Salon.com > Apartments'

The drug dealer downstairs

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:59:00 +0000

Cary,

I live in a San Francisco apartment with fewer than 10 units and know all my neighbors at least conversationally.

My roommate, my girlfriend and I believe our downstairs neighbor has begun dealing drugs in the past year. While the evidence is somewhat circumstantial (lots of late night visitors, mostly on weekends, usually drunk, only staying for between 5-10 minutes), I've lived in a similar situation some years back, and know the signs.

This relatively new vocation of our neighbor's is creating real security and quality of life issues for our building. In the past nine months, we've had two thefts, compared to none in the previous 20 years. Ours is a very secure building, and in both incidents, the perpetrator had access to areas only available to residents and their guests.

Other issues include being regularly woken up in the wee hours, as our neighbor's visitor rings every doorbell to get in, or because drunk people in search of drugs are not good at being quiet. Generally, his clientele seems to fall into the "really sketchy" category.

My neighbor bosses me around

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Hi,

I have a serious problem. My neighbor, who is this super old lady, asks me to take her garbage out every time I pass her front door to get into my apartment. She doesn't say "Please" or "Thank you" and she just expects me to take her garbage out every time. I'm a nice guy and don't like to be rude to old people. But now I'm getting anxiety attacks every time I have to go back to my apartment. What should I do?

Terrified to Go Home

Dear Terrified to Go Home,

If it's not too much trouble, if it wouldn't be a terrible strain on you to take her garbage out, I suggest you do this favor for the old woman for the time being, until you can figure out what her situation is.

One advantage is that then you won't have to be afraid to go home. Plus, bit by bit you could discover what exactly is going on with this old lady -- why she needs someone to take her garbage out, and why she picked you. That way, you might be able to find a permanent solution, or at least put into place some stable practice that will eliminate your fear.