r/mildlyinfuriating • u/violet_evergarden8 • 12h ago

Don't hug me I'm scared Neighbor across installed a camera on their railing pointed directly at my bedroom window

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u/AussieEquiv 7h ago

I Installed cameras at my place that captured an ever so slim portion of my neighbours front/side boundaries.
I emailed them (separately) what my cameras saw with a note; "Hey, new Cameras I'm just setting up and this is what they see. I have turned them off for now if you would like me to try adjust them to see less of our shared fence."

One reply was 'All good bud' and the other was 'Looks good, you have a lot of your house wall, could you turn it out a little to see a bit more of our front yard?'

I know some neighbours are fucking batshit (I've had some) but so many stories, imagined or otherwise, on here would be almost instantly resolved by having a chat with your neighbours.

It's like those stupid tropes in movies, where there's this big misunderstanding. But instead of asking a simple question, or giving a simple explanation, they spend the entire movie fucking around.

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u/ezln_trooper 4h ago

Yea we left a note on new neighbor’s door after seeing a camera pointed toward our window. Introduced ourselves in the note and pointed out our concern and when we would be home so we could talk.

They came over that evening and we had a chat, and after seeing the field of view of the camera and what it could see at night/with a light on, they agreed it could see into our place so they took it down. Ended up chatting more and getting to know them.

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u/KlutzyBus7652 6h ago

This! Especially your last paragraph

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u/Undeadbanana_ 5h ago

Communication is the key to success

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u/TaxHazyShade 4h ago

but so many stories, imagined or otherwise, on here would be almost instantly resolved by having a chat with your neighbours.

97% if conflicts can be resolved this way.

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u/butpretzelday 3h ago

We have a neighborhood group chat and often something will happen and we will all share clips from our cameras to see the bigger picture of what is going on. 

There is a meth fueled hoarder house a street down and a few houses over. My neighborhood is in some hills. There was a month where a few nights a week we would hear explosions. 

We pieced together everyone’s camera footage to see where it was coming from. 

The methheads were making their own fireworks and shooting them off. 

My footage showed a tiny clip of the green streak coming from their backyard. I can’t see in their yard but it showed a small portion of their back fence. 

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u/Not-a-Bot_1968 3h ago

Yea I had adjusted my cameras to specifically not see into my neighbors yard and then their house was broken into while it was being remodeled. When they asked me if my camera picked anything up I explained how I had adjusted my cameras to respect their privacy and they actually asked me to adjust the camera to see more of their property, at least while their reno project was underway. They eventually got an upgraded security system, and I went back to having my cameras pointed away from their house. 

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u/tightrubbersuit 3h ago

Generally, you're right. But let me tell ya, if you live next to that 1-out-of-100 asshat neighbor that thrives on making your life a living hell, you're pretty much screwed.

Story Time...

We once bought a house in a small town, and realized way too late that we lived next to the worst kind of neighbor you could imagine. About a week after we moved in, he decided that midnight was the right time to start cutting and splitting wood. Our bedroom was about 100' from his equipment, and even with the windows closed it was way too loud to sleep. I finally had enough after 2 hours and peacefully walked outside to introduce myself and ask him if he could stop for the night because none of us could sleep. He chased me off his yard with a running chainsaw. I should have called the police, but didn't because I was hoping he would cool down by the next afternoon so we could talk about it.

That simple act of asking him to stop cutting wood at 2:00am started a nightmare that lasted over 2 years. He moved his working space as close as he could to our bedroom, set up 4 of the brightest work lights he could find, and literally never stopped cutting and splitting wood. We put up the tallest wood privacy fence allowed by city ordinances, which blocked most of the direct light. That really pissed him off, and after trying and failing to get the city to tear down our fence because it blocked his view of the river that was across the street from our house, he decided to landscape his yard and brought in enough dirt to elevate his woodcutting space 5' higher than it was previously. Once again, him and his bright lights could see directly into our windows again. The city finally started taking our complaints seriously and forced him to either put up his own fence that blocked his lights, or bring his work area back down to grade. Until then, he wasn't allowed to operate his woodcutting equipment.

Things ultimately came to a head when the police driving by our house one day while were at work, saw him trying to cut down a tree that was 10' on our side of the property line and our fence. The police charged him with a felony and issued a cease and desist for everything he was doing to make our lives hell. I've never seen a man as angry as he was, especially when he could see us finally enjoying some peaceful and quiet evenings in our yard. One night about 2 weeks later, my wife and I were enjoying some cocktails by a small fire ring we just bought when we heard and saw police cars rushing to this neighbor's house. Turned out this asshole finally had a heart attack, and for the next 45 minutes we peeked over our fence and watched thru his bedroom window as police and EMTs performed CPR on him. It was the first and only time in my life when my wife and I were actively rooting for the heart attack. Ultimately, the heart attack did win! And for the next few weeks, multiple people in town thanked us and congratulated us for standing up to this asshat for so long. Everyone had their own stories about this guy, and you could literally feel the entire town relax after he died.

Anyway, that's my story about the time my wife and I celebrated the death of a horrible neighbor.

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u/forksporkspoon 2h ago

Before I bought cameras I went to both neighbors and made sure they were happy with the concept and knew why I was installing them. There was a creepy dude on the other side of one neighbor who had recently added cameras pointing at their deck. 

My neighbors are great and they couldn't have cared less about the cameras once they knew who they are there. I'm adopting me some grandparents.

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u/HomelessByCh01ce 1h ago

*knocks on door* Howdy neighbor! Just wanted to get your email address in case I need to contact you about things I'd rather not personally talk to you about!

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u/Little-Derp Why This is a Rock and Not Cheese 1h ago

I don't mind a neighbor's camera seeing our front yard, that is publicly viewable.

Bit more if an issue when it's pointing into the back yard (over any fence), because there is some assumption of privacy in that regard. Same for through windows.

You seem to understand angles matter, and the difference between public and private expectations, and letting your neighbors know what is seen can be important for comfort levels. My backyard camera is far from the fence line, and doesn't show anything below that fence line; my neighbor's backyard camera is right next to the fence, and if pointed at my house would show most of my yard, but they point it more along their house, so while it see's some of our yard, it at least shows some consideration for their neighbors.

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u/drinkallthecoffee 5m ago

You email your neighbors?