I have to say that in the five years that I have lived in New York City I have had pretty good neighbors. And by that I mean they have been for the most part clean, respectful, and either very nice and friendly, or at least they weren't jerks. When we first moved into our current apartment we were excited to find that our across the hall neighbors were really great. Very nice, they had a young son (so I felt like they would be understanding of our crying baby), it was a great situation. Then sadly they moved last month. We were hoping to get some friends of ours in that apartment, but unfortunately another couple beat them to it. These new neighbors have been very nice, introduced themselves, have helped me with Norah's stroller... but they are smokers. Not to be prejudiced against smokers, but when you don't smoke, and have a baby you'd prefer not to be exposed to second-hand smoke, it kind of sucks to share a narrow hallway with someone who does. Suddenly our whole floor smells like cigarette smoke. I decided to take some subtle action. I obviously can't ask them not to smoke in their own apartment, but I figured I could at least do something to combat the issue in our shared space. So last night I put Norah in her stroller and walked 15 blocks to Bath & Body Works to buy an air-freshener plug-in for the hallway. I was feeling really good about my hopefully non-offensive way to make our building a little more nostril friendly, only to have another one of our neighbors STEAL the air freshener out of the hallway later in the evening. This after an umbrella I left in Norah's stroller downstairs was stolen earlier in the week. Both jobs were obviously done by someone in the building, so I guess we have neighbors who are just cool with petty theft. We also have ANOTHER set of neighbors who frequently forget their keys and have on several occasions woken us up (we're talking 3 a.m.) by buzzing our apartment to be let in the building. Who are these people we are living with? Last night after the air-freshener theft I was complaining to Nathan and realized that for the first time I am truly struggling to follow the commandment to 'Love Thy Neighbor.' This weekend I'm going to make a better attempt on my part to reach out to our neighbors. Maybe make some cookies and take them around to the other tenants. But so help me if I smell pumpkin air-freshener in any of their apartments!
4 comments:
Ridiculous. Stealing your umbrella? AND the air freshener? The worst is the 3am buzzing though. That would just make me mad.
Thank you for letting us peek into your lives. Norah is darling! We can't wait to meet her. Sarah Jane, we lived in a condo where the man below us smoked, and every time we opened our windows the smell just flooded our apartment. It was awful and hard not to be angry at him. I am very impressed that you are willing to make cookies! Good Luck!
Well, it's nice that you could at least whip-up a cross-stitch to help yourself remember.
Yikes,what a pain. I know the Sorensens got an air purifier when they lived in their apartment building in Philadelphia and it made a big difference. Good luck!
Oh I so do't miss living in NYC. I never had to contend with hallway theft..not even when Debbie would leave me garden fresh produce outside my door. We did have the screaming insane Spanish lady on one side (seriously insane, she thought the maintenance guys snuck into her apartment and opened all the cupboards and used the washclothes; she would also randomly scream like a cat being skinned), and on the other side was the stereotypical music playing neighbours...we went through 3 different neighbours, ALL of them would play their music at all hours of the day or night at the loudest setting possible. I guess I never followed that commandment too well since I would wall bang and tattle on them to our doorman! I follow it much better now that I don't share walls with strangers!! Good luck!
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