Bad Way to Wake Up
By Amber
@AmbiePam (93883)
United States
December 31, 2012 5:04pm CST
I don't have a peephole in my door. I'm the only one in my complex like that. Apparently, the person who lived in my apartment previously kept locking herself out. Finally, they replaced the door with one that made it impossible for you to lock yourself out. Moving on...So at 6:30am this morning when I'm in a deep sleep I hear my doorbell ring. I jerk awake and the first thing I notice is that it's still completely dark outside. My first thought was, oh no, something happened to my mom and it's so bad my dad didn't have time to call me, he just came over.
So I run to the door and call out, "Who is it?" On the other side of the door I hear a man say, "It's your neighbor." Me: "What do you want?" Him: "Can I come in for a little while?" Me in an incredulous voice, "No!"
Then I hear him say okay and I hear him walk back, open his own door, and close it, going back inside. And I'm left thinking, What the heck just happened? I'm annoyed because I haven't slept well in weeks and I was finally sleeping so soundly. But the more I thought about it the weirder I found the situation.
Like I said, I don't have a peephole so I can't be sure it was him. But I could hear how far he walked, and I could hear where the door was when he closed it. Later this morning I went into the office to ask about a question with my rent. And I brought the incident up with the guy who works in the office. He said it sounded like something Darren would do if he were "off his medication". So he is pretty sure it's the neighbor across the hall too. He also said he'd ask the maintenance person if they could get me a peephole. I won't hold my breath because two years ago when two guys tried to kick my door in they didn't put in a peephole.
So it can't be good that the guy might be off his medication. He's always been quiet, but we would always say hello when we passed each other. It's just so odd.
Okay, give me some of your weird neighbor stories.
*Inevitably, someone is going to ask why I would think something was wrong with my mom. For those who don't follow my discussions, she is 53 and is pretty far down that dementia road.
9 people like this
29 responses
@GardenGerty (160952)
• United States
1 Jan 13
Oh, what a way to wake up. I have not a neighbor story but a weird person at the door story. A few years ago, in the winter, I was home alone. My first hubby was a trucker and was always gone, and I am thinking my kids were on a church ski trip. I just know they were not at home. I hear a knock at my back door, which is the one we all use. I can hear it because the head of my bed, upstairs, is right over the kitchen back door. I go down to check on it, and it is very early in the morning, but beginning to get light. There is a very cold, disheveled young man on my porch. He is drunk or stoned as he thought he was in a different town, Hutchinson. I did not let him in, but I could not stand for him to be outside in the cold. I told him to get in my van which was parked by the back door. I then called the police, and my mind kept saying "what if this were your son?" so I took him some hot cocoa. The police came, they knew who he was and where he lived, just a block or so away. They did not charge him with anything, but took him home. I had to clean up my van, he peed in it. But I am still glad I gave him a place out of the wind and a cup of cocoa.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (160952)
• United States
1 Jan 13
You are perfectly right about staying safe. I did not even let this kid in my house either.
2 people like this
@AmbiePam (93883)
• United States
1 Jan 13
There are too many rapes around here for me to be around a guy I don't know (or as a neighbor hardly know) without someone else there as a witness. I used to be way more trusting when I moved here, but over the years so many things have happened I've gotten a lot more wary.
3 people like this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
1 Jan 13
when I was still living in the El Dorado apts. one afternoon a man about 24 came to my door and claimed he was a high school student selling magazine subscriptions and for so many s ales he wo ud get a trip somehere.well he was too olf and too he had needle tracks on his ar m. I was scared silly asI was alone, my son at work and the close neighbors also at work.He asked to cime in for a glass of water. No I told him "I will bring it out to you. I cannot afford any magazines right now."I went in and locked the door , got the Dixie c up of water and my sons old baseball bat. I came out and handed him the cup .
" drink it then leave. If you do not I will knock your block olff Mister." I started s winging it as he gulped down the water.then suddenly he leaped my redwood patio fence and was running for his life as I swung m y hand back and came forward with a hard swing.,I often have wondered how he managed t o leap that four foot tall fence. but I was so glad he left. I don't know if I would have hit him or not.
2 people like this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
31 Dec 12
Wow, I am so glad it didn't turn out bad. I mean yeah it was a bad way to wake up, but at least it wasn't like when you said those guys tried to break down your door.
