Can I say something to my neighbor about them talking for hours outside or is that ridiculous

[Anonymous]

Move your office. You can't ask that without sounding/looking crazy.

[Anonymous]

Go to an office.

[Anonymous]

Noise cancelling headphones

[Anonymous]

Has this just started? I would maybe mention something, but along the lines of letting them know you can hear them talking, so they can avoid discussing anything they don’t want you to hear. Kind of like letting someone know you can see into their bathroom window. But you have to do it soon, not months after it’s been going on. But you can’t ask them to stop taking outside. Invest in better soundproofing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, absolutely not. Talking and laughing right outside their own home is perfectly reasonable (and admirable) behavior. What a killjoy you are!

Yes. Yes, indeed.

[Anonymous]

You can’t ask him to move but you can mention you can hear him. If he’s talking about his colonoscopy, ask him how it went. He might be embarrassed and change his location.

I would move to a different area of the yard if a neighbor (that I liked) told me I was annoying them for hours each day.

[Anonymous]

If this were at night when you were trying to sleep, it would be very reasonable to ask him to find another spot.

It is harder to make an argument against daytime noise, and you could presumably make another office arrangement. But it would bother me, too, so I sympathize.

[Anonymous]

I can relate. My neighbor sits outside on his deck talking on the phone all the time. Well, he isn't really talking on it so much as he is screaming at it. He has a loud voice to begin with and once you add in the fact that he's got a cellphone on speaker and is holding it up in front of his face and screaming at it like people do ... well, it's very annoying. It drives me nuts.

But I wouldn't say anything to him over it. That is the cost of living near other people. I just put on my Bose headphones and pipe in white noise from an app on my phone.

If anyone here knows if soundproofing windows actually helps with this kind of thing, please speak up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a retired neighbor who has put a bench on the side of their house that faces my office window. Everyday they make phone calls and talk for a few hours with someone. It seems to be a friend and they just talk and laugh. Can I ask them to move their bench so they talk somewhere else or is that going too far? It’s making it difficult to work and I will need to move my office. [/quote

Wow! Absolutely, you should go over to remind them that you are the center of the universe and by using their yard, property they own, that us is a moying you. Tell them to stop talking and laughing with their friends.

Do this and you be better make sure that your children are mute.

You are beyond entitled! Close your window!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a retired neighbor who has put a bench on the side of their house that faces my office window. Everyday they make phone calls and talk for a few hours with someone. It seems to be a friend and they just talk and laugh. Can I ask them to move their bench so they talk somewhere else or is that going too far? It’s making it difficult to work and I will need to move my office. [/quote

Wow! Absolutely, you should go over to remind them that you are the center of the universe and by using their yard, property they own, that us is a moying you. Tell them to stop talking and laughing with their friends.

Do this and you be better make sure that your children are mute.

You are beyond entitled! Close your window!

Are you illiterate? Who said the window was open?

[Anonymous]

I might be obvious one morning that I could hear their conversation. If I was the one talking on the phone I would move so people couldn't so easily hear me.

Beyond that not much you can do except either move your office or put up some sound buffers.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely not and anyone suggesting otherwise is as miserable as you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a retired neighbor who has put a bench on the side of their house that faces my office window. Everyday they make phone calls and talk for a few hours with someone. It seems to be a friend and they just talk and laugh. Can I ask them to move their bench so they talk somewhere else or is that going too far? It’s making it difficult to work and I will need to move my office.

No. Unless they are trespassing. Why your thing is more important than their thing? Take calls from your bedroom.

That being said, if you've long time good relations, may be you can make a request for consideration if it's possible. If they do, send a small thank you gift this month and drop cookies every once in a while.

[Anonymous]

Get a Dohm noise machine and some loop ear buds to muffle the voice so you can hear noise, but not words.

Hearing one side of a conversation is known to be very distracting because your brain wants to make sense of it and fill it in.

[Anonymous]

Open your windows and play some annoying music when they go out—play some rap or heavy metal. Maybe the problem will resolve itself.