Korean Job Discussion Forums

[NightSky]

so I tried to do a search, but you know how that went.

my upstairs neighbors are horrible! they have two preteen boys, I understand kids are noisy but the wife is actually the worst. she stomps around all day from 8 am till about midnight. she cleans twice a day and throws things around and is constantly dropping stuff. a mutual acquaintance told me apologetically, "she has lots of tables so it is probably the moving tables sound you hear". WTF?? how many times a day do you need to move tables around?

I have talked to them several times and they were very rude, denying it was them, trying to convince me the sound is coming from elsewhere, etc. I have also complained to building management. then they wanted to know why I got management involved. hello? also, calling the police won't help as I'm in apts specific to the company I work for.

so, my question is, are there any practical things I can do to reduce noise? no one has carpets here. can I buy sound machines on Gmarket and if so does anyone know if they work at all?

my contract here is up this summer.

[itaewonguy]

you have a stereo?

give them some of their own medicine

blast the stereo or the DVD on high at around 2am...

see what that does...

[travelingfool]

I had the same situation in both tours I did in Korea. Ear plugs do nothing for the thumping noise. Your best bet would be to get some noise canceling ear bud type headphones and download some white noise mp3s.

[KOREAN_MAN]

Drag your bookshelf to the middle of the room. Put your best speaker on top of it, facing up. Then rock 'n' roll.

[sjrm]

First, get a CD of a jackhammer going, then put it in a stereo you don't particularly care about. Then set it in front of their door, and crank it up to the highest level you can, and then run like hell. Do this repeatedly until they stop.

[Xuanzang]

Best bet would be to use some Bose QC2 noise cancelling headphones. I use them when I`m on flights or the subway. The rumble of the jet engines was completely silenced. In fact, the attendant had to nudge me to get my attention during one flight. No more ajumma talk from the elderly seats. if they`re still too much then you need to move house.

I wouldnt antagonize them because they can call the police on you for petty stuff like jackhammer stereo or flaming bag of s***.

[Alyssa]

[nomad-ish]

i had the same problem. i got my main co-teacher to call the maintenance office and eventually dragged a maintenance guy up to my apt so he could hear the noise himself, then he went upstairs and told the woman to stfu. now, if she starts making some noise (not at all often), i bang on the ceiling and there's immediate quiet

i wouldn't give up on the maintenance guys, despite your neighbour being pissed you called them. talk to maintenance again, tell them that you're very upset, etc etc, bring someone upstairs to hear the noise (then your neighbours can't deny to maintenance that it was in fact coming from their apt). good luck

[Ronald]

Easy solution to problem; Go up there with butcher knife in hand and tell them to shut the #@$! up!

[fadedgirl]

I agree with nomad-ish.

drag the maintenance guy into it. Make him hear the noise. Don't give up until you get what you want.

Why should you have to live somewhere where you need to wear noise-cancelling headphones? That's just bs.

Who cares if they're your upstairs neighbors? They certainly don't have any consideration for you. You've already talked to them and they denied everything...seriously...come on...it's time to play hardball.

[maingman]

Do some sleep walking

[moosehead]

[Jane]

I had noisy neighbours at my old apartment. Next door, a whole family occupied a one room loft type apartment; too small for 4 people in my opinion. And they made enough noise for 8 people!
We put up with it unless it was late at night and then my husband would yell at them in Korean through the wall and they'd shut up.

However, one day, the maintainance office called my husband at work and said in batmal Korean very impolitely: "Are you in apartment ##??? People are complaining you are loud...quiet down!"

My husband was pissed because the guy was speaking down to him and told him that we have lived in the same apartment for 5 years and there's no way that it is us, since we both work all day and don't get home till late. The maintaince guy said that the people are complaining because our children are too loud. We don't have children. He asked what apartment complained, and it turns out it is the unit on the other side of the noisy unit next to us. Then my husband understood what was going on.

Turns out the maintainance man had called the noisy apartment but they denied they had children and that WE were noisy and blamed it on us (even though this logistically impossible since we don't even live next to the apartment that complained!). So upon hearing this information, the maintainance man called the noisy apartment again and ever since that day, it was peaceful.

My husband said it right one day...Korean people are stupid. They think that even though they can hear you, you can't hear them.

Having said that, my Korean mother-in-law used to tell her kids not to walk too hard on the floors to disturb the people who live below. So there are some people in Korea who have manners. (Although personally, I think my mother-in-law is an exception. She rocks!)

[maingman]

My husband said it right one day...Korean people are stupid. They think..

reealy !

[bluelake]

Having lived in Korea for awhile, I've experienced the issue quite a bit. My most recent experience is nowadays. My wife and I just moved into a new place that is nearby the campus of the university I'll be working at. We are on the third floor, so we have neighbors above and below, along with those on the sides. The walls do not have much insulation, so it's easy to hear between apartments on the sides; also, there are vents built into every room for air circulation--they carry sounds from upper apartments like a megaphone.

Most of the other tenants are university students. In a couple of the apartments, they were ridiculously loud, even to 5:00 a.m. (and then they would sleep all day). My wife went to the owner about it. He went to their apartment (waking them up--awww...) and told them they can't keep people up all night and then sleep all day. He said if he has to return, they are out. It seemed to settle them down a bit.

There were some others who also got quite noisy, but not as bad. My wife made up some signs, had them approved by the owner, laminated them, and then put them up throughout the building. They had rules to make living together better, including no loud noises after midnight, walking softly, not only in the apartments, but also on the stairs, not having friends coming by extremely early in the morning and ringing the building's bell, etc. There were several other points (like those dealing with where garbage goes), but those were the main ones.

The owner said that now people cannot say they didn't know the rules. He said if anyone violates them, they will be looking for a new place to stay very quickly. We'll see how it goes...