16 Times the People Next Door Surprised Us in the Most Unforgettable Ways

Spying through the peephole or trying to peek into your trash bag to find out if you have money is just the beginning of what some people living next door are capable of. However, there are also quite lovely characters among them who are ready to support those stuck in the elevator and even form a small music band. The heroes of this article have neighbors from both categories.

• I always sing when I leave my apartment. I’m not a singer; I just love doing it. I live on the first floor.
  Recently, I was heading out again when suddenly I heard a synthesizer. I stopped, and the pianist did too. It turns out that a 15-year-old guy, my next-door neighbor, composes music to the tunes I make up myself. He said working with me is a pleasure.
  Recently, another neighbor joined us, this time with a violin. I now have my own band. © Overheard / Ideer

• Early in the morning, someone rings the doorbell. I get up, muttering under my breath. I see my neighbor through the peephole—I really don’t like her, so I don’t open the door. I say, “I’m listening.”
  She’s like, “I strongly recommend you leave the apartment within the next 30 minutes.” I stand there, baffled. Then the neighbor suddenly goes, “Otherwise, I’ll tell his wife everything.” Well, the wife is actually me.
  Turns out, yesterday she didn’t recognize me walking with my husband because I was unexpectedly all dolled up and in heels. She was waiting for him to leave and came to protect someone else’s marriage. From me. Turns out she’s a decent woman. © natalie.vitte
• My neighbor couldn’t sell an insanely expensive antique dresser. It’s as ugly as my life, worn out, restored a couple of times. It’s really heavy, and no one wants to move it from the 8th floor because it doesn’t fit in the elevator.
  She made up a whole story dating back to the 18th century. Apparently, some wealthy guy brought it from Paris, then he lost his fortune, and the dresser was rescued from a fire. And the best part—it grants its owners one cherished wish. And she sold it immediately! © Overheard / Ideer

• Today, I had a fight with my neighbor for the first time in my life. I’ve been living in this new apartment for a couple of months. The building is old, with an open courtyard — no barrier gate. She already complained once about my boyfriend parking his car in the courtyard.
  Today was a real blockbuster. The lady was walking around the courtyard yelling that she’s the property owner, and we, as tenants, shouldn’t be parking our cars there at all. While we were home, she blocked our car with hers and said she wouldn’t move it for us. In the end, we managed to free the way.
  She insulted us about 5 more times and screamed that she’s the owner. What nonsense. By paying rent, we have the same rights as owners. And the courtyard is shared. © oo_lesyaa
• For 2 weeks, the TV in the apartment below ours blasted at full volume at 11 p.m. The walls in the building are thin; you can hear everything. I went downstairs, knocked on the door, and rang the bell — no one answered.
  An elderly couple lives there. You can’t catch them during the day; they are out somewhere, and at night, the TV blares and you can’t reach them. The mystery opened simply: my wife accidentally caught the old lady in the elevator. She explained the situation, and they went to her apartment and figured it all out.
  The old lady had become hard of hearing and had bought herself some headphones, good, big ones, so as not to bother the neighbors. But she didn’t plug them all the way into the socket.
  She sat to watch TV with headphones, but it was still too quiet, so she cranked the volume to the maximum. And then everything was fine for her — she could hear, and the neighbors weren’t disturbed. Great headphones.
  My wife didn’t argue; she plugged the jack in fully, checked the sound. And now it’s quiet. © Kspksp / Pikabu

• Weekend, 10 in the morning. Woken up by a knock on the door, it’s my neighbor, a lady around 55. I get dressed and ask what’s wrong. She says her cable TV isn’t showing, asks me to check if ours is working.
  I check, and everything’s fine. I tell her, “Call the provider; they’ll help.” And she replies, “Oh, I did call; they said it was disconnected for non-payment. I just thought maybe everyone’s wasn’t working.” © Vihoohal / Pikabu
• Moved into a new apartment. One neighbor has already asked to borrow her some money 3 times.
  First, she caught me in the elevator, then fished out my number from the building’s chat. She texts: “I see your trash bags. You have money. Help out a neighbor.”
  And then it turns out she already owes the entire complex. Fortunately, other neighbors warned me. But is it normal to ask for a loan from a person she barely knows? © rustam777kzz
• In the condo where we live, we own a parking spot. When we leave town for a few days, vigilant neighbors send one of their acquaintances to park in our spot without asking us. We found out about it from other neighbors.
  When we brought it up, they responded in the chat, “What’s the big deal? Are you really that stingy?” Well, then move into our apartment too; why not go all the way? © klementinebb