I hope they do replace the door this time, you really need a peephole. We got one even though we have windows to look out, because you don't want the person on the other side seeing you..
@AmbiePam (93883)
• United States
1 Jan 13
My mom told me this story (back when she was sane) about being a newlwed. My dad worked at night (and during the day, he had two jobs) and she was alone. And as newlyweds they didn't have a lot of money. So the apartment they had wasn't in the greatest part of town. Also, without contacts or glasses my mom is legally blind. So one night someone kept banging on her door and she was scared (she didn't have a peephole, but she had a window by the front door). She called my dad at work and told him she looked out the window but couldn't see anything. He said, "Leanne, you could be staring at him eye to eye and you still wouldn't know he was there."
2 people like this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
1 Jan 13
How scary for your mom... I also lived in not a great part of town when I first got married, but now I live in a gated community with two dogs who will attack, (actually the proper words is jump, but having two fifty pound dogs jump on you, I might as well say attack)and bark at the slightest noise, I feel quite safe now..2 people like this
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
1 Jan 13
I have never had any weird things happen like that. I am glad he left so easily. I would not be able to go back to sleep though. I would demand a peephole.
2 people like this
@AmbiePam (93883)
• United States
1 Jan 13
I couldn't go back to sleep either. But legally, they don't have to put in a peephole. My options are limited considering I live on Section 8. Their main issue with putting a peephole in is that it would be harder than normal. Because apparently my door is metal (which is probably why those guys 2 years ago couldn't kick it int. It held strong.) I'll keep bugging, but who knows if they'll do it.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
1 Jan 13
hi AmbiePam oh my that wou ld be scary for su re.If he is out of h is medication. ' Wondered what on earth he wanted that early in the morning?You do need a peephole for sure.
a longtime back we had a neighbor across the street who insisted our dog was doing his business in his front lawn. This was impossible because the dog poop was huge and our dog was a dachshund puppy whose did not do such big poops. also he was in a fenced in backyard and never was let out. So finally the idiot neighbor decided rightly it w as the last Weimeriner dog up the street that ran loose a lot of the time.
So he went up there and yelled and really was nasty to the owner of the big dog.We say him when he came back to his house .He had a huge black eye and bruises on his face. the man who owned the weimeriner was a larger man then our neighbor across the street. He was also a very nice man but evidently the neighbor, we called him Gorgeous George as he reminded out of a cartoon carter in the Sunday funnies, must have been really aggressive as he had been with us.He watched all the neighbors constantly calling the police for anything and everything until his neighbor told us the police refused to come because most of his complaints were worthless.
He came home one time with bo th eyes black and blue and scratches o n his face, escorted by the police who waited as he
returned with jacket. We learned he had attacked a neighbor down the street and nearly killed him.So Gorgeous G eorge was sent to prison for
a few years..
a few years..2 people like this
@gitfiddleplayer (10362)
• United States
3 Jan 13
When I first moved to Wichita, KS I had this little apartment called a four plex. It was four apartments, two on top of each other. The owner lived there so if we ever needed anything we could just knock on his door, he was pretty cool. One night somebody banged on our door, hard, we went to the "peephole" to see who it was. We didn't open the door because we couldn't see who it was, they were hiding just out of site. We asked what they wanted and a girl frantically said that she needed to use our phone because she was being chased. She was standing where we could not see her, I thought it was a set up so I told her we didn't have a phone. Immediately she ran around to the side of the apartment where our back door was, I quickly ran back there and pulled the blinds and locked it. Creepy huh?
2 people like this
@LovingMyBabies (85288)
• Valdosta, Georgia
1 Jan 13
I think you read my CRAZY neighbor story but here it goes anyway...Lol. His name is Danny, he has major mental issues due to a car accident 10 years ago. So, he harrasses the neighborhood, telling them he will kill them, exposing himself and more! He is truly crazy. He just got arrested the other day because we reported him. He threatened us with a deadly weapon, exposed himself to our son, was trespassing and threatened to kill us!
We have court on February 2nd, great for us...Not!
2 people like this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
3 Jan 13
I can't really say I have weird neighbours, I don't really have any stories I can think of. One time though, when the landlord was selling the building. Some guy walked right into our house. He was looking to see it and my son threw him out. Anyow what right did he have to just walk in like that.
