What is wrong with people?

It’s one thing for someone to ignore you when you’re out in public and you greet someone… but when it’s your own neighbor? Especially when you live in an apartment and your door is literally 6ft across the hall from the next guy.

My new neighbor is a dick…

Well, I dont know him but he sure comes across as one, you never know what to expect. He reminds me of this older guy neighbor I once had who never responded, said anything or acknowledged me… I’ll get to that guy in a minute (bear with me here, it’ll all make sense by the end). I’ve seen the new neighbor, lets call him Teddy, I’ve not seen him in winter gear, but I’m sure he wears knitted sweaters draped over his shoulders… I saw him and a friend when they were moving in and said “Hey! Whats up guys”. They both looked at me, one cracked a half ass smile, and Teddy didnt even acknowledge me, look me in the eye or say anything. Ok, I thought to myself, maybe they are irritated lifting all this heavy ass furniture.

Teddy is not only rude, he’s a slob.

So Teddy got a new piece of furniture when he moved in that came in a huge box, probably 4ft x 4ft square and 4ft high. As he was moving in this became his trash box that he put in the hallway… understandable considering all the trash that is collected when one moves into a new place. Whats not understandable is how he let it sit there for 7 days until trash was piling over the box and falling to the ground. Food, beer boxes, bags, random trash and more. I knocked on his door and received no answer, so I put a note on his door kindly asking him to take the box to the dumpster. Six days later the box is still there and so is all the trash in and around it. I call the office and they take care of it. Teddy may be mute, but he loves his newspapers. You should see his collection, it’s quite vast… at any given time he can have 4 to 10 newspapers stacked up in front of his door. I guess he likes to keep them in mint condition, because he never takes them out of the bag or even brings them in his house for that matter… I digress.

Back to the old guy I used to live next too…

So I used to live next too (is it to or too?) this older guy probably in his late 40′s or early 50′s. He’d come outside and I’d say “Hi”, or “How are you doing”… “Whats Up” and this guy would blatantly ignore me. I tried to communicate with him repeatedly and every time he would just walk right by me and not even turn to look at me. One day my dad was over visiting and I had already told him about this neighbor… as my dad and I are standing outside, the neighbor comes out. My dad says “Hey, nice day outside eh?” This guy gives my dad the cold shoulder too. My dad looks at me and says, “wow, what a fucking dick” then proceeds to walk over to the guy as he’s unlocking his truck, taps him on the shoulder and says “Whats your problem man?”. What happened next surprised the shit out of me… the neighbor started doing sign language. The guy was fucking deaf this whole time and never even heard us… My dad apologized and returned with his tail between his legs. Just goes to show that how you perceive things are not always as they are… With that said, I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions with Teddy, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Teddy introduction #2

So I come home from work one day and I see Teddy and a friend standing outside his apartment with a case of beer and chatting it up as he tries to unlock the door. As I said our doors are about 6ft across the hall from one another. I walk up and say “Hey, whats up guys?” They stop talking, both turn their heads and stare at me not saying a word. After an awkward silence they turn to one another and pick up their conversation right where they left off, not saying one word to me. Now I know he’s not deaf so maybe he has some social anxiety problems? This has happened several more times and each time he never says a word and scurries into his apartment locking the the door behind him.

Is it just me?

I mean, wtf gives here? Are people that disconnected these days that they cant even say hi to their neighbor anymore, or is it that I just get weird fucking neighbors… Is it me, I know I’m weird, but I don’t think I exude that just from saying hi… Maybe I’ll tackle him the next time I see him… wonder if he would just get up and walk into his apartment without saying a word? If so, he’s probably lock the deadbolt this time too.

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