• I once had a neighbor who was outraged that I would come home and turn on the light in the hallway. She claimed that my light switch made a loud click, and she could hear it very clearly in her apartment. She even said it made her jump. © Inna Frolova / Dzen
• After my mom passed away, her apartment remained closed up for nearly a year—I would only go there a couple of times a week in the afternoons to sort through her belongings. But the neighbor upstairs constantly filed complaints against me and called the police and the housing office.
  I quote, “They started cooking breakfast very early and the smell of fried food woke me up. And they use the washing machine too often, leaving me with not enough water.” © Dogy Dogy / Dzen

• I live in Tanzania with my boyfriend. In February, I went to another country for work. We live near a small shop, and there’s an old lady there; we call her Mama Tajji.
  So, I got back, and she said to me, “We all lost you! Where have you been?” I said I was away.
  And she told me in front of other people from our street, “But we all saw that your Wilson was only working and doing house repairs. Don’t worry, dear.” So sweet and funny! © abidecem
• 3 years ago, I moved into a new apartment. For all these 3 years, the neighbor above has been drilling with enviable regularity. I get it—it’s a new building, and everyone’s renovating, but what can you drill for 3 years?
  Other neighbors have a cat that visits our balcony, and no one cares, including my parents. Not long ago, they also got a turtle, but at least it can’t climb from their balcony to ours, and it’s already too cold to let it wander outside.
  Another neighbor from somewhere upstairs came over because she threw her friend’s passport from the window, and it fell not on the ground, but into our balcony. I returned the passport, but I still didn’t understand what that was all about. © Muesli Aloud / ADME

• One day, an old lady from the first floor knocks on our door and declares that we’ve clogged the plumbing and now everything is spilling out at her place. I ask, “Isn’t it strange, considering we live on the fifth floor and you on the first? Maybe you should check the second or third floor?”
  She replies, “I’ve already been to everyone, and they all say they didn’t clog it.” I inform her, “Great, my answer is the same. Goodbye.” © Briefly about cinema / Dzen
• This happened about 20 years ago. On Friday, my wife and I went to the country house for the weekend and returned on Sunday to find a note on our door: “Please turn off the TV.”
  Our neighbor later told us, “Saturday, 6 a.m. Your television turns on at full volume, blaring until 8 a.m., and then shuts off. I came up, knocked, and called, but you were at the country house. Sunday — the same thing happened.”
  It turned out that our TV went haywire and set off an alarm from 6 to 8 in the morning. © joke1976 / Pikabu

• My dad was a linguist and studied Chinese, so I got the chance to become quite familiar with the language. We had a common “adversary” — our neighbor, who constantly nagged and reproached us, and we really disliked him.
  During a residents’ meeting, my dad and I were chatting in Chinese, discussing the terrible character of this rude man from the neighboring apartment. We assumed he didn’t understand us, thinking we were “safe,” but how surprised we were when this neighbor replied to us in Chinese, “I’m not mean; it’s just that you make a lot of noise in the evenings, and I get a headache!”
  Who would have known that the world is so small that even your neighbor might speak Chinese? © Ward No. 6 / VK
• My neighbors are truly unique people. We have constant issues with the elevator; it used to be repaired almost daily, but it never got better, so everyone just gave up and accepted it. Each ride is a test of luck. You might get lucky and reach your floor, or the elevator might break down, and you’ll have to wait for the repairmen.
  I still don’t know how it happened, but now there’s a special small basket in the elevator where anyone can leave snacks like waffles, water, or cookies. A note above reads, “For those who got stuck.” At first, I laughed, but then I once got stuck for a long time, and this help from the neighbors really saved me. © Ward No. 6 / VK

Bonus: when neighbors and their pets do good deeds

• My cat likes to walk in the stairwell. I put a collar on him so the neighbors would know he has owners and not take him away. Recently, the cat started coming back with bills tucked into his collar. I immediately asked in the building’s group chat, “What’s going on?”
  It turned out the cat regularly visits the neighbors. They have a boy with health issues, who loves animals very much. But his mother doesn’t want to get a pet of their own as she dedicates herself entirely to her son, so since he plays with the cat, she decided to pay for “food.” Of course, I returned the money.
  And we made a schedule with the neighbors whose pets would visit the boy next. Only social animals are allowed. Eventually, the boy is visited by 3 cats and 3 dogs. © myth_4e

Well, quite a lot of things can happen in an ordinary apartment building. Do you have similar stories about neighbors who regularly pull stunts? Share them in the comments section of this article.

And these neighbors made people sleep with one eye open.