Am I being a bitch?

[Jillaroo]

So I have some relatively new neighbors across the street from me that I've had problems with:

A few weeks ago my neighbors were yelling talking loudly about the rules of poker and I politely (for 12:30am) asked them to stfu from my front porch. They yelled back that so-and-so down the street was in his garage working out... WTF? I don't really care if somebody I can't see or hear is in their garage working out.

A few days later when they were having a loud gathering at 1am (on a Thursday) I called the cops. The cops came and told them to stfu. Then for the next 45 minutes I heard them talking about how stupid the cops were, what a bitch I was, how they don't have patience for my kind, how I never come outside, how I don't mow my lawn (we pay someone!), how I need weight watchers, I must not have any friends, and they don't like it that I park in the garage because they can never tell when I am home, and they kept calling me a cumquat (?). The neighbor chick yelled "You are never going to win neighbor!" and the neighbor guy talked about how he was going to "show me" on his birthday because he was having a huge party. I also heard them say that last week when someone called, 6 police cars came and how this time there were only 2. I sensed disappointment. I also heard the neighbor chick telling another girl that my bedroom was in the rear of the house and the baby room was in the front.

Saturday night I called the cops again (3 cars), and they came once again to tell them to stfu.

Today my mom and I came back from shopping and the neighbor dude comes running across the street (barefoot, shirtless and budlight in hand) to say they were sorry for being so loud and that they moved to that house after they "lost they house in the country," and didn't want any problems. I explained to him that I can hear every word they say when they are being loud from my bedroom in the REAR of my house. I even cited examples. His response was that he wasn't home for any of that and it must have been the wife. Which I know he was because I saw him there at least the first two encounters I had with these people.

My mom and I are speculating that the only reason he apologized was because they must have gotten fined, or at least a warning letter. Or the owner of the house did. It is slightly amusing since the owner lived there before they moved in and she was a huge cop caller.

I'd never spoken to these people before I asked them to be quiet the 1st time. We are all in single family homes, and our lots are not super tiny or anything. And I can still hear them. My windows are all closed as well, btw.

Am I being a bitchy neighbor? If When they are noisy again I fully intend to call the cops again.
Would I be a terrible person if I called code enforcement about their pool they put up? You are required to have a permit. These don't seem like permit getting people.

[TrickyBob]

I'd be concerned that they are telling where your room is and where your baby sleeps. I'd not be okay with that. And I'd not be okay with the idea that my neighbors want to watch when I am home or not.

They sound obnoxious.

[sporky]

I vote not a bitchy neighbor. These people sound like asshats.

[Waffles]

I think you could have handled it a little more delicately the first time and gone over to their house rather than shout at them from your porch.

Saying that, I would also have called the cops after a couple of incidents.

So, not a bitch.

[snickers]

Not bitchy, but I don't like the sounds of them. You always have to be careful of people who don't have much to lose.....

I'm kind of worried about everything they know about your house. This is weird to me. My advice to you might be keep your enemies closer? I dunno. This sucks and Im really sorry.

[Chelle]

Your neighbours are douchebags. You're definitely in the right here.

[ErinExpat]

Knowing whose room is whose is freaking me out.

[themoneytree]

Not being a bitch at this point, but the way you handled the first couple of incidents were t exactly conducive to neighborly relations. You could have sucked it up on the first night and then gone over during the day to introduce yourself and let them know you could hear them.

They might have still been assholes, or they might not. Now you have a problem on your hands. I would be very upset about them discussing which room my kid was in.

The swimming pool is likely to get the owner into trouble, not these people. Can you complain directly to the owner and have her give them a warning?

[wrathofkuus]

How do they know which rooms are which inside your house?

[psychmom]

Not a bitch. I've had to do the same thing a couple times when a bunch of college kids were renting the house directly in front of us. The music would be so loud our windows were vibrating and their parties would be on random days during the week, rarely on the weekends. luckily they did not renew the lease when it was up.

[Deleted]

You sound like a saint for not going apeshit on them. They are being asshats.

