When your neighbors suck and you can't do anything about it

It'd be rude if I didn't invite anyone else to vent about their disliked neighbor(s), for whatever the reason(s), so feel free to get it off your chest, if you want to.

The neighborhood I live in is a very nice one. It's very safe, very quiet, and it's one of those ones where you eventually get to know your neighbors one way or the other. EVERYBODY knows each other around here, and there's no neighborly animosity. We all make the effort to get along & keep it peaceful.

The folks behind us sold their house some time ago and moved. I can understand that, it's one of the biggest in the neighborhood and all of their kids had finally moved out. Empty nesters downsizing was a given.

The people that bought it have become the cringe-worthy bane of the neighborhood. You can hear the husband/dad yelling for at least 2 blocks in any direction (he is LOUD) The wife/mom's not really any better, she's just as loud, and her pitch goes higher & higher the more pissed off she is. They tend to have yelling matches outside, which...echoes. You're hearing it whether you want to or not. Everybody gets to hear on a daily basis how much of a royal bitch he thinks she is, everybody gets to hear how much of a drunk pig he is in return (both of them are always drunk, ALWAYS, I've never heard them not slur speech)
God forbid one of the kids (5 of them) step out of line, everybody gets to hear about what worthless, stupid f#s they all are (even the baby if it cries)

We (us & neighbors, both independently & hanging out) have heard the husband throwing crap around in the house in his fits, the heavy crash-bang-thuds are extremely obvious. If one of the kids stands up to him (for themselves, a sibling) you can count on the dad from hell throwing something at them aside from full volume emotional abuse. When he & the wife get going, they lob s# at each other, too. Last week, I'm fairly sure they were chucking cups or dishes at each other, it was a lot of glass-like shattering.

Even outside playing, the kids are almost unnaturally silent. It's like they don't dare make a peep, lest dad be set off in a rage.

They've had several visits from the police, and reports to CPS have been made by concerned neighbors, but they evidently hide what goes on quite well when they get the knock at the door, nothing has changed over there.


So today was one of the younger kids' birthday. I felt so awful for the kid. Mom and dad threw themselves a party, had a few friends over. ALL of them, of course, got plastered right away.
Mom and dad decided a kid's birthday party was a good place to talk about how he was going to wreck mom's "back door" later (not the terminology he used, so use your imagination) The older kid that pointed out how entirely inappropriate that was to discuss in front of kids was promptly grounded, after a moment of "oh, you poor boy" bracing silence, and a hell of a drunk rant from his dad (you don't tell your father what to say, EVER, no matter the company, f#r) and some heavy slaps on a table of ... something, a hand, an item.

The birthday kid waited so patiently for the birthday song, and it was so depressing. It was so slurred that it was almost unintelligible. The dejected "Thanks" at the end was enough to make you cry. A few minutes later, they were discussing who was sober enough to go buy a box of cake mix & a present or two for the birthday kid. Because, you know, having your birthday, something that is supposed to be a happy day, trashed by your rotted, drunkard parents & their equally detestable friends is enough of a present to justify not doing anything other than drunkenly sing Happy Birthday badly.

In the end, a relative came and got all the kids & took them overnight. Mom and dad and company are out in their back yard having a bonfire sing-a-long right now.

It's a good thing the old lady next door wasn't home today, she'd have been sobbing over all of that. She loathes the dad and had him pegged as an abusive drunk since the day they moved in. She can't stand the way he treats those kids (and yes, has been one of the ones making the calls/reports when s# gets alarming)

a reply to: Nyiah

Too common round 'ere.

RE: and you can't do anything about it

Not with that attitude you cant.

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: Nyiah

Too common round 'ere.

I really loathe to consider you might mean it's a MI thing, because you folks are so damn sweet & accommodating up here that that kind of family abuse underbelly is sad as hell

a reply to: Nyiah

That is a very unfortunate situation. Right out of college I had a neighbor that acted in a similar manner. I confronted him ones night after I heard him yelling at his kids and wife. I was answered with a shotgun to the face. Not cool at all but I learned a lesson. I waited a few days then it happened again. I called the police and got lucky considering that he was super wasted and had a warrant, I will leave you to imagine what happened next. After he got out they got divorced and I hope the kids are better off. And I hope he got his # together.

I guess what I am saying is don’t do anything that can get a gun pulled on you. And make sure you do what is best for the kids.

a reply to: Nyiah

Last year I made a thread about our next door neighbor. Shes a #ing lunatic and bought a faraday cage for our smart meter. The local utility came and almost shut off our power because it was interfering with their readsr and thus, our billing. It was considered a violation of some code.

So i took it off, pissed at our neighbor.

Well it has been about 10 months. APPARENTLY she just realized that we removed the cage from the smart meter. She sent us a scathing email saying her head hurts and ringing in her ears now, because of our smart meter. She is demanding that we put one back on.

First of all, # off.

Second of all, youre mental.

Third of all, # off.


I have plenty of logical reasons to give as to why shes being a total moron, but i think the above 3 reasons will get through to her better. Maybe she'll move out.


The worst part is that her sister is an MD and actually feeds into her paranoia about e.m. energy.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

XD

As hilarious as that is, I have a feeling it would just trigger more rage fits directed at the kids, they take the brunt of almost all of them regardless of who his beef is actually with.

The people next door to them have a dog. Nice dog, but barks a lot when it's excited, dog thinks it's name is "Oh, just shut up!" on occasion.

