I am very lucky to have had good neighbors or real issue in all my time as a renter.
So I'll mention a friend of mine who spent a year living in a building with a neighbor who stomped around like an elephant, blasted crazy loud music at all hours of the night, and her shiftless landlord who stood by and did nothing. My poor friend's mental health suffered a not insignificant toll because of this episode and she moved out after six months. At that point, she didn't even care about breaking her lease!
But some neighbors are worse. Much worse, in fact, as we learned after Redditor FloydTheB1rd asked the online community, "What are your 'neighbours from hell' stories?"
"She started texting me constantly..."
New neighbor moved into the building aside from mine (we had the same landlord, our buildings shared a yard/were on the same plot of land). Ran into her outside when I was coming home one night, and we chatted for a while. She seemed super chill and someone I could potentially become friends with, so we exchanged numbers so we could make future plans for me, her, and her partner that also lived with her. Biiiig mistake.
She started texting me constantly (and I mean constantly "where are you, love?"), waiting out on her stoop for me, standing in her window and looking into mine every time I looked outside. Texted and called me whenever I wasn't home, just to mention that my cat was in the window, or just to tell me I left a light on but she "knew I wasn't home". My downstairs neighbors contacted my landlord and asked him to ask THEM to put curtains up because they were always nude and staring out the window, but they refused.
She started leaving me voicemails begging me to Venmo her "just $20" or just "$50 until next week". Her reasons were "I need new speakers for my car", "I have to buy a gift for my friend", "I wanted to go out tonight, but now I'll have to be alone like usual".
Everyone on the lot has access to the main entrance of either building (for washers & dryers) and that concerned me, because I live alone. She knew when I was home, when I wasn't, and what exact apartment was mine. If she could come in and knock at any given time, what would stop her from breaking in?
I found myself not only dodging her messages, but SNEAKING in/out/around my own home with the lights off, or trying to find some place to stay every night so that I wouldn't have to come home. My home that I once felt 100000% safe being alone in did not feel safe anymore.
Some events suddenly went down that did NOT involve me that eventually got her evicted, and I haven't heard from her since. But holy hell.
Lived in an apartment with a long narrow driveway. There was two parking spots for every apartment in the house (three apartments, six spots), so all the tenants had parking, but there wasn't extra for guests. My spot was all the way in the back of the driveway. Normally that was fine, but the neighbors had a habit of constantly parking friends in the middle of the driveway overnight, blocking my car from pulling out with no way to get around. I also would regularly leave very early in the morning for work or to go to drill weekends in the National Guard. Time and time again, the neighbors would block me in and I told them politely several times that they needed to stop because at some point it would happen on a night when I was leaving before 5am.
I got ignored. Finally one night I was coming back around midnight from a party and was planning on getting up and leaving at 8am. Low and behold, theres somebody parking me in. Now, being a little drunk, I was less than polite. I banged on the door and told them to move the car. I was told to eff off. I told him he was a piece of sh!t and he needed to move the car right now because I knew he wouldn't do it later on. He sucker punched me in the face. It ended up in a short brawl with him in a headlock, but I ended up with a black eye from the sucker punch and bruised ribs because one of his friends kicked me while I grappled him. Cops ended up driving by and we both got charged, since there was no proof on who started it. Charges were later dropped, but I learned my lesson not to confront him.
He on the other hand, did not learn his lesson not to park me in. So fast forward a month to my next drill date and I wake up at 4am to see I'm parked in again by this POS lowrider. I wasn't about to get jumped again, so I called the cops and called my landlord. Cops knocked on the door, nobody answered. Landlord agreed to have the car towed and I got to be an hour late for drill while waiting for the tow truck to move the thing. I found out later than the car had cost the neighbors $150 to get out of the impound and another $1000 to fix the front end because it had gotten horribly messed up when the tow truck drug it out of the driveway. I never got parked in again.
"I had this downstairs neighbor..."
GiphyI had this downstairs neighbor who kept calling the cops on my Roomba and my cat while I was at work. I had the Roomba set to run a few days a week around 3pm so that the place was clean when I got home. My cat is big (15 lb tomcat), but not the "stomping elephant" she reported to the police. She'd call in a noise complaint while I was at work. I would get a call from management about the noise and inform them I was not home. This went on for about a year.
