Based on my interactions with my downstairs neighbor, I knew it was coming sooner or later – she has complained to the owner of the condo in which she lives, and the owner of said condo has sent an official complaint on her behalf to the management company. I have replied. Not sure what’ll happen at this point.
Writing the reply left me crabby and not feeling much like writing a post. But! I won a contest over at 144 Inches of I-Cord – if you peek, you’ll probably guess which yarn Jen is sending me. Thank you so much, Jen! The news arrived at a time when I particularly needed cheering up.
And hey, Chaos is getting into the holiday spirit:
“This waiting until December 24th to open packages is just silly. Here, I’ll help you get started, Mom.” -Chaos
I’m sorry – that sucks. Hope today is better!
Dude, that sucks. I hope the condo board puts her in her place and tells her how silly she’s being. I mean, HELLO! There is a PERSON living above you. People make noise! (well, and so do cats)
Oh my gosh, when I first started living with my husband, we were in the downstairs unit at this condo, living beneath an older couple, and I tell you what, we were WELL acquainted with the older gentleman’s nighttime bathroom habits. He must have had a prostate problem because he got up and shuffled to the bathroom SEVERAL times during the night. Hah.
Anyway, good luck! I hope it all works out for the better.
Chaos–stop chewing on those ribbons! Santa’s going to leave coal in your stocking instead of catnip!
I’m sorry
I’m very luckin in that one of my neighbors also have two cats so we laugh about hearing the others cats run around like maniacs (and they all like playing in the tub too… you wanna hear a heard of elephants in the house throw a cat in the tub to play!)
This is ridiculous! The way she’s going on, you would think that you had elephants living with you.
I’m sorry. I hope things don’t get uglier.
I find it strange that this woman is all of a sudden carrying on about the kitties – its not like y’all just moved in or something. We (your blog-readers) could come over and rough her up a bit if you’d like.. (could you imagine a crowd of women with pointy sticks and string knocking on her door and telling her to leave “our Chris & kitties” alone? hee hee.
Tell management that you’ve knit both cats some thick socks and you hope that will help with the noise
People are poopyheads. That is all.
Ps: and tell me again why this hearing thing is so great?
She should move to the top floor if she can’t stand the noise above. How can anyone live without moving around?
Chris- I think she’s being a little unreasonable- I’ll send the 24 lb Kitten-Chow over- and see how she likes that!
Cats are night-hunters- and when you live below someone, you have to expect that you’ll hear things. Place some earplugs in her mailbox. (from Chaos and Mayhem)!
frig does she have nothing better to do???
Yeah, what Rachel said: catless people are poopyheads! When do you expect to hear back?
I hear the suburbs calling! *ducks and runs for cover*
How much can she hear really? Perhaps it is just a personal grudge and she’s grasping at any “problem” she can find?
This lady must have fantastic hearing – even better than cats and dogs. I’m with Trek. I also think there are other issues making her unhappy and this is her way of trying to draw attention. Maybe she is lonely?
So – closing the bedroom door didn’t help then. darn.
Good lord, does that woman have nothing to do? It’s one thing to complain to you, but the management? About a couple cats bouncing around? She’s probably bored.
So you open your gifts on the 24th?
Bummer about the neighbor, has she not been there very long?
oy. I’m so sorry. people are…well, you know.
Hang in there….
You know – I suspect that the downstairs lady is going to have egg on her face when the condo board laughs at her complaint about a couple of cats being so noisy. truly ridiculous.
so sorry that it has to waste your time and ruin your day. It’s like, helllloooo, there are people who actually l.i.v.e. up here….
in addition, cute photo of Chaos. And do really open all your gifts on Christmas Eve??
Hmmm – sorry. That is just sucky. I’ve lived on the top floor and the first floor, and I can tell you, it’s a lot easier living on first floor. I always worried endlessly about making too much noise. That being said, they are condos/apartments – hello! Living people make noise. sheesh.
If she keeps pushing it, ask for a decibel test. They set up a machine in the one palce and then you get the cats to run around and then the machine gives a number as for how loud it is. I saw once once on a home show where they were trying to figure out where noise was coming in. Then, depending on how loud it actually is, you can tell them to shove off, or do something else…(not sure what). or start walking around in cowboy boots during the day so she thinks the cats are quiet at night by comparison!
That just sucks! I take it that closing the bedroom door didn’t work. I can’t believe your cats would make enough noise to require a complaint to management. Some people shouldn’t live in multistory buildings. I agree with Trek. She must have other issues going on.
At least Chaos is trying to keep you in the Christmas spirit.
The condo management sent you a letter? That doesn’t sound as if they’re going to be very cool about it all. They should have tossed back at her that they can’t tell people what to do in their own homes (and in YOUR case – it IS your own home, bought and being paid for, not rented)…It’s what I heard when the smoker lived below me in my apartment last year – and there was nothing I could do, except move. Management wouldn’t do a thing.
I hope you have good luck with your reply back to them.
(((hugs)))
Oh, bummer!
I’m sorry to hear about your downstairs neighbor. Goodness, when I was in college we lived on the bottom floor with a bunch of guys living above us. My friends and I used to laugh and say that they were playing football with the furniture up there.
I seriously doubt that Mayhem and Chaos play football with the furniture, though
I guess some people aren’t happy unless they are complaining about something and it is too bad it the complaints are toward such cute kittes. I hope that everything will work out for you.
