Consequences
Over the last few months I have become somewhat frustrated by some people’s complete inability to accept the consequences of their actions.
You terrorize you neighbours and ignore complaints both informal and written from your neighbours and landlord and you’re surprised, nay, offended when you’re evicted.
You go without sleep for long periods of time and your health suffers, big shock.
You break up with someone and you’re suddenly alone, single, and bored then declare that this wasn’t what you wanted.
It’s not like these were unforeseeable outcomes. If you ended up being evicted because you ended a relationship or end up being bored because you annoyed your neighbours then I think you’d have just cause to surprise but I think the examples above are all pretty clear cut and obvious and in the first and last case you clearly have no one to blame but yourself.
But why look to blame anyone at all? If you didn’t want the outcome why did you take the steps to achieve it? Do you order a cheeseburger and then complain that it has cheese on it? Why get on a road headed south if north is where you want to go? And better still why do you continue in that direction even when very clear signs of where you are headed are pointed out to you along the way?
Before I continue I should mention that the sleep comment is not directed at any specific individual - this last week alone I have heard of at least 3 people who have either gone completely without sleep or gotten far less than normal and ended up sick and a horde of people who have complained about being tired when they chose to stay up late - it’s a general observation, I’m guilty of it often enough.
I’ve also spoken about scenario 3 often enough of late so I don’t think I need to rehash that any more beyond saying don’t be surprised when someone else picks up something you threw away.
But let’s move on to what I really want to rant about today, the first example I provided.
I don’t know where to begin listing the things my recently evicted neighbour has done. He smokes in the hallway, he screams profanity when he’s in a mood even if there’s no one around to listen, he leaves his door open and blasts loud music, he harasses guests of other tenants including hitting on women less than half his age, he does at least 2 kinds of illegal drugs, he sells used and likely stolen goods from the entrance to the building where he also drinks, he stinks, he clutters the common areas with his used and potentially stolen goods for long periods of time and I’m not just talking small things I mean couches, tables, and bikes going home is like passing through an obstacle course.
So when he gets his eviction notice after having been warned verbally and in writing by myself, another tenant, and the landlord and not doing anything about it what is his reaction? “Stop getting involved in my life!” he decries. “You’re all a bunch of jerks!” (including several expletives deleted) he shouts. “Well I don’t care what you post on my door, I’m not moving!” he yells.
Let’s break this down.
We complained that HE was interfering with OUR lives, his constant disruptions disturbed our sleep, social lives, and quiet enjoyment (read: TV shows). He would stop me in the hall or on the street and go on at length about his life, I would do everything I could short of being rude to avoid or end the conversation. I didn’t want to know, I still don’t. In fact you could say his being evicted was the ultimate in us “getting out of his life“. I doubt he’ll ever see it that way.
Does signing a petition started by a frustrated neighbour in the doing so of which I only state the truth make me a jerk? Look at it this way, I’ve never rung his bell or knocked on his door, not once. He’s rung my buzzer more frequently than all of my visiting guests combined…well, not if you count the pizza guys but that’s another issue entirely.
So he thinks he can defy a Notice To End Tenancy? That would be interesting to see…at a distance. My concern now is what he might do between now and the day he has to be out by, the end of August. And of course this is the busiest time of year for me with work. Talking to my other neighbour we figure if he gets out of line we’ll simply call the police as there isn’t anything the landlord can do once serving a Notice To End Tenancy. Looking at the Police website it seems most of the things he is likely to do, noise disturbances mostly I suspect, would be non-emergency calls and therefore a response is likely to be slow in coming, if it comes at all.
My neighbour made the observation that apparently this fellow is “known” to the police - I’ve been wondering what exactly that phrase means as it’s been in the news a lot lately. She told me about this time when she saw him handcuffed in front of the building after being taken down by officers. What did he do to warrant that I wonder? If the police are aware of his activities, have gone so far as to handcuff him why hasn’t he been made to face some criminal consequences?
He says that he’s on disability so that explains the strange hours he keeps as he doesn’t have a job. Although beyond alcoholism, drug addiction, and a seriously bad attitude I don’t know what disability he might claim to have. So he doesn’t have to work and he fights with police officers and yet he lives in the same building I do. In his delusion he doesn’t even see his eviction as being his fault. Has he ever had to face serious consequences for his actions?
I find police often take a less authoritative stance towards these kinds of situations. From my very limited experience they tend to issue warning after warning and it seems he has taken advantage of that. How far will he have to go before he’s held accountable for what he does? I hope I don’t have to find out.