Then the Sunday noise started. Homegirl downstairs likes to have her Sunday morning "me time" with some K-Ci and JoJo blasting full volume. I got fed up one day and went downstairs and asked her to turn it down. She answered the door in a purple silk robe and chewed me out about the noise from my apartment during the week.
I walked away, went upstairs, and decided it was a good time to listen to Master of Puppets because I cannot stand K-Ci and JoJo.
Fast forward another 2 months. It is now winter. It's a Tuesday around 7 pm. I get home with some groceries and am putting things away in the kitchen. I get a knock at the door. It's an off-duty cop, but still in uniform. He says my neighbor says I'm stomping and have been for hours. I'm wearing winter boots in my kitchen and the bags of groceries are on the counter. I tell him I just got home and yeah I know she calls sh!t in but as you can see, I just walked in the door. He looks at the log and sees the number of times she's reported things, informs me that he lives on the next floor up and will stop responding to these calls.
"Random people would walk up to the building..."
My upstairs neighbor was a drug dealer. Random people would walk up to the building and whistle at him through the window and then he would throw a bag down. Super brazen to pull that out in the open like that. Then one night two guys somehow entered the building and knocked on a different neighbors door. He opened it and these dudes had a gun pulled out on him. After they realized they had the wrong apartment they ran off and the neighbor called the police. The drug dealing neighbor moved out soon after.
"This family..."
This family had this kid run around, constantly causing trouble, stealing stuff, and just being a little sh!t in general. My family would not not put up with him. Especially when he flies his drone to dive bomb me and peek into girls' windows. He constantly brags about how rich he is, and how much of a loser I was. After a bit of this, I smacked his drone out of the air, took the memory card, checked to see if it had the stuff he saw, and took it to the police. Kid got exposed in front of the entire school. And he knew it was me. He doesn't have the balls to do anything to me, so I regret nothing.
"They had 17 dogs."
They had 17 dogs. Not all at once, two or three at a time over the course of ten years. They barked, they shat, they barked some more.
Animal Control would issue citations and order them to appear in court for neglect or forfeit the animals.
They would simply let animal control take their dogs and then get new ones.
Other times the UPS truck or some other driver would hit/kill their dog, so again, they would get new ones.
At one point the neighbor was keeping a female pit bull for a friend who was in prison. He let the dog roam free or kept it tied up on a clothesline. Wonderful folks, these neighbors.
"I kid you not."
My neighbors from hell were so loud and fought so much that I ended up on Oprah to discuss it. I kid you not. I became a community mediator to learn the skills to deal with my neighbor. Oprah flew me all the way to Chicago to talk about mediating disputes with neighbors on her show. Worth it. The episode aired in 1999 and it was entitled "Difficult Conversations". I am the woman who dealt with the drummer next-door.
"So I own my house..."
So I own my house and my neighbors rent their house (their landlord is a slumlord but that's another story). So there are two people who actually rent the house and they are great people, quiet and respectful. However, they are low income and rely on sub-tenants to make ends meet. The main renter guy works with people who have drug related issues and trouble with the law, I gotta give it to him, good on him for finding the good in people. But that being said in the last 2 years they have had 8 different sub-tenants!
The first two that moved in were bike thieves, they would go out, steal bikes and then chop them up in the backyard. Not only that they would put the chopped up garbage in my garbage bin so the day after garbage day I couldn't put any of my trash away. I ended up moving my bin into my locked backyard.
Eventually the cops kept showing up and they got evicted.
The second set of sub-tenants were also addicted to meth. They would honestly bring stolen sh!t back and stack it in the backyard. At one point there was so much crap in the backyard you couldnt walk. This included more stolen bikes and old washing machines etc. It looked like a trailer park. One of the subs set up a tent in the backyard and slept outside all summer long. They would lean over the fence and ask for cigarettes or beer and throw trash into our yard for no reason.
