Curious behavior in my neighborhood—Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Probably smoking weed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he “middle eastern looking”?

You know this is a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a neighbour that does the same! He just drives a short distance away, parks the car and sits in it. All day. Leaving the car running. I think they have a SN son and it seems like he just leaves the home and abandons the mom and child.

This one sounds like he lost his job and hasn’t told his wife yet.

This is actually what DH and I thought. I actually posted about it a little while back on another thread, about the DH who had lost his job a year prior and kept "going to the office" while embezzling money from their investment accts so DW wouldn't notice. I know what industry he is in, and it's not a wfh industry, but who knows. I've never asked. The idling bothers me more than his family issues honestly.

One of my neighbors actually did this. His wife knew but he didn't want the neighbors to know. This was in the early 2000s when no one worked remotely. He'd get dressed up in a suit, get in his huge American car and drive to the train station a mile or so away from our house and sit there. Eventually he just stayed home and hid. One of the neighbors knew someone where he used to work and heard he'd been fired. He was one of the most unpleasant people I've ever known.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a neighbor on my block, a single young man who moved in about a year ago. He lives alone, and he drives a very distinctive car, so it’s easy to recognize.

Here’s what I’ve noticed: several times a week (like 3–4 days), regardless of season or weather, he drives about three blocks over and parks in a lot next to a big empty field (where I think a school used to be). The field isn’t a park, just open land surrounded by houses. He sits in his car, engine running. Sometimes it’s morning, sometimes evening. He doesn’t leave the car, he just sits there; you can clearly see him sitting in the car.

What could someone be doing that regularly in a parked car, when they live alone and presumably have privacy at home? I’m just genuinely curious if anyone has seen similar behavior or has a benign explanation. Maybe I’m overthinking, but it’s such a consistent habit that it caught my attention.

The most obvious thing is taking a regularly scheduled work call.

Several times a week my wife has a mandatory meeting at 7:30 am, and if she's not already in the office she has to drop everything and take it. On days where the house is bananas in preparation for school, it would not be unheard for to jump in the car and take the call.

[Anonymous]

OP, I have noticed very similar postings lately about “curious” neighbor behavior…

There was a posting about a curious house, then one about a neighbor who seemingly stopped being visible on a regular basis.

Are you writing all of these?
The wording + writing styles align imo.

Just wanted to ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A car burns about half gallon of gas per hour when idle. Expensive alternative to lithium battery.

This is sort of off the main topic, but I frequently notice the long lines of (mostly) moms waiting to pick up their kids at the local elementary school. With almost no exception, all of them are idling their engines, running the A/C or heat, and talking on their cell phones. Their kids probably live a few blocks away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a neighbor on my block, a single young man who moved in about a year ago. He lives alone, and he drives a very distinctive car, so it’s easy to recognize.

Here’s what I’ve noticed: several times a week (like 3–4 days), regardless of season or weather, he drives about three blocks over and parks in a lot next to a big empty field (where I think a school used to be). The field isn’t a park, just open land surrounded by houses. He sits in his car, engine running. Sometimes it’s morning, sometimes evening. He doesn’t leave the car, he just sits there; you can clearly see him sitting in the car.

What could someone be doing that regularly in a parked car, when they live alone and presumably have privacy at home? I’m just genuinely curious if anyone has seen similar behavior or has a benign explanation. Maybe I’m overthinking, but it’s such a consistent habit that it caught my attention.

Free WIFI signal. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Maybe he has a daily reading habit and gets distracted in his own house.
Maybe he calls his mom to chat so he can say, “I’m in the car but I have 10 minutes” so he has an easy way to hang up.
Maybe he likes that view.

[Anonymous]

I hate to be that nosy neighbor, but I’m growing genuinely concerned about the woman who lives next door, and I’m not sure what to do.

We spoke briefly Wednesday evening while I was taking out the trash. We had a friendly chat, and she didn’t mention anything about going out of town, which she usually does. We’re both single and tend to keep an eye on things for each other. She also has a cat and a dog, and always arranges care for them when she's away.

Since Thursday, I haven’t seen any lights on or any signs of movement in or around her house. She didn’t go to work Thursday or Friday (I work from home and usually notice the sound of her car leaving, and it hasn’t moved since Wednesday), and things have just seemed... off. Yesterday, I saw her dog in the window, which doesn’t make sense if she’s out of town. I’ve knocked on the door and called her a few times, no response.

I don’t know her family or any emergency contacts, and I’m hesitant to call the police for a welfare check if it turns out she’s just sick or resting. But I’m concerned, especially with her pets possibly being left unattended.
If anyone has advice please let me know. I’m trying to be respectful of her privacy while also doing the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have noticed very similar postings lately about “curious” neighbor behavior…

There was a posting about a curious house, then one about a neighbor who seemingly stopped being visible on a regular basis.

Are you writing all of these?
The wording + writing styles align imo.

Just wanted to ask.

No, I’m not. I did not do anything. What proof do you have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is he “middle eastern looking”?

I see what you did there.

I do, too.

[Anonymous]

Y'all, it's obvious that he is doing his tiktok thing - why people always post their rants from their cars, I will never know. But he clearly is recording himself talking about the news of the day.

[Anonymous]

Another possibility is that he has cabin fever from WFH and he relaxes by listening to sports radio in his car or something like that.

[Anonymous]

This TikTok thing is news to me. Very odd to film in your car.
My first thought was he was dealing drugs. I used to work in a depressed town and that is definitely what was happening when people were sitting in empty lots in their car. Peolle would pull up next to them and they’d exchange money and a bag out the window. Or sometimes they were looking for prostitutes but I don’t think they’d wait long for that.

I don’t think the tiktok explanation really makes sense since OP says the guy is there most of the day. It’s either free wifi or drug dealing I think. Or maybe he really really hates his house for some reason and prefers to work in his car. That seems odd but I guess I can think of some reasons (toilet broke and can’t afford to fix it, serious mold issue, haunted, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to be that nosy neighbor, but I’m growing genuinely concerned about the woman who lives next door, and I’m not sure what to do.

We spoke briefly Wednesday evening while I was taking out the trash. We had a friendly chat, and she didn’t mention anything about going out of town, which she usually does. We’re both single and tend to keep an eye on things for each other. She also has a cat and a dog, and always arranges care for them when she's away.

Since Thursday, I haven’t seen any lights on or any signs of movement in or around her house. She didn’t go to work Thursday or Friday (I work from home and usually notice the sound of her car leaving, and it hasn’t moved since Wednesday), and things have just seemed... off. Yesterday, I saw her dog in the window, which doesn’t make sense if she’s out of town. I’ve knocked on the door and called her a few times, no response.

I don’t know her family or any emergency contacts, and I’m hesitant to call the police for a welfare check if it turns out she’s just sick or resting. But I’m concerned, especially with her pets possibly being left unattended.
If anyone has advice please let me know. I’m trying to be respectful of her privacy while also doing the right thing.

Why not just ring the doorbell? She’s probably home sick and you could ask if she needs anything from the grocery store or to take her dog for a walk. You can just say you noticed her cars haven’t moved in a few days and you were worried she might be sick and need something. It’s all nice to have your neighbors phone numbers in case there’s ever an emergency with the house. If you had the number you could just text.