Herr Nachbar

 this time I'm unable to take my thoughts away from my neighbor, to whom I'll be referring as Herr Nachbar (and I really need to take this off my system, otherwise I won't be able to concentrate on my reading).

I've been living in this apartment for a little more than three years. Short after moving in, Herr Nachbar and I met on the hallway once, where he asked if there was a squeaky chair at my place. "Was?" I asked, since my German at that time was no better as it is now I wasn't sure I was understanding properly, "Ja, ein quietschender Stuhl" he repeated. "Nein, keine Ahnung davon".  Of course, there is a squeaky chair that came with the apartment (actually, the apartment was already furnished), however, I was so shocked he was complaining about that, I couldn't possibly confirm his suspicions. Imagine how would it been, if I admitted to him, he was actually hearing the squeaky chair of my apartment, the one I used for the desk where I work! He was hearing every time I stood up for a glass of water, to pee, or simply to stretch my legs! Hell no! I wasn't going to buy a new chair, just because the neighbor can't stand the sound of it. Really... 

A couple of weeks (or days?) after the squeaky chair inquiry, we met again in the hallway. This time he complained about his other neighbor, who presumably made a lot of noise and heard music very loudly. Again, my answer was, "keine Ahnung, ich habe das nicht bemerkt". I think it was the day after, when this other neighbor ran into me on the hallway (yes, that's the only possible place I'll ever see my neighbors) and told me that Herr Nachbar was crazy, that he was always complaining about noise. Now that I'm thinking about it, I guess that the time I heard somebody shouting "Ich rufe der Polizei an!" was Herr Nachbar actually, threatening the other neighbor...

 Anyway, the reason I can't get my neighbor away from my thoughts is because about two weeks ago he left a printed sheet of paper with a message saying in a "polite"-but-actually-very-passive-aggressive way something in the lines "please turn the volume down when watching TV and listening music, as well as practicing music. It's not nice to wear earplugs all day. Headphones might be a good idea for you". I'm still thinking WTF?! I do wear headphones (or earphones) almost all day every day (especially since I share my workspace with my partner, and sometimes we both have video conferences at the same time). A part of me wanted to think "well, perhaps it's a message from the building's administration", but there was no sheet of paper like this anywhere else, just on the window by my door. So I did what I guess most people would do with unsolicited Werbung: I took it and threw it away. 

Two days later, a new one just like the last one was there. This time I left it where it was, however, since I'm still curious if it's Herr Nachbarr who is leaving this message, I turned it down. That was two days ago. Since then I haven't left home (corona times!), but I'm very curious: tomorrow it's the day of the week that the lady who cleans the whole building comes, and tomorrow, the building's administrator will be around because they're checking the electricity counters on all apartments. Will they ask something? Will they say anything? Probably not, but a part of me hopes that the "plaque" mystery is solved and my dear Herr Nachbar, in case it actually is he, chills out and lets us be. 

(but mostly, I hope my head will be calm now, because I have lots of work to get done and I don't want to think about my crazy neighbor any more!)