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..."
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I 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 we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.