Thumbs Down to Drunk Neighbors
The problem with living in an apartment at this stage in my life, is that so many of my neighbors are in a different stage of life. It's not the people in my building so much. I live in the larger apartment section of the community so most of the people in this building are working professionals, not college frat boys. The complex across the street, however, is full of recent post-college graduate types who didn't quite get partying out of their system during their college days. As a result, I'm up at 3:30AM, much to my chagrin. I thought about calling the courtesy officer, but he's got a real job as a county police officer, and he's a family man and I didn't want to pull him out of bed. So I decided to go over there myself. The people are partying in the apartment and it's spilling over into their garage, where the sound system is set up. No wonder I can here it clear across the street. Anyway, I'm walking past the garage to get their apartment number and one of the drunken Joe's spots me and tries to invite me to the party. I politely decline and inform him as to why I'm actually there. The look on his face was truly incredible. He was so bummed, and it was incomprehensible to him that I wasn't there to have a beer, but that I was actually complaining. He said it twice; "Are you *serious*, you're actually here to *complain*?" He was stunned.
They all found it rather amusing that someone clear across the street was complaining, rather than their own immediate neighbors. I walked away and could hear his other drunken buddies asking him how he'd made out with me, and he had to report that he had struck out. The entire time I'm trying to explain to him that it's 3:30AM, and I'd like to be able to go to sleep this evening, he's countering that I'm beautiful, and should just come have a beer. There's no reasoning with drunk people, but I'm happy to report they've toned it down, so it worked, despite the appearance of futility when I was conversing with him face to face.
I need to move into a house.