11 Neighbor Disputes So Absurd, They Belong on TV

Dealing with difficult neighbors is something almost everyone can relate to. Whether it’s loud music blasting at odd hours, constant noise from a backyard renovation, or passive-aggressive notes left on your door, these seemingly small annoyances can quickly turn into major sources of stress. The reality is, living in close quarters with others can bring out the best and the worst in people, and sometimes, those who live next door can test our patience like no one else.

• I had been living in a small house set back from the rest of the rows of homes on the street. The lady in front to the right, hated me, my boyfriend, my dog, everything about us, because she wanted the property for herself. It was one particularly trying week.
  She had called the cops on us 4 times, and as we were very quiet, clean people, the cops just left right away after apologizing. The neighbor completely lost her mind and had the city come out to try and condemn the home for looking shoddy (it didn’t have siding). I woke up to find a cop, her, and the city assessors outside snapping pics.
  So, I asked a friend from a warm state to send me some cockroaches. The evil lady owned a restaurant downtown, and I put over 30 live cockroaches in her bathroom. Then I called on her for health code violations. She was shut down, and she soon moved far away. © Im_invading_Mars / Reddit

• I live in the upper unit of a duplex that’s stacked on top of each other. We moved in not too long ago, and the neighbor has been incredibly rude to my boyfriend and me.
  A brief summary of her is that she expects us to completely alter our lifestyle and the layout of our apartment to better suit her unrealistic needs. We “cannot” walk above her late, shower, use the bathroom, wash the dishes, talk to each other, etc., all because “it disturbs her.”
  She has told us multiple times that doing the laundry at the various times we are (6 pm-8 pm, aka when we get home from work) is unreasonable and inconsiderate of her. She will take out her anger on us and just yell at us or start slamming all her doors below us.
  One thing she asked of me stuck with me. “When you are using the kitchen faucet, please turn it off slowly because when you do it too fast, it makes a popping sound in my sink that scares me.”....
  I suddenly love washing dishes. I will slam it off as much as I can randomly throughout the day, and then sit in silence to hear her groan. It’s the most lukewarm revenge, but it makes me smile.© Linhly_ / Reddit

• Our downstairs neighbors have been very insensitive to us living upstairs. They would always slam their doors no matter the time of day. The building would literally shake whenever they slam their doors, whether the entrance or any doors inside the unit.
  They would even park their car in front of their unit and would freaking slam the car doors at 5 am and talk loud outside qs if they’re the only ones living in this complex.
  Earlier today, they’ve been going in and out of their unit, of course, slamming the door each time. I work from home and am constantly on calls, and it’s been rough — I couldn’t focus because of all the loud noise and shaking.
  But I’m feeling petty today, so I opened all our windows and started to vacuum our floor, which probably took around 15 minutes non-stop. I heard him/her slam the door twice while I was vacuuming, and it felt like my small win for the day. All the slamming stopped when I finished. © chttybb / Reddit

• So, I have this neighbor who is just the worst. Let’s call him “Dave.” Dave has this obnoxious habit of playing his music at full blast during the late hours of the night. I’ve tried talking to him about it, but he just laughs it off and says it’s not his fault if I can’t sleep. Super charming, right?
  Well, after weeks of sleepless nights and trying to be the nice neighbor, I decided enough was enough. One night, I found out he had a big party planned, and I knew he’d crank the music up even higher than usual. So, I hatched a plan.
  I waited until the party was in full swing, and I set up my phone to stream the loudest, most annoying sounds I could find—think sirens, baby cries, and an airhorn sound effect. I connected it to my portable speaker and started blasting it at full volume right outside his window.
  The look on his face when he realized it was me and not the party music was priceless! He ran out to confront me, but I just smiled and said, “Sorry, Dave! Can’t sleep with all this noise!”
  His friends were cracking up, and he ended up having to ask his guests to leave early because he was so embarrassed. Since then, he’s kept the volume down significantly.
  Petty? Absolutely. Satisfying? You bet! © Manoncherry / Reddit

• I woke up yesterday and went outside. I live in an apartment, but I have a back patio. I noticed trash everywhere. I have a security cam, though, and I went back and checked my security cam footage.
  The neighbor had her guest take out the trash. Except she didn’t take it to the dumpster. She threw it against the dog run fence, and the bag broke open, spewing trash everywhere. She just laughed and left it there.
  So I collected the trash and dumped it on her doorstep where it belonged. I don’t feel the least bit guilty. I’m not going to pay rent to live in a trash-filled apartment complex. I don’t understand how people can litter and feel fine about it. © Exciting_Mud5054 / Reddit

• There’s always noise coming from my neighbor. Loud music. Video games. A nonstop thumping sound, which I have no idea what that is.
  I had to move my bed away from the wall because I couldn’t sleep at night due to the noise and vibration. There are several tenants surrounding his apartment, so I’m sure the noise is heard by other tenants too.
  He’s known in the area to be unfriendly and intimidating, so no one has confronted him directly about the noise. My apartment’s management sent out flyers to all tenants about noise, but clearly, he doesn’t care.
  I was fed up, and an idea popped up. A massage gun. Every time there is noise, I set the vibration level to the max and use the massage gun on the wall. I “massage the wall” for a good 20–30 minutes at random intervals so that he gets a taste of his own medicine.
  I was scared at first, but surprisingly, there’s been less noise coming from him. I can still hear his video games and music, but it is noticeably quieter than before. © bubblyloops / Reddit

