An Experience I Could Have Done Without

Scene: It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Neighborhood children are playing across the street, a man is working on the underside of his car, and Jeff and Cyndi are enjoying the day inside their apartment with the windows open. The man working on his car is doing so with the radio blaring. This isn't the first time he's forced the neighborhood to listen to his car stereo, and Cyndi has finally had enough. She goes outside and kneels next to the car the man is under. Her conversation with him goes something like this:

Cyndi: "Excuse me, could you do me a favor and turn down your music?"
Man: "I don't think it's that loud."
Cyndi: "Well, I can hear it in my house, do you think you could turn it down anyway?"
Man: "I don't think it's that loud. If you don't like it, you can call the police."
Cyndi: "What? Seriously?"
Man: "Yeah. If you don't like it, call the police."
Cyndi: "Okay."

Tell me, what would you do at that point? I'll tell you what I did. I called the police. It's not something I've ever done before, and I hope I'll never have to again. An officer came and he and the man talked for about an hour. At one point the man was handcuffed, but they were talking and laughing again by the time the cop left. Thankfully, the music was turned down, and I was able to enjoy the rest of my day with my husband.

The next morning, the man was waiting for Jeff when he walked to his car to go to work. It turns out that he didn't turn down his music even when the officer asked him to, and that's why he was in handcuffs. It was considered an arrest, and was apparently his first. He was really angry about it and told Jeff we should have closed our windows if his music was annoying us.

I do feel bad that he was arrested in front of his family, but I never meant for that to happen. All I wanted was for the music to be turned down. I don't consider it my fault that he pissed off the cop.

Jeff recommended that I apologize to him so we could have a decent relationship with our neighbors, and my mother agreed that apologizing would be the best thing to do IF we wanted to get along with these people (I do wish I knew if they were renting or if they owned their town home so I could let it blow over until they moved out- I'm such a coward). So I said a prayer and went over that afternoon to apologize, but no one was home. I wimped out the next day, and I've been sick the rest of the week. I don't know if I can work up the courage to try again. :(

It doesn't help that they all apparently hate me, from before I called the cops. They think I'm a jerk because when I came to look at the house, I didn't wave at them. Honestly, I don't think I even noticed them. I was a little preoccupied at the time. Also, the guy thought I had an attitude when I asked him to turn down his music. I'll admit, I was irritated when I asked, but I thought I was pretty polite.

I was so proud of myself for going outside to talk to him at all. He's a big, bald, scary looking Columbian, and it took a lot of courage for me to ask him to turn down the music. I wouldn't have even thought about calling the police on him, except that he asked me to.

I think Jeff and I will make some cookies this week and go introduce ourselves to all of our neighbors properly. It's about time we made more of an effort to get to know the people we'll be living next to for a while.


On a lighter note, here's (another) picture of the cats. Our new home came with a doggy door, and the cats absolutely love it. I'm not sure what they imagine they see through the non-transparent flap, but I'm sure it's fascinating. :)