Knowing Your Neighbors
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
photo credit: kamshots
If you are like most men you probably have moved around a few times. This has left you to meet many new neighbors over the years. These neighbors come in all shapes and sizes. In college you usually had a group that was looking to hang out at first. These usually were met in college dorms or apartments. At this time it was fine to spend more and more time with them. You could easily get away with spending time with them without it becoming irritating. As you get older your neighbors have changed throughout the years.
For those of us in apartments we are closer to our neighbors than we want to be. This means it can be a delicate balancing act to keep them close enough not to call the cops but far enough away not to see them.
When you first move in you should not feel like it is your move to introduce yourself to the neighbors. I recommend that you do not go and knock on their door to introduce yourself. This will allow them to understand that you are not looking for anything from them. Meeting them will happen in time so don’t rush it. When you do see them in the hallway be confident in your introduction but try to keep the meeting within 5 minutes. You can tell a lot in the first meeting no matter what age bracket the new neighbor is.
If your new neighbor tries to continue on the conversation for a length of time this means you want to keep your distance. With neighbors like this it can be difficult for one to get away. This is especially irritating when you are running late but do not underestimate how this can bother you when leaving to run errands.
If your neighbors want to keep the conversation short this can be a good thing. This means you will be able to enter and leave when you want without being caught up. They also can be a pain when you want to have people over if they like to call the cops. Unfortunately the only way you are going to find out is by trial and error.
For people who have families nearby you are going to have to find out how that works for you. Sometimes they can be great and sometimes they can be the worst. I’ve experienced both so I’m not sure if there will ever be a general rule on this. I have noticed that the elderly can be great at times since there hearing can go. This means no noise complaints from parties or music. Also fresh baked goods seem to make it around the neighborhood at times.
I always recommend not inviting over neighbors for events. This brings them closer than most of us want our neighbors to be. You should give them a heads up if you have a relationship with them though. This will keep them from calling in noise complaints.
Overall you should have a positive relationship with your neighbors, never be too friendly but never be the bad guy.
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Tags: neighbors
