Immigration to China

One of the biggest issues you can have while living in a high-rise apartment is noise from neighbors. Music and other sounds can bug you, irritate you, and generally make your life and sleep miserable. The main difference between an apartment and a house is that in an apartment the walls, floor, and ceiling of your habitat are all connected to neighbors. Therefore, you have a lot more neighbors than in a house and they are a lot closer to you! In my apartment, for example, I have 4 direct neighbors (north, south, a floor higher and a floor lower) and another 4 diagonally. Why does the number matter, you might ask? Well, let me tell you of a couple noise issues I had last month and how I dealt with them.

About a month ago, every evening after work, I started experiencing the shaking of the north wall of my apartment. It wasn’t even the music, all that got to my apartment was the sound of the base of somebody’s sub-woofer. It was extremely annoying and disturbing, but I let it go for a few days, mostly because I couldn’t determine where the sound was coming from. The sub-woofer base could be coming from three different neighbors - higher, lower, and across the north wall. Plus, I assumed I was not the only one disturbed and someone would file a complaint with the property manager.

However, I was wrong. The music continued almost every evening and well into the night, making it difficult for me to fall asleep. The breaking point came one weekend, when they turned the music at 4 a.m. Waking up, I tried to determine where the noise was coming from, walking from one corner to the other corner of the shaking wall. Still, it was impossible to tell for certain. Tiptoeing outside of my apartment in pajamas, I pressed my ear against a door and finally heard someone’s TV turned on inside. Being awakened on a weekend, during my most cherished sleep, I was furious. 

Next morning I decided that enough is enough, and printed the following note, taping it to my neighbor’s door:

HI GUYS,

I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU COULD PLEASE TURN DOWN THE SUB-WOOFER, ESPECIALLY IN THE EVENINGS AND AT NIGHT.

THANK YOU,

YOUR NEIGHBOR

And viola! The next day the wall stopped shaking, with the note disappeared and apparently well-digested .

A week later on a Sunday morning, I heard another noise, this time coming from the south wall of my apartment. It sounded really weird, like someone (definitely not a machine) banging dishes on the sides of the sink, or a child or even a pet playing with toys. The sound was irregular, occurring every several minutes, and prevented me from falling asleep a good part of the morning. Having had the previous experience, I immediately wrote the following note and taped it to my south neighbor’s door:

HI GUYS,

I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU COULD PLEASE REMOVE THE IRREGULAR NOISE SOURCE AT THE NORTH WALL OF YOUR APARTMENT, ESPECIALLY IN THE EVENINGS AND AT NIGHT.

THANK YOU,

YOUR NEIGHBOR

The next day the following reply was scribbled on the back side of my note:

Sorry about the noise, will try to keep it down. If it ever gets too loud again, please call 345–XXXX to notify.

The noise was never heard afterwards. As you can imagine, I was overwhelmed with joy of my latest success.

 Here are some of the reasons why the notes in this specific format work:

• it’s written in ALL CAPS, making it clear that noise is a real problem for you
• it’s very specific about the kind of noise that’s bothering you (eg. sub-woofer, not just music)
• it’s very polite, but firm at the same time
• it’s not a formal complaint from the property management, making it friendlier and more personal
• it’s anonymous, therefore you can always say you didn’t write it, if you don’t want to deal with your neighbors face to face

Was this note my original idea? Not entirely. The text is my own, but the written ALL-CAPS format was something that my landlord in LA Michael Bundy used in communicating with tenants (a bunch of college students living as roommates in a house). His notes though started with sentences like “OK GUYS THE FUN AND GAMES ARE OVER”, but were well-deserved by us none the less.

Thanks Michael, your input in resolving issues with neighbors is greatly appreciated.