The Downstairs Nabe. in These Foolish Things

Over the last few weeks I noticed that there’s been a new gigantic monster-like truck parked in the parking lot in front of my apartment. And I noticed the guy driving it seemed a little different from what I remembered of my downstairs neighbors.

My downstairs neighbors used to be this sweet woman and her daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend. I knew the woman superficially as we’d walk our dogs around the same time. She was a lovely lady, but I could tell she was having some problems - she was working at least two jobs cleaning houses, and she told me at one time that her sister was dying and that she was struggling a bit.

I never really knew the daughter and her boyfriend, but I knew that the dude smoked a lot of weed because it would waft from their patio to my balcony. No biggie…that’s just what he did (I knew it was the boyfriend because the coughing was masculine).

So when I saw this truck, I thought maybe it was the boyfriend who got a new car.

Turns out, it was a new guy. I never got to say goodbye to the sweet woman. That’s just the nature of apartment living, and it makes me a little sad. I really love to know who’s living under the same roof, ya know?

Anyway, new guy, let’s call him Gino, is a little-ish guy in height, but likes things BIG…like that truck, like his pit bull I’ve seen him with, and like his sound system!!

That motherfucking sound system was rattling my entire apartment for several days! Bombs exploding, walls shaking, thundering, scaring the dog and freaking me out.

At first I thought that it was a video game. Like, one of those shooting games or bombing games. I don’t know…I don’t know the video game world. But I understand that gamers usually like to wear headphones, but this guy? Noooooo....he was letting it blast - loud and proud and completely disrespectful!

Every evening - boom! Rattle…boom! Shake, shake, shake!! KABLOOOOMMMM!!!! For hours on end!

I hate to say it, but I was so sure this guy was going to be a dick if I went downstairs and knocked on his door. He just looks like the kind of guy who’d get defensive if you tell him anything that might disrupt his own comfort. You know the type.

I thought about just reporting it to the apartment management, but then I knew they’d go talk to him and he’d know that I wasn’t “man” enough to address it face-to-face. And he’d turn into The Angry Man Downstairs and it would just become a passive-aggressive situation between neighbors.

So I was like, what can I do to get the message across without sounding like a Karen or a Gladys Kravitz or just a downright asshole? And I decided to try to go the kind route as a first step.

I’d seen him with this pit bull dog (SCARY-looking dog!!) and Martini had too. She aggressively barked at this dog when we encountered them on the neighborhood trail! There was no time to introduce myself then because he was on his phone and I was trying to keep Martini from attacking this dog who could have potentially chewed her up and spit her out!

So I decided to gather up as many treats as I had that a pit bull might enjoy and I wrapped them up in a gift bag and tied the bag with a bow. And then I wrote a note.

The note was essentially introducing myself, saying hello to him and his dog, offering a peace symbol, and asking him if he could possibly do something about the noise level and the rattling. I left my phone number in case he wanted to communicate that way. Sometimes texts can be better than a full-on confrontation.

I took the package downstairs and left it in front of his door on Saturday night. I noted that there was a bunch of other junk next to the door (hmmm) and also a bag of trash on the sidewalk in front of his apartment. I scratched my head about that one. I also took a pic in case I needed it for evidence in the future.

Sunday morning I took the dog out for our walk, and not only was the package still there in front of his door, but the trash bag had been opened and gone through overnight and disgusting trash was scattered all over the sidewalk. I snapped another pic, noting that this was going to be an issue and the guy was likely going to be a huge jerk about all of this!

Great.

But lo and behold, while I was out on my long walk with the dog, I received a text from Gino, actually apologizing for the noise and explaining that it wasn’t a video game system, but that he’d gotten a sub-woofer and that it was rattling his own apartment, but he didn’t think it was bothering anybody else. He said, “Clearly, I was wrong.”

And then he thanked me for addressing the issue in the kindest way possible.

What a shock - kindness wins!

And when I got home from the walk allllll the trash was removed from the sidewalk.

He’s since moved his sub-woofer away from the wall, and voila! I haven’t heard ANY noise from downstairs AT ALL!! Nothing!

I just came in from my walk with Martini. And I saw Gino heading out for (I’m guessing) work. I said, “Hey Gino!” and he said, “Ginger!!” and I told him that I haven’t heard anything in the last couple of nights and he told me that if I ever need anything to let him know…

So yay! Whew! Crisis averted.

All is right with the world today. And I am happy to know someone is here to look out for me from time to time. It’s so nice to know your nabes when they are decent human beings.

xo,
GS