Car parked outside blaring music (apartment complex, record, noise, landlord)
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I woke up at 6+am this morning to a car parked outside blaring music through the windows. I heard the people upstairs get up and shuffle around, but nobody did anything about it. I wanted to go out there and tell them to turn it down, but of course I expected to get the typical "F you". What was I supposed to do? Walk out there with a camera recording and a gun in case he goes crazy? Do I ask him to turn it down and if he doesn't I record his licence plate and turn it over to cops? Why doesn't anybody do anything and just sit in their apartments and take it?
Why doesn't anybody do anything and just sit in their apartments and take it?
You should answer your own question, since apparently that's what you did.
You could have just gone down and politely ask if they could turn it down. The "f you" response will likely be dependent on the attitude you show upon your request.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dhinged
Walk out there with a camera recording and a gun in case he goes crazy?
I think you'd be the crazy one in this case. Again, people will often treat you as you treat them. If you are so antagonistic, and go out there to threaten this person, then he will tell you to facilitate that camera up your bum, and then probably turn his music up, just to spite the crazy old person who confronted him/her with a camera and a gun.
Instead, just walk out there, if he/she is a neighbor, introduce yourself, kindly remind him/her that its very early and to please keep the music a little lower. Add some color to your story about there being children/old people sleeping, ect. Just be nice and ask nicely.
Report it. You are in an apartment complex. Call your landlord and report the noise issue. But you have to do it while it is happening, and it has to last long enough that they can come over and catch the person for it to do any good. You could still call the landlord and let them know, but since you don't know who was doing it, it wouldn't accomplish anything at this point, unless this is an ongoing problem that happens every day at 6:00 AM.
Also, if 6 AM is within your city's "quiet hours", you could also have called the police. Again, though, it would have to go on long enough that they could catch the person.
In my opinion, someone who is impolite enough to play loud music in an apartment complex at 6:00 AM is not going to respond well to being asked by a neighbor to turn it down, no matter how politely they are approached.
Unfortunately there are some people who think that everyone loves their music and that it's perfectly OK to install massive speakers, crank up the volume so the earth moves and then blithely walk away from the vehicle while popping into a store (or even into a bank) to do business. As the previous poster said, the key is to be quiet and polite with your request, as difficult as that can be! I ran into exactly that situation just yesterday and not for the first time.
I pulled into the self-serve gas pump, walked into the convenience store to pay upfront. Quiet road, quiet area and as I was pumping my gas a young woman drove up, volume full blast and walked into the store to pay for her gas. By the time she came out I thought my ears must be bleeding. I stopped pumping, walked over to her with a smile on my face (it felt like a rictus grin) and (all the while fantasizing about smashing the speakers to pieces) very nicely asked her if she would mind very much turning the volume down because, "I'm an old lady and you're making me hurt!" I got an apology and she shut the music off completely while she finished pumping her gas. I thanked her very much and all was well. Upon exiting she waved and then a few feet down the road cranked the volume way up again. If I'd gone up to her all barrels blazing there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the resulting melee would have been highly unpleasant and with probably some blood shed.
Good luck!
PS: To those who advocate complaining to the LL/calling the police - oh for goodness' sake not everything is a crisis. Why is trying nicely first so darned difficult?
Last edited by STT Resident; 01-15-2013 at 10:12 AM..
Reason: added PS
In my opinion, someone who is impolite enough to play loud music in an apartment complex at 6:00 AM is not going to respond well to being asked by a neighbor to turn it down, no matter how politely they are approached.
I disagree, I had the same situation with one of my neighbors. Young kid, around 25. Has a pick-up truck all decked out and some massive speakers. I went down, introduced myself as his neighbor, and explained that he lived in a residential street and that his speakers, while sounding awesome, made the windows shake. He said he was sorry and that he didn't think the sound would carry so far. We then had a pleasant conversation for a few minutes, and we always wave hi at each other on the street.
I am certain that things would have turned differently if I had called the cops on him, complained to his landlord, or went out there to antagonize him with a camera and a concealed weapon.
PS: To those who advocate complaining to the LL/calling the police - oh for goodness' sake not everything is a crisis. Why is trying nicely first so darned difficult?
In my defense, I would be annoyed, but just ignore it if it happened one time. I wrote my response sort of assuming it wasn't the first time it had happened.
Personally, as a woman, I try to avoid this sort of confrontation. No matter how nicely I ask, it always seems to go badly. I think the key to success in this sort of situation is to get the offender to laugh, and I don't have that gift.
If it were an ongoing problem for me personally, my approach would probably progress as follows. The first time, I would ignore it. The second time, I would look out and see if I could identify which car it was, or see if I recognized any neighbors. Then if I could, I would type up an anonymous letter, politely letting them know the early morning noise was an issue and asking them to turn it down while in the apartment complex, and put it on their door or on the windshield.
If that didn't work, then I would call the police/landlord.
There's no telling how the response would be no matter how you approached these people. Some people are just naturally hostile. Personally I find courtesy to lower the volume of music in a residential area "early" in the morning common sense, but that's me.
I woke up at 6+am this morning to a car parked outside blaring music through the windows. I heard the people upstairs get up and shuffle around, but nobody did anything about it. I wanted to go out there and tell them to turn it down, but of course I expected to get the typical "F you". What was I supposed to do? Walk out there with a camera recording and a gun in case he goes crazy? Do I ask him to turn it down and if he doesn't I record his licence plate and turn it over to cops? Why doesn't anybody do anything and just sit in their apartments and take it?
you call the police and make a complaint.
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