## New Neighbors

Dear Swindlefun,

We have new neighbors. The trash room is nine steps from their front door, but apparently they think the hallway is the place to keep their trash. Not dirty trash, just old boxes and other random stuff. I don’t like clutter (or dirt), and I’d prefer my hallway be free of debris (and dirt).

Typically there has been junk rotating every few days, but this disgusting phone has been sitting in the hallway for almost four weeks now. I can’t decide what to do with it. Walk the nine steps to the trash room and throw it away for them? Knock on their door and tell them to get rid of it? If I throw it away for them, will they think that if they leave stuff around long enough someone will take care of it for them? If I knock on the door, do I become the uptight neighbor they hate? Do I care if they think I’m uptight?

There doesn’t seem to be a good solution to this problem, but that phone seriously sicks me out every time I walk out my door. Should I at least wipe it off with Clorox wipes??

  1. Yuck! I would throw it away for them, wash and sanitize my hands (or use gloves), and leave a unanimous note on their door telling them to please stop leaving their junk in the hallway. We did that when our fellow neighbors kept allowing their dog to pee on the mat outside the parking garage. They stopped after a few notes:)

  2. Our new neighbors leave their disgusting ciggy butts all over their yard and ours. So I took James outside with me while they were out side and picked up their gross butts all the while telling James about how gross the butts were…. loudly. They just watched and smoked and didn’t say anything…..but I haven’t seen any butts lately so I’m hoping it was successful. 

I think you should wrap it up in a pretty box and leave it for them at their door. Use gloves of course.

  3. I agree with leaving a note. A mean one. That’s just the passive aggressive in me, though 🙂

  4. Three Suggestions: 

Call the building manager and complain. Let them deal with it. 

If there is no building manager, go over on a welcome visit and ask them if they please wouldn’t mind keeping the hall clear. 

If you lack courage, just throw the phone away. If questioned about its disappearance, innocently say you just assumed it was garbage some non-resident had left outside their door since no one ever leaves things–garbage or otherwise–in the hall.

Do NOT leave a mean note. That’s not passive aggressive. That’s active aggressive. And being aggressive is an invitation for fate to intervene: you’ll find out the next day that the person’s back went out while acting as pallbearer for his mother who died tragically as she saved a baby from drowning or something. Or that the phone belongs to the CIA or something and he’s been told on pains of death and ruin to leave it there until it’s collected. Or that he’s so severely allergic to something on the phone that he cannot bear to move it to the trash room.

Finally, you don’t want your neighbors to hate you. You might need them to be indulgent of you someday. What if they don’t like the smell of pie?

  5. Wrap the phone around the door handle a few times, so every time they open the door, it swings back and forth and bangs against their door. They’ll never know it was you!  
I’m so mad at Switzerland for you! At least you get 3 months of heaven! 🙂 And by heaven I mean lots of creamy chocolate and the Alps!

  6. LOL – I laughed so hard and long at Jenny’s comment. I love it! Ok maybe just because it’s so dang funny. I feel your pain. We have neighbors just like that. The trash may be more than 9 steps away, it’s actually outside. It’s actually not that far and while she is pregnant, he certainly isn’t. They have had up to 5 FULL bags of trash just sitting in the “hall”. Did I mention we have our winter coats on a coat rack out there too? GROSS!!