Neighbor’s “Harmless” Note Asking Tenants to Keep Noise Down Turns Into Full Blown Assault

A Reddit user detailed the savage 2-on-1 attack they sustained from their neighbors after posting a note on their door asking them to keep their music down.

@ActualRatGirl, uploaded a snapshot of the note they left on their upstairs' neighbor's door in a viral post on the site's r/apartmentliving sub that accrued over 5.7k upvotes.

Their note reads:

"Hi neighbors!

I live below you and wanted to let you know that I was woken up at around 4 am this morning by some very loud stepping/stomping/jumping. If this was you, I would appreciate it if you would keep the volume down during quiet hours. In case you weren't aware this would be from 10 pm-8 am."

The note continued, "I understand apartment living comes with close neighbors who I am bound to hear from time to time. That being said, I do value a good night's sleep. I would be very thankful if this would be kept in mind from here on out. Unfortunately, if the noise continues, I will have to speak to the leasing office to come up with a solution. Thanks so much + stay warm!

- Your Neighbor"

Their neighbor posted a response, which reads: "Good day: You obviously have the wrong unit let's just start with that. If you must know there was no one home around those hours so whatever delusional dream you were having keep it at [illegible]. No one every makes any type of noise in my unit, so the next time you bother to take the time out of your day / Sunday morning to write a p--- note you can shove it!"

The rejoinder letter, which didn't sound like the nicest of notes, continued to read: "Take whatever matters you need to take to the leasing office sweetie. And the next time I come home to any letter from your unit you will be getting the police called on for (harassment) Have a blessed day"

The Redditor posted a little bit of backstory in her caption attached to pictures of the letters she uploaded to the social media platform, writing: "Upstairs neighbor regularly has very loud music playing and is jumping/stomping around making the walls shake. Usually (though not exclusively), it happens outside of quiet hours. Last night was probably the worst it has been, so I left a note on the door (pic 1). Came home from an errand to the note returned on doormat with no response, so I figured maybe I had the wrong apartment or they had knocked on our door while I was gone. Hours later I had a weird feeling there was a note on my door, and I was right (pic 2)."

They asked other folks on the platform if they thought they were in the wrong for sharing the initial note and they deserved the kind of clap back that their upstairs neighbor sent their way: "I would love to know if others believe my initial note warranted this response. I thought I had done a good job being respectful but firm and NEVER would have thought that someone would be so angered by a note. Feel free to set me straight if I was out of line, genuinely confused at the moment."

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when the neighbor, while trying to go to sleep after posting the note, heard the neighbors blasting their music and making a general ruckus. Instead of calling the police or the leasing office, or the landlord/property manager, they decided to go up to the apartment to try and talk it out with them.

Instead of having a discussion with the neighbors, however, @ActualRatGirl says that she was "assaulted" by two folks from the apartment who hit her in the face leaving the Redditor with a "bruised eyebrow, forehead, and chin."

"I was thrown to the ground and my knee is bruised and swollen. My hair was pulled out. I was on the ground and they backed off. I tried to get up and got kicked in the chest," they wrote.

@ActualRatGirl said that they didn't fight them because the two people were smaller than they were and they didn't want there to be any vagueness as to who was the aggressor in this situation.

After the attack, they said that the two individuals went back inside of their apartment, and @ActualRatGirl phoned the police who asked if they wanted to press charges since they weren't there to witness the attack.

They said that they 100% intend on pressing charges and that they will "speak to the leasing office" about the incident to see what further steps can be taken.

The Redditor shared their story as a cautionary tale warning others not to try and resolve a situation with neighbors who demonstrably have nasty attitudes in person...unless you're getting ready to throw down.

One user on the platform who saw their follow-up post remarked that they surely thought they would have a case after such a grisly encounter: "I’m sure since you were physically assaulted and it is documented in a police report, take that to the office. I lived in a complex where the lease stated that any resident arrested for physical violence must vacate the premises within 30 days. Hopefully you have something similar," they wrote.

One Redditor assured @ActualRatGirl that they didn't do anything wrong at all and that they shouldn't feel bad about walking up to the apartment unit and attempting to speak with their neighbors about a legitimate gripe they had: "Stop feeling guilty, you didn't do anything wrong and nothing wrong with your note. Just be careful, there are crazy people out there."

Another Reddit user said that this is a prime example of why sometimes it's just better to involve the authorities in a potential dispute instead of going to a neighbor and discussing it with them from the get go as it's almost impossible to tell how they will react in any given situation: "See, this is why the old line people pull about 'you should have talked with us first' doesn’t fly. We all think we’d like someone to speak directly to us when there’s a problem rather than involving authority right away. But all too often the response is defensiveness and /or aggression. And one can never predict how others will respond."

But judging by some of the responses posted by other Reddit users who responded to the initial note from the neighbors, their response didn't sound all too surprising: "They sound very defensive and like trouble in the future," the Reddit user wrote.