New neighbor requests to come into to couple's home to watch TV, then spends the night staring from across the lot with his friends: ‘Feels odd that they felt comfortable to figure out which door was ours, and ask to come inside OUR space’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jul 5, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Apartment living always promises a certain level of neighborly intrigue, but nothing says welcome to the complex like a stranger from across the parking lot asking to come in and watch TV because he doesn't have one yet. The new tenants, fresh-faced and eager to enjoy their first month of domestic bliss, find themselves starring in a low-budget thriller when a member of the building's resident boy band decides to test the limits of community spirit. The request is delivered with all the charm of a door-to-door cable salesman à la Jim Carrey, only this one comes with a supporting cast of seven who apparently treat the parking lot as their personal lounge.

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  • New neighbors came to my door asking to come in and watch TV.

    "I was not going to let this random man in"
    via javiglec

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Politeness is a double-edged sword, and the not tonight excuse buys exactly zero peace of mind. The stranger scurries off, only to be followed by a chorus of blinds twitching and balcony stares, as if the entire group is auditioning for a part in Rear Window: The Millennial Edition. The boyfriend’s brief foray outside is met with a round of catcalls, the kind of attention that makes locking the door feel more like battening down the hatches.

  • I just moved into an apartment with my boyfriend about a month ago (both 24) and the community is extremely friendly and full of young working adults like us. We
    via jmech95
  • I just moved into an apartment with my boyfriend about a month ago (both 24) and the community is extremely friendly and full of young working adults like us. We
    via jmech95
  • Cheezburger Image 10525259008
    via Yazgi Bayram

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • live in the building towards the back of the complex with a balcony facing into the parking lot (let's call it Building A), and
    via jmech95
  • there are about 8 total buildings with a few buildings facing into the lot as well and one directly parallel to our unit (building B).
    via jmech95
  • Cheezburger Image 10525258496
    via pixelshot

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Lastnight (Monday), we had my parents and my friend (F) with her dog over for dinner and to just generally hang out. Before my parents arrived, my friend, BF and
    via jmech95
  • I were on the balcony just chatting and we noticed two young men on the balcony across from us in Building B glancing over a few times, but paid no mind as they are tenants as well.
    via jmech95
  • They look fairly young, and recently we've noticed a large group of young men (like 7+) hanging around the parking lots/ ran into a few of them asking us
    via jmech95
  • for help into the package pickup room earlier in the week. We go back inside, my parents arrive, we enjoy dinner and we're all watching some TV.
    via jmech95
  • OP EDIT: WE DID NOT LET THEM INTO THE MAIL ROOM WHEN THEY ASKED
    via jmech95

  • No one here signed up for a live audience, and the sense of privacy evaporates faster than trust in a group that thinks can I watch TV in your living room is a reasonable icebreaker

  • Fast forward to 9:30pm, we're all on the couch and my mom is on my balcony on the phone. we get a loud knock at our door and I go to the peephole and see it's a young man I haven't seen before
    via jmech95
  • (early-mid 20s at best). I open it by myself expecting to be a neighbor on our floor complaining about the TV being too loud or something. He seems
    via jmech95
  • a little off, and says he's new to the neighborhood and asks if he can come inside and watch some TV because he "doesn't have one yet". Luckily my escape is explaining my parents are over so
    via jmech95
  • not tonight, but I ask if he's on this floor and he gives me his name and says he actually is from building B (idiot gave me the exact unit too). He leaves pretty calmly, and I put it together that he's likely from that group of young men. My mom comes back
    via jmech95
  • inside and I explain everything and she says she heard someone run across the lot into our building in the dark and as he did, yell "HER PARENTS ARE HOME!!!" To someone...
    via jmech95
  • (I was not going to let this random man in regardless and I know that the "not tonight" was probably the worst possible response, but was trying to keep cool and stay polite-ish in hopes he'd go away).
    via jmech95
  • For the next hour or so, we see the group looking through their blinds DIRECTLY at all of us over and over again and also come out onto their balcony as a group and stare at our unit, so we shut our blinds and just try to ignore it. My boyfriend goes outside at one point and they then try to start calling him to get his attention but he ignores.
    via jmech95
  • This is Probably just dumb kids thinking me and my friend (F) live here and trying to pick us up, but AIO to say it was weird behavior? Just feels odd that they felt comfortable to figure out which door was ours, come across buildings, and ask to come inside
    via jmech95
  • OUR space, especially with guests that you knew were here. I don't think it warrants escalating to our leasing staff just yet, but not sure if I should put it on their radar or not since they now know which door to go to if they choose to try again.
    via jmech95

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hoa neighbors neighborhood neighborhood-drama bad neighbors petty revenge terrible neighbors pay back noise noisy loud payback parking entitled people apartment
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