alarming neighbor 'closure report'

If you haven't read the 'alarming neighbor' post (3/2/06 - two blogs down), read that one first :)


(cont.)

By the 2nd friday after I first noticed my neighbor's hour long early morning alarm, the situation got worse - after over an hour, the alarm kept going. This was the breaking point. I decided it was time to knock on my neighbor's door. I was still a bit nervous about confronting him because as you know from my previous post, he's perceptively selective in an anti-social way. So I did the 'knock-knock-quickly-duck-back' into my apartment approach a couple of times - but to no avail. So I miserably returned to my apartment, turned on some music and struggled to fall asleep. The ringing went on for 2 full hours! 6am-8am!

Saturday morning, same situation - it is questionable as to whether I was thinking logically when I stood firm at his door, pounding away like a policeman with a search warrant. In light of my other neighbor down the hall passing away recently (blog post 3/3 - 'dead alone'), I began to wonder again that something might possibly be wrong with this guy. After realizing that my knocking was in vain, I decided it was time to report the situation. And so I went downstairs to my doorman, but since it was the weekend and he didn't have the keys to the alarming neighbor's apartment, he told me I had to wait until Monday to explain to the super.

I began to feel that my friends were right - the doormen staff in my building are pretty useless, besides occasionally opening the door for us (occurring more frequently during the end-of-year tip season), and the friendly hellos. In fact, it amazes me how many people make it up to my door without having to buzz up. Furthermore, a few people have the keys to my place - and they all tell me that the doorman thinks that they live here - but I guess I can't complain about that cause I wouldn't want them to have trouble getting up.

On monday late morning, I approached a different doorman, who made me write out the complaint on an oversized index card for the super. But just as I finished, the super appeared. He informed me that the alarming neighbor had checked back into his extended-stay hospital last week, and that my other neighbor (who lives on the other side of the 'alarming neighbor') had also filed a complaint earlier that morning. He had checked the apartment, and there was no alarm to be found. He suggested perhaps it was a smoke alarm or something else.

And so I became agitated and told him he needed to check again. Because I had stood in front of my neighbor's door, and "I [KNEW] THAT THE SOUND WAS FROM AN ALARM CLOCK COMING FROM IN THERE." I wasn't the one who was crazy. I suggested he show up in the morning at 6am, so that he could track the sound. My logical suggestion seemed to convince the super that I was somewhat sane.

I slept through the next morning until the alarm rang. Fortunately (and unfortunately) it was my own alarm, as I had just began a new job which I will go into more detail in a later post. But no alarm from my neighbor's apartment.

I was later told that the alarm clock was in his closet. It was unplugged, but had batteries. I find this a bit odd, but I'll let the mystery be. I'm just glad that this ordeal is over.