My New (and Very Annoying) Neighbors

I hadn’t had neighbors to the right of my unit since I moved into my little shoebox in August. There are only two doors to the right of mine, one across and slightly to the right of me, and one beside me. After those doors is the end of the hall. A few weeks ago, I noticed that there were people coming from and going into those two doors. I heard a lot of banging and shifting sounds that usually mean that someone is moving in.It turns out that the units to my right were going to be offices. They would be selling some sort of vitamins, which, according to a big sign posted outside their doors, would cure pretty much anything. I didn’t pay much attention to my new neighbors. I had no idea how many people were working in these offices, and I didn’t see or bump into its occupants.

Last week, as I opened the door for a delivery boy to get the pizza that I had ordered, I was surprised to see about three men standing right across my unit. They were just… standing there. I wondered what they were doing there, and I wanted to ask them what they wanted, since looked like they were waiting for something outside my door. I felt a little (okay, a lot) uncomfortable, since my shoebox is just one room, and you can see everything inside my home from right outside my door. This includes my bed, my mess, dirty clothes I may have tossed onto the backs of my two chairs, and pretty much my whole private space. It’s hard enough to open my door to delivery boys who could pass judgment on how I may or may not be cleaning my room. It’s worse when strangers on whom you are not dependent for food delivery can see into the heart of your home without your invitation.

Anyway, they just looked at me as I was getting my pizza and didn’t say anything, so I dismissed the incident and figured those men were just waiting for their friends who might have been in the offices. However, it was apparently just a preview of things to come. A few days after I saw those three men waiting outside my door, I started seeing lines forming outside the doors of the vitamin offices. The lines weren’t even very straight, so the hallway outside my door was filled with people milling about and waiting to get into these offices. This started happening on a regular basis. Like, everyday, for the WHOLE day.

I decided to send a text message to the building administrator to complain about the situation. After all, when I moved into my unit, I thought it was a residential area. It was bad enough that I’ve had to contend with the noise outside my window when lines are formed for the game show. The lines forming for this vitamin beside my unit though are causing me even more stress. Not only do the people make a lot of noise, it’s also making me extremely uncomfortable that dozens of strangers can see into my room and see where I sleep whenever I have to open my door.

I haven’t heard back from the building administrator yet. Maybe I should just make the most of a bad situation and start charging the people in the hallway a minimal voyeur’s fee for a view of my room.