I used to have great neighbors, both upstairs and down.

Now, all their replacements do is fight, and both work swing shifts, so I hear it going until three am.

I called the cops, they're here, now, interrogating them.

What wold you have done?

Back to bed.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Mine: "Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that."

Heinlein's: "Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." "Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite."

Walked downstairs in my boxers (only) carrying a baseball bat.

With the way my hair goes all Londo Mollari after a few restless hours of sleep, it looks like Grog the Neanderthal Sasquatch asking you to politely keep the peace with Jose's finest tarred pine resting wearily upon my shoulder.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

I had a similar set of upstairs neighbors while going to school. I learned both their names from their screaming matches -- there was Blank You Mike and his lovely wife, blank-Blank-it. One night they were yelling at each other for what seemed hours. The neighbor to one side of me tried yelling at them to shut up to no avail. I was on the verge of calling the police. Finally, Blank You Mike got fed up and let out one of those primal screams of frustration and anger. I don't know whether HLW Blank-Blank-it responded -- I broke out into a very long, hold-my-sides-because-they-hurt, laugh. I know I was loud enough for all the neighbors to hear, and the upstairs neighbors behaved themselves from that point on.

Good stories.

Well the cops are back because my stairwell door is thin (I have a stronger external door), and it turns out they're playing their tv very loud with a very angry movie on.

I didn't know it was a movie. Not like any movie I've ever heard.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Mine: "Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that."

Heinlein's: "Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." "Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite."

Right. It was a movie and I'm a Giraffe.

Of course, there's that case a while back about the guy that broke in on his neighbor with a sword demanding to know where the girl was...

Called the cops. And do it again if they keep it up. You can also complain, during business hours, to the landlord. Good luck in the sleep department.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

I feel like you are describing my husband and I before the children. Well, up until the calling the cops part. He did. Not a day goes by that I don't feel guilty about making is medical school process so difficult because we were so childish and thoughtless.

Before I was married I lived in the upstairs part of townhouse with a separate basement apartment. The guy and his girlfriend who lived down there used to go at each other, screaming for hours on end. We never did call the cops but moved out shortly after one night hearing "Put down the knife!" followed by "No! You put down the scissors!"

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"Probably the last sound heard before the universe folded up like a paper hat would be someone saying 'What happens if I do this?'"

"Have you ever tried going mad without power? It's boring. Nobody listens to you."

NOT WITH THE GOOD SCISSORS!!

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Nick Theodorakis

I would have done the same exact thing you did.

Those morons need to know that not everyone in the universe wants to overhear their little dramas -- especially not at 3:00 a.m.!

An agency that runs social housing programs owns a few houses in my neighbourhood and provides them at low rental to qualifying families. We've had really good, stable families in some of them, and really "in-your-face-I'm-the-centre-of-all-creation-and-everyone-owes-me-a-living-but-I-don't-need-to-conform-to-the-most-elementary-of-social-norms-etc" people in some of them too.

We'd already been through the "call the police" process a few times, and I and three of my neighbours had even been over there ourselves one time to break it up when we thought someone was going to be seriously injured (each of them could really lay a beating on the other). After yet another night of drinking, loud swearing, and fighting that kept us all awake, my neighbour and I wrote the agency and told them that we considered this behaviour to be mischief as defined under a particular provision of our Criminal Code. Problem ended - for a time. Of course, this sort of people just can't keep a lid on it, so it resumed some time later. This time, every single family within earshot of that place signed a second letter, and the couple left.

Thanks for your support. I did finally drift off around 3:40 am with a 6:30 wakeup. Not exactly a fun way to go through one's day.

When I arrived home, the upstairs wife came down and apologized. Turns out they were arguing, and what I heard from them wasn't the TV.

Still, I think I did right by calling the cops. Hey, I'm just trying to get to sleep, and if I'd been involved in a scuffle, I don't think I wouldn't have received much sleep in jail...

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Mine: "Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that."

Heinlein's: "Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." "Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite."

call the cops--that's the right thing to do.

Of course, here in Prince Georges County, MD, sometimes they don't come, but take a statement over the phone. Hopefully not in a real emergency! but I've not had a "real" emergency (ongoing event) yet, just calling cops when something was vandalized or stolen.

TV--sounds like how they stayed out of jail...this time--I wonder if the police really believed them or had no choice given no evidence.

"yeah, it was the TV--it was so loud it gave my wife a black eye!"

Todd

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

A friend of mine had neighbors having a party with loud music during a weeknight. He called the cops twice. Twice the cops showed up, asked the neighbors to keep it down. Twice the neighbors quieted down until the cops left, and then turned the music back up.

So my friend called the cops again (on 911 which is, of course, audio recorded), and went on at length about how noisy the party was, how stressed out he was getting (he had only a few hours before he got up for an early morning working shift), and how he was having trouble controlling the urge to pick up a baseball bat and visit the neighbors.

The wording was critical --- he didn't threathen to do anything, he just very carefully talked about how the stress of the situation was making it tough for him to not resort to violence. Within about 5 minutes, the cops walked into the party, confiscated the stereo and dispersed the crowd.

Good for him!

I can't understand pigs like those neighbors, who have no regard or consideration for others. And of course that man had to work throughout the day, while the party bums had all day long to snooze. What inconsiderate pigs.

I always suggest calling the cops. That's their job. They don't mind it, and it gets the message across. If you try to confront them yourself, you may think you're being nice and giving them a chance to correct the problem without the police; but most of the time people in those situations are anything but reasonable. If it's a fight, they're stressed. If it's a party, they got the numbers on you, and you're the "loser" who can't handle a little party.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

"A long time ago, yet somehow in the future"

Yep.

..and you risk getting jumped, beaten up or maybe even stabbed/shot.

Not worth it. Let the police handle it.

Read: You're the one who has to work the next day while these pathetic jerks can sleep in.

If it's a fight, they're stressed.

If it's a domestic dispute, they could be more than stressed. Someone's life could be in danger. Calling the police is a good idea. If you can do so without stretching the truth too far, tell them you believe they're about to get violent with one another and you're concerned that someone is going to get seriously hurt. Since 911 calls are recorded, police departments try to avoid the bad publicity that comes when a reported domestic dispute gets ignored until it turns into a murder investigation.

Within about 5 minutes, the cops walked into the party, confiscated the stereo and dispersed the crowd.

I like this approach and wish more cops would do it. Keep the equipment until they pay a stiff fine. If they don't pay the fine within 30 days, sell the equipment to help defer the costs of multiple police visits to the home.

When I was stationed in Germany, over 80% of the guys in my barracks was a shift worker. Anytime of the day or night, some people were trying to sleep. One thing just about everyone did back then was to buy a stereo system so naturally people wanted to play their music. Our unit had a simple policy. The first time someone complained about your music being too loud, they were warned. The second time it happened, the equipment was confiscated until they transferred out of the unit (which could be up to 3 years away). Not many people needed a second warning. Most of us bought a good set of headphones so we could play our music even when our roommates were asleep.

When I lived in dorms, I was practically on a first-name basis with some of the cops. In fact, late one night (probably 2 AM), I called in to say that someone upstairs was bowling down the hall. There was a pause. "Bowling?"

But they sent the RA on duty (there's always two), and he had been my RA the year before. He walked in. "Bowling?"

"Listen."

From upstairs, rumble rumble rumble crash!

"I'll take care of it."

And they never bowled down the hallway at 2 AM again. Calling the police can work.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"