[ECB]

They sound like a$$holes - no question.  But I too think you could have handled the first interaction better.  I would never stoop to their level, but if my first interaction w/ a neighbor was them yelling at me from their porch, I'd be a little "WTF?" about it and they wouldn't be high on my list of people I'm concerned about.

[Doggy Mommy]

They are bitchy, not you. We've had to tell our neighbors to stfu a lot too and it totally sucks. This is a quiet, boring, suburban neighborhood - not the kind of place to be testing your subwoofers with all your buddies at 2am! Eventually we started calling the cops and reporting all their violations to the HOA.

They have been quieter at night. I say keep calling the cops, reporting them etc and hopefully they will want to move.

[eddy]

Jun 6, 2013 3:55:40 GMT -5 TrickyBob said:

I'd be concerned that they are telling where your room is and where your baby sleeps. I'd not be okay with that. And I'd not be okay with the idea that my neighbors want to watch when I am home or not.

They sound obnoxious.

I am too. I am not an alarmist, but I would tell the cops that little detail. I am sure they were saying it in relation to noise impacting the baby, but still.

I have no time for loud ass people. Keep calling. you are not a bitch at all.

[vanillacourage]

Are they renters? I'd get in touch with the landlord.

[idoinjuly]

Did you tell the cops the part about them knowing where your baby sleeps? That would seriously worry me that they even fucking thought to bring that part up.

[cheeseandcrackers]

They sound creepy. I would be creepered out when they made those comments about my baby and I would definitely tell the cops about this. It might be nothing, but still why was this even mentioned in their conversation?? No.

[MixedBerryJam]

I don't think you're being bitchy at all, I just wanted to add that if I were you I would not engage conversations after-the-fact, either. In that shirtless, barefoot driveway encounter where he apologized, I would just mumble some inarticulate response and be on my way. I would much rather be known as the cold, aloof, partypooping neighbor and have them passive-aggressively complain about me within my earshot than have them feel like they've developed a rapport with me, only to have that drunkenly blow up in my face in the midst of the next 2am party.

[circa1978]

I agree with PPs who said that you should have it on record with the police that they commented about where the baby sleeps and that you should call the landlord, ASAP.

[Jillaroo]

Jun 6, 2013 6:09:36 GMT -5 wrathofkuus said:

How do they know which rooms are which inside your house?

I'm not exactly sure. I'm sure if they knew a previous owner and had been inside I'd have heard about it by now. My guess if that my next door neighbor that they appear to be friendly with told them. I'm sure he told them all about me and the neighborhood when they moved in. I'm evidently pretty popular and they speculate a lot about me around here. When I get home I pull right into my garage and shut the door. I've heard my next door neighbor talking about me from his garage when I'm in mine. I think it bugs the shit out of people to not know anything about me.

[Jillaroo]

Jun 6, 2013 8:34:27 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

Are they renters? I'd get in touch with the landlord.

I think I am definitely going to try to contact her. She rented to these people and moved out of state. So hopefully I can find a phone number on google.

[Jillaroo]

Jun 6, 2013 4:56:19 GMT -5 @theycalledherkate said:

I hope you recorded their entire conversation on an iPhone so you could sue them and press charges for their threats/harassment.

No, but I wish I had. He seriously came out of nowhere. He ran across the street rather quickly for someone with no shoes and it being 100 degrees out.

[Jillaroo]

Jun 6, 2013 7:09:57 GMT -5 psychmom said:

Not a bitch. I've had to do the same thing a couple times when a bunch of college kids were renting the house directly in front of us. The music would be so loud our windows were vibrating and their parties would be on random days during the week, rarely on the weekends. luckily they did not renew the lease when it was up.

Yes! These people are having parties on week nights, which is most annoying. On the weekends I am much more leiniant. Although, the last time I called the cops it was Saturday night. But I also waited until 2 am to call. And considering the noise ordinance says no loud noise after 10pm I think I was being nice.
And these are not young kids! They are older than me. So late 30's and early 40's.

[flamingeaux]

Unless the pool is somehow affecting you, like lowering your property value or something, I think that might be a little bitchy. However, I think that would be the only out of line thing on your side.