No More HomeMade Flyers

I don’t consider myself a very confrontational person.  If I have a choice between yelling at someone or giving them the silent treatment, I would rather fill the room with a chill from my cold shoulder.  I’m not sure how I developed this tendency, but I know I’m not the only person who avoids confrontation.  Luckily for the non-confrontational, we have a weapon stronger than the silent treatment: passive aggressiveness.  This can be implemented in a number of ways, especially with outlets on the internet such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.  But sometimes it doesn’t get any better than an old-fashioned note or flyer.

In an apartment building, when you have a problem with neighbors, sometimes the anonymous passive aggressive approach is the best for resolving issues without directly  offending someone.  One common problem in smaller apartment buildings occurs in the laundry room.  When there are very few machines it is important, especially during peak laundry times, to keep close track of when your load will finish.  Unfortunately, many people fail to do this, and it is extremely annoying for the next person who has to wait around for you to move your laundry.  In this case, some people take matters into their own hands to prevent the problem from happening again in the future:

Now that’s what I call neighborly love.  Of course, some problems between neighbors aren’t just about annoyances, but are about more serious issues such as safety.  It’s hard living in a community when you don’t always know if your neighbors are taking the necessary safety precautions.  Well, instead of leaving it to chance, you can always leave a warning note:

I really like how quickly this flyer moves from the friendly “Hey Neighbors!” greeting to the threat of “Rape, Burgle, Murder!!”  I just hope the flyer wasn’t posted in a place that could be viewed from the front door of the building or else it will quickly become a welcome sign to anyone looking for an easy break-in.

Another common problem in buildings with thin walls is…….…loud music (I know what you were thinking!).  Last year my upstairs neighbors had impeccable timing, always turning on their pounding techno just as I would lay down to go to sleep.  If only I had thought to deal with it like this:

Sugar Ray?  Um, yeah, I’d take my techno neighbors over these guys any day…  Now I’m sure we’re all guilty of playing our music too loud once in a while, but I really hope that most apartment buildings don’t have this problem:

Somehow the warning that there are spies watching takes away from the threat of eviction.  But really, could this be any creepier?  The day I see this sign up in my building’s laundry room is the day I break my lease instead of waiting around for the underwear thief to get evicted.

Many thanks to my good friend Ashley for sending me the link to PassiveAggressiveNotes on Flickr, the source for all these photos!  And if you’ve seen any passive aggressive flyers posted in your apartment building lately, take a picture and send them to blog@beyondwineandcheese.com!