Wrote a letter to my neighbor about that noise complaint and it actually fixed things

I had this problem with my upstairs neighbor stomping around at 2 AM for months. Every night it was like someone dropping bowling balls right above my bed. I got so annoyed I wrote this really angry letter in my notes app, just to get it out of my system. But then I sat on it for three days and rewrote it twice, taking out all the blame and just saying how the noise affected my sleep. I even mentioned that I know old buildings have thin floors and it's not totally their fault. Eventually I printed it and left it under their door with my number. Two days later they texted me saying they bought rugs and started taking off their boots inside. The stomping went down by like 80 percent. Has anyone else had luck actually sending one of these letters instead of just keeping them saved?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly3851mo agoOG Member

Did you ever think about how much easier it would have been to just talk to them in person instead of leaving a letter? Because I feel like handwritten stuff can come off way more intense than we mean it to sometimes.

victor7791mo ago

Oh man, totally agree with you on this one. I did the letter thing once to an old friend and it came off way worse than I meant it to. I was trying to be nice but they thought I was super angry or something. In person you can at least see their face and adjust what you're saying if they look confused or hurt. With a letter it's like you're just throwing your thoughts at them and hoping for the best. I swear the next day I wanted to grab that letter back but it was already too late. Learning to just talk face to face is a lot harder but definitely saves headaches, lol.

riley_wood841mo ago

Nah, I gotta disagree here. Letters give people time to process their feelings without being put on the spot, which is way better than a face to face convo where someone might feel attacked and get defensive.