The dog irritates Rage Dad, big time. He's gotten all up in his owner's face about it, and if that neighbor is to be believed, he's terrifying and could probably kill someone no problem, if the excuse arose.

I don't think I want to test that description.

originally posted by: Allaroundyou
a reply to: Nyiah

That is a very unfortunate situation. Right out of college I had a neighbor that acted in a similar manner. I confronted him ones night after I heard him yelling at his kids and wife. I was answered with a shotgun to the face. Not cool at all but I learned a lesson. I waited a few days then it happened again. I called the police and got lucky considering that he was super wasted and had a warrant, I will leave you to imagine what happened next. After he got out they got divorced and I hope the kids are better off. And I hope he got his # together.

I guess what I am saying is don’t do anything that can get a gun pulled on you. And make sure you do what is best for the kids.

One neighbor that has had the misfortune of dealing with him while in a rage does feel he could be capable of killing someone. "You think he sounds bad across the yards? He's damn terrifying up close, I was scared, and I don't GET scared."

Continuing to call the police when it sounds like a war zone & reporting the abuse is about all we can do. Eventually, they're going to get caught red-handed.
Right?
Why is it always the dregs that always get lucky?

a reply to: CreationBro

That would drive me up the wall. I can handle crazy neighbors, I've had them before and they were fairly harmless, just nuts. But once you dicker with my stuff, you've crossed the line.
Luckily, the nutter neighbors never messed with our stuff. If they had messed with anything though, they'd have had to deal with the apartment complex managers and that was probably enough for them to behave. One manager was a real intimidating French lady, one Dagger Stare & nobody was a PITA.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

That is awesomely cruel!

a reply to: Nyiah

That is so heart breaking to know children are being treated like that!

Since it seems to happen so 'openly' - is there any possibility that you and the other neighbors could agree to try and get video (being careful the parents don't notice) of such episodes in future?

Maybe over time, with several people catching bits of documentation, you could put together enough evidence for authorities to take action?

originally posted by: lostgirl
a reply to: Nyiah

That is so heart breaking to know children are being treated like that!

Since it seems to happen so 'openly' - is there any possibility that you and the other neighbors could agree to try and get video (being careful the parents don't notice) of such episodes in future?

Maybe over time, with several people catching bits of documentation, you could put together enough evidence for authorities to take action?

We're not sure about the legality of that. The little old lady neighbor I mentioned is going to talk to a lawyer about setting up a camera & microphone on her back deck for the purpose of recording them for proof, if it's legal. It's that whole private property thing, we're not sure if it would be a violation of their expectation of privacy rights or not. Volume-wise, I'd guess it's probably ok since the sound carries so far, but direct videoing might cross the line & invade their privacy.

originally posted by: MrSensible
a reply to: Nyiah

Sounds like some typical liberals to me. Scum of the earth. I don't know where you live, but I would bet 1000 bucks they are straight off the boat from Commie-fornia.

Yeah, I'm not having any of this political threadjacking in a thread that isn't political. Cut the crap, I'm not saying it twice before I hit Alert.

My neighbors dog craps on my lawn in an inappropriate place, doesn't care
Looking for a friendly way to deal with it, but the poor dog could get sick

What do you do, people are people

a reply to: Raggedyman

Eric Cartman craps on Kyle's porch every night.

a reply to: MrSensible

Like theres never been a liquor bent nascar redneck that kicks the dog, smacks the kid and beats his wife.

I lived in an area like that- but the people next door were 'that' family. The only house within a quarter mile that I've ever seen the police called to- and they were called there all the time. I had easily eight grand in tools and equipment go missing off of my property in the first few years- including all four tires/rims of a car that was left overnight mid-brake job.

Of course, then, there was the yelling. the father was quiet enough, but the mother was not- and none of those kids took after the father. Honestly, they probably weren't even his. Unfortunately, my master bedroom window was about six feet from their driveway- directly across from their main entrance.
I had to abandon using fans because of their second hand smoke- but I didn't want the windows open anyway from the noise.
My fondest memory of that family was a 2am morning (Wednesday, February, so the whole neighborhood had to get up in sub zero temps at 6am for work) and their yelling match spilled out into the driveway. Before you know it, there was a full on snow-shovel fight between three 'adults' not fifteen feet from my bedroom window. At 2am. Wednesday. Middle of the winter.

When two of their three kids wound up going to prison, they moved. Didn't sell the place though- rented it out! Good money in town, I considered doing the same when I left.

...but a year later, they kicked out the lovely woman renting the place to 'rent' the house to her daughter.
The daughter that just got out of prison, for heroin related crimes.

I was forced to live in the city for work at the time- never again. Renting for the first time in my life now a half hour out of the city. Haven't heard a peep out of my closest neighbors in a month or longer. We leave paper notes when we need to communicate.
Do yourself a favor- get your # together, buy some land, and build a house where you can't see the one next door.
I'm hoping to break ground next spring, and never again have unwanted humans bothering me on my own property.

a reply to: Nyiah

Blow your rape whistle, too.

But for real, relax a bit bud lol. It's saturday night.

a reply to: Nyiah

Most obvious reason for you guys having crappy neighbors, is that you live in crappy neighborhoods.

Sell your house to a spitting image of those neighbors, and ... enjoy the show conveniently somewhere else.

I myself, I have practically no neighbors, they are so dead silent. I have no idea if their house is empty or occupied, who they are or if they even exist in this dimension.

But their cat gets totalled by my dog.