Common courtesy in Buenos Aires

[Rescueme]

I must say that for someone so obsessed with respect for others..

You are mistaken. I am obsessed with ignorance. Thanks for your contribution to it.

 

[arty]

i find people no worse in this country than other ones i have stayed in. the other night my neighbor decides to do some home improvements (sounded like a power drill) around 12.30am-1am and started back up around 8am. was i irritated, sure, but I know that if I start to make noise, no one is going to bitch.

this is the same for pretty much every apartment i have ever lived it. i would rather deal with some noise (ear plugs work great) rather than have people all up in my business.

 

[citygirl]

9 a.m. on a Sunday really isn't that early although I can understand the aggravation. If you have nicely asked them before, I would suggest speaking with your building management. And FWIW - that's apartment life. We all have to deal with aggravation.

 

[Maraya]

Sunday morning we were awakened by a small construction crew in the courtyard. They were shushed by a neighbor and seemed to comply as much as they could. But, they had work to do. See, somebody did 'complain'.

Yesterday I complained to my boyfriend that sometimes people on the streets aggressively maintain their space on the sidewalk by banging shoulders with passersby and he replied that compared to New York the people here are incredibly kind and friendly.

I live on Corrientes - it's almost always noisy. If i were living in Canada I'd be awoken on Sunday morning by the sound of lawnmowers.

I have an idea. Next Sunday wake up really early, throw open your windows and make long, loud passionate love (preferably with a partner). That way, you'll wake up your neighbors and not only will they be pissed off - they'll be jealous too and you'll feel so good for so many reasons that you'll have nothing to complain about!

 

[jimdepalermo]

I have had many experiences with porteños that would lead to justifiable homicide in some parts of the U.S.A. What I don’t get is how the citizens of Buenos Aires have a total disregard for each other as if that is the way things are supposed to be.Not only do they let their dogs sh1t on the sidewalk but they turn the other cheek when they sh1t on each other.

This Sunday morning my dumb ass family next door plays her music at 0900 in the morning. Of course it is loud enough for the whole building to hear it but no one says anything about it. If I knew how to speak dumb a$$ I would have been there telling them to shove it up their ass. But what surprises me is the fact that no one says a damn thing to these asses because it is the way life is here.

Based on your description, RescueMe, the only difference I can imagine between your experience here and what you would experience in any apartment building in any large city in the US has to do with local building materials. They use concrete and bricks to divide apartments here, and sound passes easier through these solid materials. But it also travels well between apartments in the US.

What parts of the USA are you comparing to BsAs? Certainly not New York or Chicago or any other other dense, high-rise city. It seems to me that you would be just as frustrated by Bostonians or Philadephians as porteños. Or maybe the fact that you could communicate with them more easily might reduce your frustration.

The professor who lives below the bedrooms in my apartment likes to play Mahler symphonies at 9 AM, and the lawyer upstairs over my kitchen loves bel canto opera recordings. There's a kid downstairs who hosts parties most weekend evenings with cumbia wafting up the aire y luz. I've occasionally asked each of them to turn it down. And they've occasionally asked me to turn down my racket. Just as happened in a variety of urban apartments where I lived in the US.

My advice is to work on your castellano, so you can interact with your neighbors as neighbors rather than as "those people." I think you'll find the people of this city just as charming and as helpful as I do.

 

[Rescueme]

i would rather deal with some noise (ear plugs work great) rather than have people all up in my business.

I am trying to explain that to my 2 month old daughter and trying to get her fitted for ear plugs but it just ain't working. Thanks for your suggestions...

 

[Rescueme]

Based on your description, RescueMe, the only difference I can imagine between your experience here and what you would experience in any apartment building in any large city in the US has to do with local building materials.

Profound! Everyone here is the same as everyone in the large cities in the USA. The only difference are the building materials? Give me a break!

 

[arty]

I am trying to explain that to my 2 month old daughter and trying to get her fitted for ear plugs but it just ain't working. Thanks for your suggestions...

well.. i wasn't aware you had a 2 month old til this post...

that being said, you live in a city, you get issues like this.. im just happy i don't have to hear people beating the crap out of each other or worry that the batch of meth they are cooking up might explode.

you live in a city, there is noise. you don't like it, leave the city. i'm sure you're 2 month will understand.

 

[Matt84]

There are some appartments that are naturally insulated from noise, and there's always the choice of living in a house or PH. People here, at least within the privacy of your consorcio, abide by the golden rule. Your very valid point so far is the dog business on the sidewalks.

So what's exactly your point?

 

[Rescueme]

So what's exactly your point?

Trying to make some sense of the mentality of people that do things without any regard of who else it might affect. For example, after the situation on Sunday, I complained to my sister in law about the loud music at 0900 on a Sunday morning. She smiles and says "I do the same thing".