But I saved the best for last. The current sub-tenants are just horrible people. We have caught them stealing mail from other people and throwing the empty boxes in the alley or on the street. Clearly selling drugs out of the house as people come and go all day and only stay for a few minutes. I've found needles on my property and they're extremely rude. I have two young kids and don't want them playing outside because of this. As well, they cut across our lawn when leaving, absolutely zero respect for other peoples property. Worst part is I've brought this up with the main renter and shown him videos and he says there is nothing he can do as he relies on the money to pay rent...
I feel for the guy honestly, but this house single handedly makes our street worse and brings all the hood rats around causing even more crime. Our police force is useless as they have said on multiple occasions unless they catch them in the act there is nothing they can do. Such a shame as it used to be such a great neighborhood.
When visiting a foreign country, many people like to hide the fact that they are tourists, and make every effort to blend in with the locals.
Even so, most tourists can't help but do a few things that locals seldom or never do, such as taking selfies in front of historic monuments, buying cheesy hats and T-shirts, or going to notoriously crowded places.
If doing these things will more than likely make them stick out like a sore thumb, it also won't exactly put them in harm or danger, as most tourists at least have the good sense to read a blog or guidebook instructing them on how to stay safe while traveling.
The most savvy travelers know that the best place to get advice on what not to do when traveling abroad is not online or in a book, but directly from the locals.
Redditor PM_ME_UR_DOGS_FEET was eager to hear the opinions of people around the world as to what tourists should avoid doing when visiting their country, leading them to ask:
"What should people absolutely not do when visiting your country?"
Moo!
"If you are hiking through the Austrian mountains with a dog, put it on a leash."
"The cows will hurt you if they feel threatened."
"In general, don't disturb the cows and keep away from them."- annadaso
Cows Alps GIF by MeinMontafonGiphyNot All Creatures Are Cute And Cuddly...
"Approach wildlife, especially when they’re with their offspring."
"The amount of idiot tourists I’ve seen outside their cars within mauling distance of a bear or moose is mind boggling."-GingerMeTimberMate
"Do not touch the bison."
"I don’t care that they’re herbivores and look fluffy."
"They are incredibly strong and will kill you if they’re in a bad mood."- hartywhalers
Bison Yellowstone GIF by Nat Geo WildGiphyNo One Needs To Blend In That Much!
"I live in Barbados."
"Don't wear camouflage."
"It's illegal unless you're a part of the Defense Force."- durants
They Call It The Outback For A Reason
"Don't go for a drive in the outback without making sure you're properly prepared if you get stuck."
"There's a reason you see so many abandoned cars on the highways out there."- thethreekittycats
Back Of The Line!
"UK here."
"Always queue."
"Even if there isn’t a queue, just look around politely and ask whoever’s around if they’re queueing."
"I know this reads like a joke but it really isn’t."
"There’s always a queue, and tourists always ignore it, and that’s usually why tourists get a bad rap in the UK."-fearthe0cean
Literal Red Flag Alert!
"If you're not a strong swimmer, please don't wade out into our ocean expecting that you'll be okay."
"If you want to swim at our beaches, stay between the flags where there are lifeguards on duty."- nightlightened
The Beach Summer GIFThat Some People Would Actually Need A Warning...
"Don't do the Nazi greeting."
"In fact, just don't do it anywhere."
"But especially not in my country."
"Police will arrest you for it."- Mad_Moodin
Or Stand Still In Them For That Matter...
"Don't walk the bicycle lanes."- valthorgallifrey
Be Selective When Sight Seeing
"Don't go to Hollywood expecting something."
"Also, don't spend tons of money just to see famous people's homes on one of those bus tours."
"You should go to all the cool museums around LA though, those are pretty neat."
"And the beaches aren't too bad either."- jgeradsfdh
hollywood GIF by American IdolGiphyIt's Just Plain Rude
"Don't touch the King's guard."- EmperorOfNipples
Or Any Busy Street Anywhere...
"If you’re visiting Brazil, specially a big city, avoid using your smartphone while walking on the streets, as you become more prone to being robbed."- DistantLandscapes
Not the Most PC Name If You Really Think About It
"Order an ‘Irish Car Bomb’ shot."
