'AITA for reporting my neighbor after they pulled some passive aggressive nonsense.'
"AITA for reporting my neighbor after they left me a 'polite' note?"
Academic_Gas6058 writes:
I (34M) live in a semi-detached house and got new neighbors about six months ago—a couple around my age. They have a beagle that they leave alone all day while they’re at work, and it barks. Constantly. From about 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
I work from home, and the barking is loud enough to hear through the walls. It’s incredibly distracting and, frankly, annoying as hell. For the first few months, I just put up with it, assuming the dog was still settling in. But it never stopped.
Last week, I’d finally had enough. I went over after they got home from work and tried to talk to them. I was polite. I just said, “Hey, just wanted to let you know your dog seems to be barking a lot during the day, I’m not sure if you’re aware.” The guy got super defensive and said, “Dogs bark. That’s what they do,” and then told me to f*&k off.
Yesterday morning, I found a note taped to my front door. It was one of those passive-aggressive ones, written in swirly cursive. It said, “A kind reminder that some people have pets, and making a fuss creates a hostile living environment for everyone. Let’s all be considerate!”
I was absolutely livid. They were trying to flip the situation and make me out to be the problem for saying something about their noisy dog. So I went online and filed a formal noise complaint with the council, including logs I had started keeping of the barking times.
My girlfriend says I overreacted to the note and should have just tried talking to them again. She thinks escalating it to the council makes me the a&#%ole and that it’ll only make things worse between us. I don’t know. I feel like they were rude first, and the note was just a d^@k move. AITA?
Here are some of the responses to OP's post.
Dramatic_Living951 says:
NTA. You should record it all day and send it to them and the council.
CathyBeautiful732 says:
You didn’t report a dog, you stood up for your peace. Being polite doesn’t mean being a doormat, especially when they mock your boundaries with a cute font.
Sard03 says:
Nah, NTA. They should deal with the dog. Not only is it annoying for the neighbors, but the dog barking all the time means it's stressed all the time.
janeson59 says:
NTA. Beagles bark. A lot. It would be better if they took it to doggy daycare during the day.