• I had just moved into my new apartment, excited about a fresh start, when I realized my neighbor, Mr. Thompson, was anything but ordinary. At first, it was the staring—every time I looked out my window, there he was, standing at his, watching me like I was a zoo animal. I couldn’t understand why he was so fascinated with me. It was unsettling.
  Then came the daily routine of him standing at his window with binoculars, eyes fixed on me, regardless of what I was doing—whether I was cooking, reading, or just watching TV. It was so creepy that I started drawing my curtains, but that didn’t stop him.
  He’d knock on my door, saying things like, “I noticed you were reading that book last night!” or “You looked great in that outfit this morning!”
  One evening, during a quiet dinner party, I caught him staring from his window again. I snapped. I went over, knocked on his door, and when he opened it, he greeted me with a wide grin and said, “I was just watching you—it’s a beautiful sunset, right?”
  That was it. I filed a formal complaint, and though things quieted down eventually, I still feel his eyes on me sometimes when I least expect it.

• I’m just a regular guy who loves peace and quiet, especially after a hard day’s work. But my life took a drastic turn when a new tenant moved into the apartment next door — a true night owl who seemed determined to spend every night as if it were his last.
  My initial reaction was to try to politely talk to him and ask him to keep it down, but the spiteful neighbor simply ignored me as if I didn’t exist. After countless sleepless nights, I realized it was time to take a little revenge.
  I started planning my small vengeance. The first step was to purchase a set of children’s toys — rubber ducks and geese. Then I geared up for action. Every time the noisy neighbor began his nightly concert, I would step out onto my balcony and hurl rubber ducks and geese into his window.
  The sound they made upon impact was simply incredible! After several nights of my “duck-and-geese” performances becoming regular features of his nocturnal adventures, I noticed a decrease in noise levels. Finally, my spiteful neighbor became quieter, and I was able to sleep peacefully at last.
  And though my revenge was small and somewhat childish, it proved effective. The next morning after my “duck-and-geese” finale, I saw the spiteful neighbor looking weary and sleep-deprived, perhaps contemplating the consequences of his noisy nighttime escapades.
  So, guys, if you’re dealing with a noisy neighbor, remember that even the smallest revenge can have huge consequences! © Humble_Ad9786 / Reddit

• When I moved into my new apartment, my neighbor, Mrs. Devereux, seemed sweet at first. She’d wave from her window and offer a friendly smile. But soon, things took a strange turn.
  One day, I found a note on my door: “I noticed you haven’t watered your plants. I’ll take care of them for you tomorrow!” Confused, I checked my plants—they were perfectly fine—but sure enough, the next day, I saw her tending to them from outside.
  Then, she started showing up with odd gifts—like a casserole she claimed to have made for me because “you look so tired after work.” The taste was off, and I noticed something weird in it, but I didn’t want to make a scene.
  It didn’t stop there. She would leave me notes about what time I should be getting up or going to bed, and once even suggested I rearrange my furniture for better “energy flow.”
  Finally, I confronted her. She simply smiled and said, “I just want to make sure you’re okay. A young woman like you needs someone looking out for her.”
  I reported her to building management, and the strange visits finally stopped. She moved out a few months later, but I still can’t help but wonder if her version of “looking out for me” was a little too much.

• When my neighbor moved in, she quickly became the self-appointed “welcoming committee,” bringing over homemade meals and baked goods. One evening, she handed me a container of soup, claiming she had made too much. I thanked her and dug in, but something tasted off. It wasn’t bad, just strange, a weird aftertaste that lingered.
  The next day, I noticed the soup container had a faded expiration date from two months ago. I checked the other food she’d given me: bread past its expiration and a jar of jam with a similar date. It dawned on me—she was giving me expired food.
  I wasn’t sure if she knew or if she was just being overly generous, but I started politely turning down her offers. I didn’t want to cause any awkwardness, but I had to be cautious. What seemed like kindness was a way for her to unload old pantry items.

• New neighbors moved in about 2 months ago — a young couple. The walls are paper thin, and they love to blast music and sing really loudly, but they sound horrible. Their bathroom is right against my bedroom wall, and they’ll sing at the top of their lungs at 3 am or when I’m in a Teams meeting.
  I’ve asked them if they could keep it down multiple times, but they just ignored me and said mean things for having a problem with them being happy and singing. Or told me to get a pair of noise-canceling headphones. I felt like they had no respect for their neighbors because the other guy next to them doesn’t want to hear them screeching at the top of their lungs either.
  So yesterday I borrowed a pair of speaker towers from my buddy and pressed them against the wall facing the wall. Put it on full blast and started playing Bird is the Word on repeat from 8 am sharp when there is no noise ordinance against noise. The wall even trembled. I woke them up after their late night yesterday.
  Every time the song ended, I could hear them banging against the wall, telling me to shut up. They came knocking on my door extremely pissed off, and I just told them “What kind of person are you that you don’t like music?” and slammed the door.
  I’ll keep blasting Bird is the Word until 10 pm and start up at 8 am sharp tomorrow. I’ll then cool it and see if they stop screeching moving forward. © konqrr / Reddit

Sometimes, love leads people to keep secrets from their partners to protect their feelings. Check this article to find out what these sweet secrets are.