10 mins and I got back inside and told it to my boyfriend.
He wasn’t suspicious or scared.
After that night, everytime I see him he started to talk more and more and me trying to cut off the conversation.
She doesn’t want her boyfriend around this neighbor either.
This one day he called my boyfriend inside to give him beer, so we could at night drink with him.
When he told me that, I totally lost my mind and banned him from going to. I even thought I would go and give him his beers back.
I’d like to add,he told me he is an ex-convict -not to shame him anyway,just makes me scared of him more than normal.
Now I’m checking outside everytime before I go out to not see him.
She’s not sure if she’s overreacting or not.
I can’t tell our landlady because I don’t know how she’ll react or react at all.
In our last 3-4 conversations I just nodded or smiled to what he’s said but I’m afraid to go any further.
This is the first time we’re living alone and away from our parents so I literally don’t have any example of this situation in the past.
I’m kind of thinking maybe he’s just kind and I am the overthinking jerk. Will I be the Asshole if I suddenly cut any kind of communication with him?
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She doesn’t have to be friends with the neighbor. If he creeps her out, there’s nothing wrong with keeping her distance.
Let’s see how Reddit responded.
This person thinks the guy is just being friendly.
Another person says to trust her gut.
This person thinks it’s okay to keep her distance.
Here’s another vote for trusting her gut.
It’s hard to know the guy’s motive. He may just need some friends. Maybe he’s lonely and trying to be friendly. Maybe she’s overreacting.
However, it’s better to be safe than sorry. If she feels uncomfortable around him or like something is off, it’s better to trust her gut.
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