So, yes, I do have one seemingly miserable neighbor, but I never talk to her and she mostly keeps to herself and her small cadre of friends. That is not the miserable neighbor I am referring to today. Rather, today I am talking about a neighbor of a customer of mine that I am currently working for. The job is an exterior paint job so naturally, every day that it is nice out, I am outside working on that house. Almost every day that I am working on that house, I hear yelling from the house next door. In almost every instance I hear yelling, whether or not I can hear what the actual words are, I can hear the anger and frustration in the tone of the yelling. I am sure that we all know the difference between someone merely shouting to be heard across a great distance and someone yelling in anger or frustration. There is a distinct difference in the tone and pitch of a person's voice when they are yelling in anger or yelling to be heard. This couple next door, almost every day, yells at each other in anger. The more I work at this house, the more I have come to see that this is not a one time ordeal, not the small argument that happens to blossom into an all out tirade and blow out. Rather, this is the way these people are, ingrained probably from birth, and now passing it along to their future generations. You see, the couple I am referring to is probably in their 60's if I would have to guess as they have children, and their children have young children. As if it wasn't bad enough that the older couple likes to yell at each other over seemingly everything, their children yell at each other, and their children's children yell at each other. It is one miserable family that, unless I have my music turned up on my iPhone, starts to make me miserable and contemplate actually going over there and asking if they would like me to call a therapist for them, or maybe the police to simply quiet them down. They are belligerent and have seemingly no concern for anyone else around them. Granted, they are yelling during the middle of the day when, for the most part, people are at work, but guess what, I am at work and have to listen to the yelling. I swear, one of these days on the job, probably towards the end when I am finishing up, I am going to yell at the top of my voice "Shut Up!"
The yelling isn't simply reserved for when they are outside as I have seen them drive away in their car with the windows down, yelling at the top of their lungs as if the were in an arena or something. The few conversations that I have managed to overhear have been over the most mundane and stupid things. Part of me thinks that they just like to get made and yell, that's it. The other day, the wife went out for a bit while the husband was working in the yard. It was a hot day and as such, when she returned, she parked halfway down the driveway under the shade of a tree. When she walked the rest of the way down the driveway and started talking to her husband, he yelled, "Where did you park!" Her response, shouted of course, was, "In the shade, its hot out!" Not letting her get the last word in and probably trying to just to be a thorn in her side, he shouted back, "It's not hot, its beautiful out!" Mind you, this was ten in the morning and the temperature was already in the upper 80's with stifling humidity. There was nothing beautiful about the day. I can reassure you that the husband didn't really think so either because when I first saw him in the morning at about 8, he was already sweating. To make it even worse, the older irate man even yells at his grandchildren. The whole family was preparing for an outing the other day and as they were getting everything into the car and ready to go, the grand kids couldn't do anything right. They were in the way, they weren't helping, they wouldn't sit in their seats, they were complaining, they were...whatever. Mind you, its not like the grand kids are tiny as both are probably over the age of 8, but the grand father is just a miserable old man who isn't happy about anything. How a person or couple gets that way, I have no idea, but I could always surmise. There are two options that I can think of that would lead a couple to the point where they are at. Either they have been that way their whole lives and this is just the way they are so it seems normal to them or communication has never really been a strong point in their relationship and as such everything gets resolved with yelling. Part of me wonders how they have stayed together for so long.
Well, that is now off my chest and I can get back to normal, at least until I hear them start yelling at each other again. I am only glad that I don't have those type of people in my life. I was even thinking yesterday that if they did call me to work for them (which they probably won't), I don't think I would be able to. Knowing how they act around each other, I would either tell them that I didn't want to work for them (which wouldn't be proper business etiquette) or I would give them such a ridiculously high price that they probably wouldn't hire me. In any case, I am moving along at the house next to theirs' so hopefully I won't have to listen to them for too much longer. That's my little rant for today. Tomorrow, on to brighter and lighter topics other than irate, vengeful, miserable neighbors.
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