2 people like this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
2 Jan 13
A couple of years ago, I was up late, as always and my neighbour came over to ask if I could follow him to work and bring him home again at about 2am. Nothing unusual there, he is a haymaker and the temperature has to be just right to make hay and that means working through the night sometimes. So as not to be running from home to the property in the tractor all the time I would follow him out when he first delivered his tractor and bring him home again, then he could use his car till the job was done and so on. Anyway, I said that yes, I could stay up till then but as it got closer to the time I was falling asleep. He came over at 2am. I put the front light on to tell him I was too sleepy but he had come to say, that the tractor had broken down, he'd been working on it all night so far and was going to have to keep going. Conversation over, I turned off the light and went inside.
Allowed off the hook, I went to bed.
At 8am, I was just beginning to stir when I hear someone come in my front gate. Next, there's this almighty banging as something is whacked hard, several times against the house right where my bedroom is. It scared me something awful. The I hear my next door neighbour muttering about being woken up in the middle of the night and that me and my friend were canoodling on the front verandah and whine, whine, mutter, mutter. I ignored her.
I found out later that she also went across the road to my friends and did the same thing to him. He had just recently gone to bed and was naked and fast asleep after being up fixing his tractor. He scrambled to open his front door and copped a vicious earful from this horrid woman.
She is such a piece of work with a foul mouth, a dirty mind and thinks the whole world revolves around her and she must be the centre of attention always.
@shaggin (72220)
• United States
1 Jan 13
Thats sad your mother is only 53 and already has dementia. I am glad you did not open your door but do think that they need to get you a peep hole like everyone else has for your safety. Hopefully the guy literally just wanted to talk and wouldnt have harmed you anyway but its scary because if someone is on medication and isnt take it theres no telling what they might do.
2 people like this
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
31 Dec 12
I'd be freaked about something like that too! That's one of the lousy things about renting when they want you to jump you better jump or move out. You want something done for safety ect nada. Frightening that they know it was probably him and off his meds... so it's probably not a first time for this type of incident with him.
I had a neighbors drunken bf kicking in my door one night. He was confused who's door he was kicking. I was scared and hoped the neighbor lady downstairs would of called it in since she didn't put up with anything.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
2 Jan 13
i hope you be very careful till you find out the guy is back on his meds or something is done about him. you never know what someone is capable of when they dont take their meds. 
the kids say i watch to many crime shows but at least im warned about such things.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
1 Jan 13
This is serious and should not be taken lightly and you need a peep hole now. stress how scared you are about it all. I hope that one will be put in the entrance door.
My neighbour extended her house nearly up to the line and so from my dining room I can see her kitchen and she employs a washer woman who spends hours washing clothes by hand instead of using her washing machine. Yeh. That makes sense right? So as my dining room has only one thrd of the walls - the rest of the wall is grilled so the breeze comes through it. Plus I have awnings that come down in the rain, this is a problem.
Not wanting to eat Christmas dinner and see this lady in full view washing lots of clothes, I put up rods and white drapes so that we do not have to see her. I also placed lots of pots with huge greenery planted and this blocks the view too.
My neighbour is ignoring me but I greet her the samw way politley and am just ignoring her bad behaviour. Because before this, during my absence, they took over my washing line and were spreading their clothes on my lawn to dry. when I cam home |I saw all her washimg on my lawn and politely told the washer lady that this was my garden and would she remove the clothes. So I then heard the quarrelling cong from the house when the helper went inside and told my nieghbout what I had said. My neighbour's car was not there so I did not now that she was inside her house or else I would have gone directly to her.
As my family says, I could not put my washing on her lawn or anything else. She has 3 little boys and has stopped them playing with my grand twins. All so silly really. For a lawyer she really should know better and not use my clothes lines at the back of my house without permission apart from spreading the clothes on the lawn.
I am enjoying my privacy though as I am a private person. Happy New Year my dear friend
2 people like this
@pahak627 (4558)
• Philippines
1 Jan 13
I haven't experienced living in a big building like yours. Mine is different. We are living in a village where most people know each other. We have a sort of an alarm because one of our neighbors used to wake up her children by shouting at them. They live about 10 meters from my house and yet her voice was very clear. Every morning we used to hear her chattering and moving back and forth in front of her house. Now that her children already left because they already live on their own, our alarm is now gone. She doesn't shout anymore.
