The Grumpy Neighbor

Every neighborhood has one. Our next door neighbor is the perfect example of the grumpy, cantankerous, ill-tempered, and disagreeable type that one can find even in the nicest villages.  He is peevish, constantly complaining and a fault-finder.  He makes Mr. Wilson of Dennis the Menace and Sarge of Beetle Bailey combined look quite tame in comparison. Everyone in our street and our surroundings find him so annoying that I often wonder how his family can stand him.  I feel quite sorry for his wife and children who are all very pleasant and friendly.  In fact, I was a sponsor at their daughter's wedding several years ago since she is quite close to me.  And so, for the many years that we have been neighbors, my family and I have tried to be as respectful and as tolerant as possible to the man of the house in spite of his crankiness and many idiosyncracies .  

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But today, I just felt that enough is enough. As I was entering our driveway, he confronted me by first saying that it is not that he wants to be "king" around here but he is complaining about the "noise" created by my son and his elementary days classmates who were having a mini reunion in our garage last night until the wee hours in the morning.  I respectfully told him that this is not often and in fact, it was the first time ever that my son's friends stayed up so late.  I was trying to explain that they gathered because one classmate whom they have not seen for 4 years was here for summer vacation before she starts work.  But he refused to listen and started raising his voice about the lack of sensitivity of my son and his friends, so that I drove the car past him and entered my garage.  I saw him coming near and so, I said in a loud and annoyed voice that I will talk to my son so that there will be no more parties ever! He kept on talking but I turned my back and entered the house. You see, our grumpy neighbor hate it when people have parties beyond 10 PM.  He used to complain, when the couple renting my aunt's house besides ours would have friends over on weekends for a party.  He would actually confront them and once he threw dirt in their lawn when they ignored him. He would smugly boast about it the next day to our househelp.  He is intolerant of everything and is really incorrigible.  My mom did not take what happened sitting down and called his wife.  I told her what her husband said about not wanting to be king and she said, "but that is how he acts".  She was very apologetic. My brother's helper next door said she could hear them arguing!  I guess this means he and I are no longer friendly neighbors.  But wait...why am I quite happy about that? HAHAHAHA!


Comments

  1. hayst that grumpy neighbor- i can relate jejeje:) they should live in far away places with no other homes/neighbor:(

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  2. I agree that every neighborhood has grumpy residents. They can really be annoying. Good thing I don't have any living close to me.

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  3. Oh yeah, the grumpy neighbor who wants to be king. We have one too. He always intimidate people but we just ignore him so it annoys him even more.

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  4. Oh come on. This guy needs to be stopped. Hehe.. Sometimes, you're just too lucky to meet people like these. Habaan na lang ang pasensya. :D

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    1. Actually, our barangay captain is getting a lot of complaints about him...kaaway nya ang lahat! hehehe

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  5. Arghhh. This type of neighbor could be a nuisance to the community... hehe.

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  6. Me too. You know what I did to our grumpy neighbor. I beat him black and blue. LOL On the bright note, he is now as tame as a sheep.

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  7. Maybe, the grumpy just need someone to talk to. Needs attention in some way.

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    1. that's true...but nobody wants to talk to him...even his wife! hahahahaha

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  8. Based on what you mentioned, I honestly can't blame your neighbor's behavior. In fact, I completely understand where he is coming from. Yes, your son may have had a reunion and they were enjoying. But it wouldn't have hurt if they were a bit more sensitive that there are people living close by that would like to get some decent sleep at night.

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    1. actually, they were not that noisy because we inside the house could not really hear them except for occasional laughters, but our neighbor is really like that...lahat may deperensya especially if you do not agree with him. That's why we invite him and his wife when we have parties at home, so that he will be part of the "noise"...it is when he is not invited that he complains because according to him, we should end by 11 PM at the latest...heheheh. He reminds me of our nuns in school.

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  9. Hahahaha. I hate that kind of attitude. In Philippines we called it so KJ as in KILL JOY! Hope he will change for the better and try to be friendly with his neighbors.

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  10. I used to have a grumpy neighbor and she was a pain in the a**. But yeah, I just told myself that I should concentrate to a more productive thing than just dealing with my neighbor's rancid personality.

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  11. Why does every neighbor has one or two, hahaha! I just thought what if there is a reverse of situation and you complain on your grumpy neighbor, what will be their reaction? Haha!

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    1. well his dogs howl all night long but I do not complain and he just cut all his fire-trees and left the leaves and branches to rot by the roadside...but still I did not complain. I just asked the barangay captain if they could send someone to clean up the street ;)

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  12. hehehe don't you love neighbor's like that?! thankfully, our's are very nice to us...

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    1. his wife is very nice and when his daughter comes home for a visit, may pasalubong ako...he is the one who is really hard to live with :)

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  13. yay, grumpy, not fun for a neighbor, well with his kind of person then you just need to be tolerant but definitely he should not be considered the king always, he also need to adjust and learn to cooperate with others....

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  14. can't please everyone. it must be good for you then hahaha.

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  15. hahaha and if you are living in sharing flats which is typical abroad - you've got to live with them under one roof :)

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  16. People are sometimes insensitive with the feelings of others. They tend to see the mistakes of other people and forget about looking at the mirror and seeing the same dirt on his face. As the saying goes... different folks, different strokes.

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  17. I think grumpy neighbor is everywhere. We have this type of neighbors too and like others have said really a pain in our life. Well, we just need to extend our patience to the max level or else we can have a fight like what I experienced before. hehehe.

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  18. Fortunately I don't have that type of neighbor. It must be tough! He must be a boring guy because he does not understand late night parties :)

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  19. It is hard to have a grumpy neighbor. It makes you feel that the world is evil. Well, that is how the world works sometimes it is hard to understand.

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  20. it's a tough place to be in ... but sometimes we have to extend a little empathy to them ....

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  21. Grumpy neighbors are here to stay. You can find them everywhere. Me, I learned how to deal with them, annoy them more! LMFAO.

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  22. I don't think I'm a grumpy neighbor as you described. I'm guilty of being a very apathetic/antisocial one, though. Been living in the same neighborhood for 14 years but I hardly know the people.

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    1. I'm like that too, we are not really very neighborly although we do cooperate with the village activities and are on hi-hello terms with our immediate neighbors but beyond our street...wala na :(

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  23. So far, I have yet to encounter a Grumpy Neighbor. :D

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  24. It is quite difficult to have such a neighbor who seem to enjoy complaining about other people except himself.

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