Living in an apartment building can be a total bitch. You have to get along with a bunch of total strangers in order to happily co-exist. If you're lucky you live in a building with fairly likeminded people but most of the time that isn't the case. The luckiest ones of us live on the top floor - that way you've only got people on the sides and below but not on top of you.
Personally I live in a 3 story building on the second floor. When I moved in some 6 years ago the building was largely populated by elderly people. I actually think I was the only tenant that was in his 20's at that time. I'm still not sure if my age pissed off my new neighbours just because they were bitter or because they expected me to be a hellraiser because of the funky hairdo I had back then. Well, I really wasn't and still aren't. That didn't stop them though - I started getting all kinds of notes about playing music too loud and all that crap. The funny thing is that I wasn't usually even around during those times my neighbours claimed hearing a loud bass coming from my apartment. Since then I've learned quite a few things about the types of people you encounter when you live in an apartment building for a few years.
1) Nolifers that will torture you for their own personal pleasure
To this group of people it doesn't really matter if you're an actual distraction for them or just a guy who is trying to mind his own business. They'll make a sport out of bugging you and keep on doing it even if they have to pull the reason for doing that right out of their asses. These nolifers are the group that will harash you about a barking dog you don't even have, the loud music you couldn't have played since you weren't even in town and the odd smell in the air that actually comes from a dinner they cooked themselves the night before.
2) Insane staircase stalkers and lurkers
Ever heard the lid off your mailbox slowly lifting in the middle of a night, started walking to the door to see what's up, heard running footsteps and seen that there's a light on the staircase but nobody around? Yeah, I might be paranoid but I'm not that paranoid. This stuff really happens. For a sane person it's hard to understand why anyone would want to lurk behind their neighbours' doors but then again these stalker/lurkers probably have a few bats in their attics anyway. The kind of stalking these individuals do really isn't dangerous either - mainly it's just silly and a bit irritating.
3) Old people that always think you're up to no good
Got a pink mohawk, huge pants, piercings, tattoos… or anything of that nature? Get ready because the old people in your neighbourhood are on a mission to get you. They are already quite sure you've got a meth lab and a mushroom farm going in your apartment. They are also pretty sure you worship Satan, slice tires for fun and are building a career in organized crime. These grandpas and grandmas will form a union against you simply because they think you must be up to no good based on your looks. The only way to win them over is by totally changing your style and attending the weekly sunday service at your local church.
4) People that don't quite get the concept of living in an apartment building
My newest neighbour belongs to this group. She hasn't even officially moved in yet and already she has made a bunch of enemies by making shitloads of noise. Ok, we all need to do some repairing every now and then but tearing down your bathroom and not giving a note about doing that in advance will eventually land her in a world of shit. This group of people also includes the individuals that have a chronic need to throw noisy afterparties at 5AM on a sunday morning, the tenants that have a strange habbit of playing with weird objects in the middle of the night (I swear my upstairs neighbour must be rolling a huge ball of steel around his flat every now and then) and the couples that feel like sharing their sex life with everyone in the building. The latest bit seems to apply especially on women - if only they found a way to express their excitiment in a fashion that doesn't require screaming like they're being killed.
I could go on and on about this but I think you get what I mean already. Other groups worth making a note on include; the families with small children, the freaky dude that deals drugs from his apartment (I haven't got any of these in the same building but a friend of mine does) and the do-gooders that want to have all kinds of meaningless bonding meetings for everyone. Naturally I can bitch about all this because I'm the perfect neighbour myself. How about you? Got any weird neighbours? I'm pretty sure the sun will collapse before living in apartment building becomes a joyride!