2 people like this
@ZoeJoy (1392)
• United States
1 Jan 13
Every time something like this happens, I would record or report it to someone like the manager. That is a little scary.
I have a neighbor who is very negative about our neighborhood but who says he can't afford to move, which doesn't make any sense to me. I think he is just a negative person. So, I am polite to him but really don't want to hear anymore of his negativity.
I would just keep your ears and eyes open about that weird neighbor of yours. And stay on guard.
2 people like this
@danishcanadian (28955)
• Canada
3 Jan 13
You did the right thing. I wouldn't have opened the door either. As for the guy being off of his medication. that's crazy! If people are going to go off of their mental meds, i think they need to be confined to mental wards, and not terrorizing innocent folks like us.
As for weird neighbour stories, I've got one for you, and it's a big one!
Hubby is nice to everyoe, and was nice to a guy sitting on the porch of our building a few years ago. Well, the idiot decided to attach himself to Hubby, and invade our lives at all hours. Just because you are someone's friend does not mean you can come and go at will. He was a great example of a guy who needed to be medicated, but was not. LOL Anyway, one day the baztard tried to break into our apartment. I put a stop to it by calling the cops and my lawyer, and we took him to court. He was so ignorant that he didn't know we wanted nothing to do with him, even though we said so. He also thought he was just paying a friendly visit, and that he was the super itendent. LOL What a d-bag!
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
1 Jan 13
You mean you want me to recount the crazy lady stories?
How about I just tell you how I got a peep hole in my door - and at MY eye level!
I really don't understand why they would put peep holes up for someone over 6 feet high!
I wanted a peep hole, and the guy said "what about looking out the window at the top of the door?" (that only someone over 6 feet high can look thought easily) and then "why not look out your front window?" (because I might have something in the way of doing that... I actually like having a book case between the door and the rest of the room, give me a entry way, ya know?
Keep pushing them to put in the peep hole...
1 person likes this
@Mirita (2668)
• United States
31 Dec 12
Well, that's a creepy story. All I can tell you is that you are a very brave lady. I don't think that I would be so calm is someone knocks on my door in the middle of the night. Just be very careful and is good that you didn't open the door.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (168269)
• Boise, Idaho
2 Jan 13
I have alot of problem with my sleeping so I would get very upset if I was awakened. And most of time after I get woke up I can't go back to sleep. I would want a peep hole. One could be put in. We had a neighbor for a short time that called the police on her husband. He was coming home from work, had been locked out and was knocking to be let in. She had gone off her medication and was confused. Poor guy! Hope you get your hole.
@AmbiePam (93883)
• United States
3 Jan 13
But I still can't tell who is on the other side of the door. And I couldn't identify the two guys who tried to break down my door. I couldn't even say for sure which neighbor it was who came by, although I still think it was him. And to know who it is I have to call out. And that tells the person on the other side of the door I am indeed home, so they expect me to open the door. Then, there are the people who I ask who is it and they don't respond. And you'd think well just don't answer the door. Except my dad can't hear well, so I could very well be NOT answering the door to my dad. Then there was a fake cop going around and when he calls out, "police", you can look out your peephole to see does he have a badge even? I can't. It's a problem.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (168269)
• Boise, Idaho
2 Jan 13
A door of metal, huh? I don't think I'd worry about a peep hole.
1 person likes this
@wilsongoddard (7291)
• United States
1 Jan 13
"He was quiet." "He kept to himself." "He always seemed like such a nice boy..."
Yeah... I think I'd keep a weapon handy and the police on speed dial if I were you. Your neighbor sounds like 6 o'clock news material.
1 person likes this
@wilsongoddard (7291)
• United States
1 Jan 13
No, I definitely would not be one to recommend that.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (93883)
• United States
1 Jan 13
I'm doing my best to get a peephole. I pushed for it two years ago, but if they won't do it, I can't afford to do it myself.
As for moving, I'm on disability and Section 8. Which means I can't just move wherever I want. I chose this place because it was the safest of all my options. You should have seen the other places I looked at! lol
1 person likes this