"Doesn’t exist here, and the name has roots in The Troubles, a dark time in our history that people north and south of the border who are still alive lost people to."- TheIrishninjas
Irish Cream Beer GIF by DrSquatchSoapCoGiphyNot All Canadians Are So Friendly...
"If you come across Canada, don't ever dare touching our geese, thanks."- ClickWorthy69420
Many tourists enjoy going off the beaten path and veering from the most famous and heavily visited places.
But before straying from the path, it couldn't hurt to get advice from a local on just how far to stray.
CW: Death and miscarriages.
It's always sad when a couple doesn't make it all the way.
Especially when a promise was made.
Isn't that what an engagement is?
A very expensive promise.
Diamonds ain't cheap.
Redditor mimi_nivi wanted to hear about the reasons why finally getting to "I DO" was impossible, so they asked:
"People who were engaged at one point but never got married, what happened?"
I've never been engaged.
And I thank God everyday.
My laundry list of exes is full of stains.
Not in Bed?
Season 5 What GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Came home for lunch one day to surprise her. Surprise was on me as she was in the middle of doing her co-worker on my couch. I loved that couch."
Siguldg
3 Months Before
"He wasn't participating in the wedding planning at all and I realized he didn't actually want to get married. There was a lot of pressure from his family and admittedly, me as well. I just wanted a family and to be married and hadn't really paid attention to his reluctance up until that point."
"It was 3 months before the wedding and I sat down and reviewed our relationship. We were incompatible at several crucial points, even though we loved each other a lot. So I called off the wedding and ended it and while we were both sad, we were also relieved."
"This was more than a decade ago and whenever we run into each other we catch up and there are no hard feelings at all. He's married and a father now and I couldn't be happier for him."
Midnight_Muse
Back in 2012
"She died due to seizures. 3 am: she was home alone. She woke up and had a seizure and unfortunately hit her head against a wall… 7 am: she was supposed to show up at her parent's house to drop off the dog before work. She didn’t. 9 a.m.: her parents went to check on her, the dog was fine, but she was unresponsive. 9:30 am she was declared deceased at the scene. 10 am: I was at work and I got a call from her father… I lost it right there. It was back in 2012 but still, I’m not over it yet."
Fragrant-Snake
Cruel
"We had like 6 miscarriages."
"At the end of the relationship, he said something to me like 'It’s just so hard… I look at your face and I feel like I SEE nothing but 6 dead babies.'"
"Can’t really come back from that one. I mean some people can. We couldn’t."
"It’s crazy in hindsight but everything just kind of worked out. I have two beautiful daughters and a stepdaughter I love and a great life!"
relentpersist
Whoops
"Turns out she liked vagina as much as I did."
wayneo88
Sometimes too many of the same interests are NOT a good thing.
Lesson learned.
Thank You
Preach Amy Poehler GIF by SistersGiphy"He cheated before we got married and I found out. I thank the stars every f**king day I didn’t marry him."
fatfemmebish
Old Friends
"She started hanging out with an old group of high school friends and just changed. She became extremely nasty over wedding plans, telling me we had to have the exact same number of guests on both sides. If I had one more guest than she did, she made me remove someone from my side. I knew if I moved forward it would have ended in divorce, so I just ended it before it got to that."
Wastoponcene
True Colors
"The longer we lived together leading up to the wedding, the more he showed his true colors. One day while I was cooking dinner for us he started screaming at me, like an inch from my face, and called me a (see you next Tuesday.) Something about it snapped some sense into me. I walked out and never went back."
gamergirl007
Technicalities
"We’re still technically engaged, but we never wanted a wedding. We met way late in life (I’m 50, she’s in her mid-40s), no kids, and if we get legally married the gov’t f**ks with her disability assistance so she is my spouse, my partner, and my soul mate. But we don’t feel the need to get married. But I do have a living will just in case. We will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary early next year."
lovedontfalter
Holy Mary
like a virgin madonna GIFGiphy"The Holy Spirit came to him in a dream and told him that he couldn’t marry me because I wasn’t a virgin."
hitlersd**k69420
Well, sometimes it's just not meant to work out.
And that sounds like a blessing.