RSS

The man upstairs

I have a problem and I'm not really sure what to do about it. The guy who lives in the apartment above us smokes in his apartment. That's fine, it's his business not mine, I don't know if we're allowed to smoke in the building, but I know we're not allowed to have dogs and he has one. Like I said, that's his business not mine. But there are days when he's home that he smokes so much the smell comes through the floor and half of our apartment smells like Cigarettes. Now it's my business. I do not want my apartment or my stuff smelling like we smoke, and I definitely do not want us breathing in his nicotine. So now what? Do I confront him, do I confront the landlord, do I just ignore it? If I confront someone what do I say? I can't keep him from smoking in his apartment, that's his home. He should be able to do what he wants just like I should be able to do what I want with my home. But what happens when him doing what he wants affects me doing what I want? that is the big question in life, the question behind numerous wars and arguments. I know life wont always be the way I want it but there has to be something to keep me from smelling smoke all day. I don't want to be the tenant that complains about everything and I will admit in our previous apartment I complained a lot about stupid things. I've tried to only mention the important things to our property managers here, things like leaky sinks and broken kitchen lights. It's so hard to stay content when you want so much more.

4 comments:

Char said...

I don't think you need to feel bad about asking your landlord to remedy the situation -- if nothing else, you have a child and obviously don't want her breathing that in. I don't think this is a "nit picky" type of issue at all, personally ... and I think you have every right to kindly speak to your landlord about the problem.

ashley said...

You should get Beth to write a letter. :-)

Beth @ The Natural Mommy said...

Oooh, passive-aggressive letter-writing for a career? That just might be my dream job!

jess said...

not sure how i got to your blog..but whatever.

i am a smoker...and i am very sensitive to people who are NON smokers. chances are, this guy doesn't know it's oozing into your apartment. if you do this correctly, he may stop smoking indoors, or he may choose to open a window or something.

the tricky part is to ask without passing judgment.

i don't smoke if people ask me not too. i try to keep it away from children. and i'm trying to quit.