You know, I can’t stand people like that!!! How do you control walking?!!? What if YOU were the one walking around?!?! And I dont care how much these cats weigh, if she can hear them from her apt, then she either has sonic hearing or the floor boards are NOT that thick, leading me to be concerned abt other things than cats walking abt.
What can they do to you? When you live in a complex like that, you have to assume you will get noise. People gotta live. If its that bad, she should get something that will give her white noise. It could be worse, it would be a 50lb dog that gallops thru the house and BARKS!
I’m so sorry to hear that things have escalated in that way–hope it all works out for you. That downstairs neighbor is a hag—why did she rent a downstairs unit? Anyone who lives in condos or apts. knows that if you are a light sleeper and sensitive to noise, you just DON’T rent a downstairs unit!!
She sucks. Mini, Mochi, Toebi and I all hate her for you!
That’s ridiculous. That’s part of apartment living, like it or not. It’s just the way it is. Is she a new neighbour? I find it interesting that she’s just now complaining about this, considering you’ve been living in that apartment for a while, right?
I’m sorry Chris. Keep us posted on what happens.
Her complaints seem a bit ridiculous, unless Chaos and Mayhem have discovered the kitty pogo stick they were getting for Christmas?
Dealing with noise from the apartments above, below and next to you is part of urban living. Cats walking around at night are nothing on the noise scale. I’m surprised she hasn’t gotten used to it yet. Heck, I’ve gotten used to the trains and buses that rumble by. I’ve even gotten used to the trucks that deliver to Dunkin’ Donuts across the street at 3am. (Never thought I would get used to that.)
Maybe she is just one of those evil pet-haters. We have an evil-pet hater owner in our building. He bought the place as an investment. He tried to get pets banned a few months ago and everyone jumped all over him. Dude, if you are against pets and the issues they bring to urban living then why did you buy a unit in a pet-friendly building?
(Off to do a google search for kitty pogo stick.)
Hug hug hug
What a miserable person. If she wanted to live in a noiseless place then she shouldn’t have chosen an apartment! Grrr (going off to be angry on your behalf). I suspect that there is something else which has nothing to do with the cats that is wrong with her.
Used to be a family above us that had the same sound-routine every night. We have no idea what they were _actually_ doing, but it was fun to guess – and because it was always the same, we could impress houseguests: “Ok, here goes the first shoe… now the bag of marbles… drag a chair across right to left… now the other shoe…”
It never would have occured to me to complain, my gosh people have to live their lives, and sometimes (gasp!) noises happen! I hope your neighbor gets sent home with a pat on the head and a set of earplugs, if she’s so bloody sensitive. Grr.
I’m sorryto hear about your neighbor and her complaints. Good job my 3 kids are’nt living over her!!!!!
Poor lady. I’m sorry kitty trampling disturbs her, but jeez, noise happens wherever there are people. It’s not like you practice your drum riffs at 2 am. (Do you?)
The only thing worse than living above her would be to live with her. Or to be her.
crap, crapity, crap! I’m so sorry. I hope it blows over soon.
Oh no! I hope it gets resolved (in your favor of course).
Protect yourself, Chris. Make sure you have everything in writing. Keep a log. Also, find out what is legal in terms of noise in your city. I doubt that the cats are generating enough noise to really be out of compliance with local noise ordinances.
chris, out of curiosity have you been living there longer than the neighbor? because if so there is no history of issues with your kitties which should be something to be considered on your side. And she is complaining again after you close them out of the space? stay calm and just stay with what you think will work….if not you can always ask for a video camera to be placed in the space to record the noise which would also record the date and time. good luck! (sorry if this is hard to understand, had my surgery today and i am wrapped up and doped up as well, but very well!
Is she a new tenant? Because it’s not like you haven’t had cats for a while.
Also, you’re condo agreement probably talks about pets, right? If you’re within those agreed-upon rules, there’s not much they can do to you. You could point out how much noisier dogs could be…..
geez — that should be ‘your condo agreement…’
I hope you can get it worked out!
When you live downstairs from anyone you have to put up with a little noise. She needs to go buy a single detatched house somewhere in the middle of 10 acres where she doesn’t have to put up with anyone.
I agree with Diane. Noise is just a part of apartment living. She needs to suck it up. *grr*
Um, aren’t you *on* the condo board? At whose pleasure the management company serves? Does she not realize that you could make her life hell?
(Also, as a condo owner, if my tenants complainder that the guy upstairs was making noise, I’d drop him a line and remind him about the house carpet rules, but I’d also try to remember that I have a much longer-term relationship with my fellow owner than my tenant…)
I’m gonna need a hacksaw.
Hey I’ll send her a Corgi or two. They sound like a herd of elephants running through the house. She won’t even notice the cats.
Sorry to hear about the letter. But at least the waiting for it to happen is done – sometimes thats the worst. Hope it all works out ok. Very surprised you got a complaint letter…..not exactly sure what they have to complain about. I’d understand if you were a tenant….but an owner???
Anyway, hope its all resolved satisfactorily very quickly!
Well, that is frustrating!
What would she do if there was a large dog living above her? a child or children? Or an argumentative couple? Seriously?!
I’m guessing the person has trouble sleeping. My S.O. is not a good sleeper and any noise makes it worse because he then focuses on that noise: It is the response to the noise that is the problem because it sparks adrenaline, which makes it nearly impossible to allow for sleep.
I know that doesn’t change the situation, and you can’t make her a better sleeper or less cranky person.