Thursday, January 8, 2009

Dilemma

My parents are planning on coming out to visit in February. That isn't the dilemma. 

I live in an apartment building and my bedroom window looking out over the fire escape. Mind you this fire escape is fully contained within the framework of the building and it is there to allow people access to the roof. Note that when the Queen and King came to visit me, the King loved this fact and climbed up to the roof a couple of times. I share this escape with five other apartments. This isn't the dilemma, either. 

The fire escape is sort of like a funnel for noise. I can hear about anything that occurs in the bedrooms of the other people in the complex. Now, I turn on a fan when I crawl into bed at night as white noise to block out any noises, but my parents run a little cold, and I don't know if they would be up to turning a fan on. Nope, not the dilemma. 

Last night as I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and washing my face, I heard something coming from the bedroom. Yeah, let your mind go there and imagine what I heard. I have a neighbor who is very expressive and very loud. Mind you, I come from very modest people; I get embarrassed watching a movie with my folks if there is an adult situation on screen. You got it, this is the dilemma...

What do I do with the noisy neighbor situation when my parents come visit? Would it be inappropriate of me to put a note on all my neighbor's doors and ask that they keep the noise down while they are visiting? I don't know which neighbor is actually the loud one, but I know what apartments share the escape with me. Do I just ignore it and insist that my folks use the fan? Should I just stick my head out the window and shout down the fire escape telling them to shut up? 

I'm not a prude and I could not care less, I just don't want to put my parents in a uncomfortable situation. 

Thoughts? 

8 comments:

Sam said...

are you sure your parents will be that bothered by it..lol? I say either stick to the fan or get another white noise maker.

Ruth Anne said...

I think an annonymous letter simply stating I heard last night would suffice.

Sam said...

I don't agree about the anon letter. Tends to create bad vibes in an apartment building especially if someone figures out it was you given the amll number of people who share the stairwell. Again, I used to find it awkward with my aprents too but after living near them again for the last 3 years I realize its my own issues..they could care less..ha ha

Queen B said...

Yeah...I don't think you can tell them to keep it down. I'm going to go with insisting on fan or a noise maker, or just ignoring the situation and figuring that the sex noises might mask the gunfire :)

Anonymous said...

I think I would go with Sam's advice. Your parents are adults and probably not nearly as sheltered as you think they are!!! Just ignore it and enjoy their visit...it may make for some interesting laughs!!!

Bianka said...

I say no to leaving a note. Your neighbors are allowed to hump in the privacy of their own homes. Haha!

Turn on the fan for white noise but point it towards the wall or ceiling if you can, so they don't get as cold.

If, IF, the sexy noise occurs while they are there, pretend you have never heard it before. Say things like "Oh my gosh can you believe this?" and "How embarassing!" and you can all be embarassed together. Perhaps suggest going out for some coffee for an hour.

After all.. they HAVE done it before, at least once, right?. :)

Paula said...

Do your parents read your blog? If yes, you now have nothing to worry about. If not, send them the link! Then they'll know before they get there and can make their own decision of how they want to deal with it.

Jane said...

I would go for the anonymous note with a small gift (chocolate is alwaysa a good idea)