What on God’s Green Earth is that smell?!
That’s pretty much what I say every other day when I open the front door to our condo complex and am greeted with the worst stench my nose has ever whiffed. One of my lovely neighbors cooks this stew that gives off an odor that is so strong, it’s offensive. I don’t know how to describe it. It transcends race, culture, and sexual orientation. How can something that foul be edible? And why do they have to eat it every day? Could we perhaps try our hand at other types of cuisine? Just saying.
A couple of weeks ago, there was an empty soda can randomly lying in the hallway. I thought to myself, “How did this happen?” Some person was that much of a slob that they were within feet of their front door, but somehow they just couldn’t make it. What goes through this person’s mind? “Okay, I’m setting this soda can on the ground. But just for now…I’ll be back to get it later…I swear…”
We have these trash chutes near every stairwell in our complex. I love them, because it means I don’t have to walk myself all the way down to the bottom floor and into the garage when I need to throw something out. The other day, I get to the chute, and someone had left their trash on the ground directly under the chute. Ummm, WHAT. THE. HELL?! Again, this person needs to help me understand. Where did we go wrong? Was there an issue with not knowing how to work the chute door?
These are the things that can drive a woman mad. It’s a damn circus in this place. And don’t get me started on the stairs leading down to the garage. Someone does something nasty in there, because sometimes the stench…oh man, they’re right up there with the stinky stew people.
This is my incentive to have a house one day.
Do any of you share space with others? Any odd neighbor stories to tell? Or have I just hit the jackpot over here?

January 29, 2010

thelessthandomesticgoddess

7 Comments

  1. CR

    January 27, 2010

    You are not alone!! I swear every night, including right now, my neighbors move furniture for fun. I'm convinced this is what they're doing.

  2. Geek in Heels

    January 27, 2010

    We live in a 36-unit condo building. Most of the residents are first-time-homeowners like ourselves so we're pretty committed to keeping shared spaces clean.

    However, there are always the black sheep. For example, one person's dog peed in the elevator and they just left it there! Or the time someone PUKED in the elevator and just moved it around a bit with paper towels.

    I think we're lucky that no one on our floor cooks anything that smells bad. However, my upstairs neighbor ALWAYS walks around with high heels on.

    Okay I'm sorry I went on a mini-rant there. Just wanted to let you know that I understand.

  3. Kristin ~ Bien Living

    January 27, 2010

    Ack! We used to live in a large loft building that had the garbage shoot offenders that you speak of…gross! However, now we live in a 3 flat condo, which you would think is all nice & lovely. Well, it is…until your upstairs neighbors decide that the garbage cans behind the garages are just too far to walk in this cold & proceed to leave them outside their door in the back stair well. Which stinks up the entire place.

    Luckily for us, our downstairs neighbors are the passive-agressive emailing type! Which is great because the garbage gets thrown out, but isn't great because they're the passive agressive emailing type – ANNOYING!

    Ah, the joys of city living!

  4. -J.Darling

    January 27, 2010

    I used to live in a condo right above a family that was a bit heavy on the domestic side (yelling, slamming doors, etc), had at least 6 young kinds (in a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom condo), and every sunday would make some fishy thing that smelled so bad they put a fan in their window to get rid of it – and, of course, it wafted right into my place! YUCK!!!! Living out in the country now, I only have 1 set of neightbors that smoke and sometimes get loud (and drunk). But the "shared space" issue is more with wildlife! Coyotes, opposums, raccoons, rabbits, squirrles, and some unruly insects.

    It makes me look forward to apartment life again!

  5. thelessthandomesticgoddess

    January 27, 2010

    Glad to know that I'm not alone!! I realize this whole post was a rant, but sometimes, I just don't understand people. Thanks everyone for understanding!
    @CR: Haha!
    @Geek in Heels: The condos we live in are all individually owned, but the tough part is that several of them are occupied by renters. So I suspect the renters most likely don't care about trashing the place. 🙁 Who pukes in an elevator and doesn't clean it? Disgusting!
    @Kristin: Don't you love all of these issues with trash? We had a neighbor that totally did the same thing. Ugh.
    @J.Darling: Yuck on the fishy cooking. I don't know how I'd feel about sharing space with wildlife 🙂 Are you planning to move back to the city?

  6. HisBirdie (Ali)

    January 27, 2010

    My neighbors baffle me just as much. 1)Who leaves an entire mattress in the trash enclosure? 2)Who LIGHTS THE TRASH ON FIRE in the trash enclosure?
    and along the lines of puking and leaving it… the unit above us (everyone has an outside front door) threw-up over balcony and it landed in front of the front door of the lady below us… they (the thrower-upper & the lady below) left it there for WEEKS until the rain finally cleaned it up.
    How are it is to take a bucket of water and swoosh that into the planter?

  7. 我 moi

    January 28, 2010

    beautiful blog 🙂 loving the post 🙂 !

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