I’m the “mean neighbor”
Don’t look now, but I’ve become the mean neighbor in my building! We live in a condominium complex that has about 40 units and one thing that I’ve always liked about this place is how quiet it normally is (inside the building, at least). Most of the people living in here are married and have youngish children, so we never get anyone having parties all night long or blasting music at odd hours.
The individual units are well-built and nicely insulated, which means that we also never hear the “daily routine” noises from our neighbors, like when they run hair dryers, dishwashers, showers, or the television. That’s a good thing, because I’ve lived in some pretty cheap apartments where you could hear practically every little noise from next door, and that was unbearable for me.
Even so, I’ve still complained to my neighbors about noise several times over the years — over their children practicing musical instruments! They weren’t even playing the instruments early in the morning or late at night. Just in the middle of the day. But I still complained because the noise was pure torture! Imagine an 8-year-old trying to practice the trumpet, like the kid downstairs from me. Or the junior high student who plays the SAME song on the piano over and over and over again for nearly an hour straight, like the girl upstairs. Or the kid next door who plays the recorder (block flute) until my ears bleed. I can’t stand that stuff, so I complain. I give them 30 minutes (which I think is reasonable) and then I bang on the door and tell their mothers that I’ve had enough. They usually stop for the day and often don’t play again for a couple weeks after that, at which time we go through the routine again.
I think I’ve developed a reputation as being the “mean neighbor” because of these complaints, but I don’t care. I try to block them out (I wear earplugs, I close all my windows even in the summer, etc.) but that noise gets through the walls even though nothing else does. And I don’t think I should have to suffer through anyone else’s music practice — especially when they’re not even any good!!!
Different strokes, etc, but my kids were learning the piano a while back and to cut a long story short, the teacher used to stay here for two hours while other children had their 30-minute lesson (easier and cheaper than the teacher driving around). It was actually nice to hear them progress.