Rant
Today’s rant comes to you courtesy of my lovely neighbors below me. I’ve lived in this apartment for almost an entire year, and for the most part it’s been pretty good. Maybe someone has a dog that JUST WON’T SHUT UP, or someone else is a terrible cook and can’t figure out how to silence their smoke alarms. There’s also the typical people who can’t be bothered to pick up their dog’s crap from the common grass areas despite tons of poop stations all over. Ya know, standard apartment stuff.
But aside from them, I’ve had a decent time living here (albeit kind of an expensive one).
Until now.
This weekend, I hit a breaking point.
Apparently, I have new neighbors. They must be new, because I’ve not had a problem with them until recently. Sure, there was what I referred to as the “8:50 no No NO NO” chorus, where their kid didn’t want to go to bed. (who can blame him?) That was once a day, and unless I was in the second bedroom, I couldn’t hear it.
Unlike my new neighbors. They are recent immigrants from Africa. I have no problems with immigrants– I’m no Donald Drumpf- and I only mention it because it’s incredibly relevant to the story. They’re LOUD. They talk loud, laugh loud and take part in other, ahem.… activities loudly.
Saturday they threw a party in which I assume they were watching soccer, drinking, blasting music based on the cheers and groans I heard emanating from the floor. Their music was so loud, I shazamed the song from my couch and my phone found it. (This is the song, if you’re at all curious.)
I tolerated it for awhile until I realized I had to blast my TV just to hear a little bit of the show I was watching. I was reluctant to do so, because I had to put on clothes appropriate for being out in public, brush my hair, and oh yeah, I hate confrontation. But I sucked it up and was amused their first reaction was “shh! Polizia! POLIZIA!?!” They turned down the noise slightly after my visit, enough that I could watch my show in relative comfort. They also quieted down when I stomped on the floor later that night since I was going to bed.
All of this is just reinforcing my decision to buy a multifamily property and move out of apartments for EVER (hopefully, maybe?). There’s just something about being in close proximity to so many people that I have an issue with. But, at least I’m not surrounded by chronic smokers at this place. So, I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.
Rave
While I might have my inner home sanctuary violated by a plethora of loud, discordant noises I can take solace in the fact that I’m now getting paid more to be miserable! I recently received my yearly “compensation adjustment”. Aka I got a raise! Now, I’m not talking anything crazy, but 2.31% is nothing to sneeze at.
Since I started with my company at the beginning of 2014, my total base salary has gone up almost 9%. That’s two yearly raises and one bump when I changed positions. Not terrible, but also not super spectacular.
If I were to look at switching companies, I could probably get at least a 10% raise, and probably a 15% raise in one fell swoop. Getting raises is important since not only do you get more money to spend, you raise your salary threshold for future raises and positions. If you’re curious as to how to negotiate for bigger raises and better benefits, I’d check out Ramit Sethi’s courses. They’re packed with great information, useful techniques for negotiation and have helped a lot of people get more money.
Since my last rotational program (the job I have now) has an end date in Q4 this year, I think I’m going stay with this company and see what I can do here. I like working for this company as we’re doing a lot of good around the world and have won awards for being among the most ethical companies. If I stay in the same grade, I’ll probably see somewhere around a 4% raise. I’ll probably also try to negotiate for some extra vacation time, since I’m constantly using all of mine up far too quickly.
If I go up to the next grade, I’ll probably get a 10% raise. This isn’t a number I pulled out of my.….…. hat; it’s based on vague answers from graduates of the program I know. Depending on the role, I might also ask for more vacation, but I feel a raise of that size is already pretty fair and I don’t want to be seen as greedy.
How has your life been going? Do you have a rant or a rave to share?
Yikes, sounds like the apartments aren’t concrete construction.
You can have a$$hole/inconsiderate neighbors no matter where you live. A decade ago, we lived in a fancy suburb of Chicago. The pricks next door would go away for the weekend and leave the dog in the backyard. The thing would bark constantly, only ever stopping when it slept:
“Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof…”
If nothing else, I learned that it’s impossible for dogs to lose their voices like people do. Oh, I also learned that the cops will issue a ticket for this stuff!
Nice work on the pay increase!