“Stop Complaining About Your Neighbors”: Guy Maliciously Complies To Landlord’s Request, Waits Until Neighbor Falls Through The Ceiling

If you’ve lived in an apartment for more than five minutes, you already know that “quiet building” is a promise only slightly more reliable than “I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions.” Every rental listing loves to brag about soundproof walls, considerate neighbours, and a landlord who “responds quickly.” And every renter knows these claims are usually held together with hope, thin drywall, and a coat of paint hiding a thousand sins.

Still, we all want to believe. We want to imagine a peaceful home where the loudest noise we hear is the gentle hum of our fridge—not the unmistakable sound of someone upstairs deadlifting a small planet at 5 a.m.

But once in a while, a rental horror story goes beyond the usual slammed doors and midnight vacuuming. Once in a while, the universe cooks up a perfect storm of neglect, noise, and pure Newtonian physics that reminds us: gravity does not care about your lease agreement.

And that is exactly what happened here.

Today’s story isn’t just about bad neighbours or an inattentive landlord. It’s about the rare, spectacular moment when a “told you so” becomes less of a phrase and more of a lived experience—complete with collapsing floors, emergency services, and the kind of drama no tenant ever asked for…but every reader secretly enjoys. Reddit user TheAngryArcanist shared the story of how he moved into an apartment, that was supposedly soundproof, then quickly learned that was not the case after a couple moved in upstairs. So grab your coffee, settle in, and allow me to walk you through the week my upstairs neighbour literally bench-pressed his way through the floor—and how that single moment brought down not just weights, but the entire illusion of “soundproof living.”

Ratchet Screwdriver Set

Apartment living will always come with its share of quirks—mysterious noises, questionable renovations, and neighbours who treat “quiet hours” as more of a suggestion than a rule. But every so often, a story emerges that perfectly captures the chaos of shared walls and shared consequences. This was one of those stories: a mix of noise complaints, ignored warnings, structural surprise, and one extremely unfortunate bench press.

In the end, the situation resolved itself in a way no one could have predicted—unless you’re a structural engineer or Isaac Newton. The landlord learned a valuable lesson about listening, the neighbour learned that gravity always wins, and the rest of us gained a new appreciation for the phrase “it could be worse.”

For my roommate and me, things worked out far better than expected: refunds, renovations, and a rent deal we couldn’t have negotiated in our wildest, most sleep-deprived fantasies. And while I wouldn’t recommend “waiting for your neighbour to fall through the ceiling” as a conflict-resolution strategy, I can confidently say it makes for an unforgettable story.

If nothing else, let this serve as a gentle reminder:
Listen to your tenants.
Respect your neighbours.
And please, for the love of all that is structurally sound… don’t do deadlifts in your living room.

Thanks for reading—and may all your future neighbours be quiet, considerate, and firmly supported by the floor beneath them.

Prank Gift Boxes

Air Fort

Now, that story is VERY recent, and the "told you so" effect is never as sweet as this was.

I have moved in an apartment with a roommate last summer. When we first came in, the biggest part of the sale was the fact that the apartment was freshly renovated, and soundproof (This one is important, and you'll see why), so when we got in, my roommate immediately fell in love with it, and I was too. When we moved in, we were very careful not to bother anyone, as we wanted to quickly have a good relationship with our neighbours ("Oh, did you see the new neighbours? They only moved during the day, they don't make sound during the night, what nice people!" kind of deal) and we can safely say it worked.

What we did not know, however, is that we were only three renters when we first came in; us on the floor, another family upstairs on the opposite side, and another one on the 3rd floor, with one empty apartment between us. Turns out the 'soundproof' statement was accurate, but only in regards to the inside-to-outside situation. When our upstairs neighbors moved in, it was a goddamn nightmare. Sound from 5am to past midnight, five days in a row, dropping stuff, speaking loudly, yelling or walking in their apartment with shoes on.

Out of frustration on the fifth day, I walk upstairs and meet my neighbour, at midnight. I ask them to cease their activities for the night. I have work in the morning, and I cannot be kept up all night. I understand they were freshly moved in, and they might have had a tight schedule, but midnight was too late to be moving stuff.

He didn't reply and closed the door on me. I go downstairs, and the sound starts over again.

I notify my landlord, and he tells me he'll handle it, and apologized for the situation, explaining to me my neighbour was just moving and that he probably didn't understand what I was saying because of language barrier.

The neighbours were extremely loud. I know a lot of Karen will use that as an excuse to shower their neighbours with hate, but when I say loud, I mean it. There was no stop to their loud noises, it seemed like they couldn't be bothered to hold something without dropping it, or jumping up and down on the floor, or purposefully banging the bed frame against the wall when having sex.

I recorded the event, and even install microphones in my home jacked to my computer, activating and recording every time there is strong vibration in the house. Over 98 events on monday February 14th. I was livid. I send that to the landlord and explained this cannot continue. First the apartment was poorly soundproofed, which meant we were hearing every damn sound at all time. Second, we had notified the neighbours about the situation, and they have ignored it. I have notified the landlord to awaken them to our situation.

I report the issues several time, and even advise my landlord that there were very heavy sounding thuds coming from upstairs, which worried me. He answered with "Stop complaining about your neighbours, already! I have other things to do!"

I have answered. "Understood, sir. Please be advised this will be my last communication and action to help you in that regard."

You know when I said I head loud bangs? Turns out our upstairs neighbour was doing bench-press lifting in his living room, and the heavy thuds I kept hearing was him dropping his weights on the ground. I had warned my roommate about removing anything she didn't want broken from the living room, and lo and behold; four days later, the first crack appeared. Then another. The floor was giving up. I moved the couch out of the way, and moved the TV and consoles into the bedroom. Fast forward to three days ago; after another series of loud bangs, I head a loud crack, followed by a "OH FUCK!", followed by very loud noises.

I went to the living room, to see my neighbour on the ground, with several actually gruesome injuries due to the fact he just went through the floor and brought his bench and weight rack with him. I called an ambulance, and the police. The police asked me if I reported the issue with my landlord, which I could confirm, due to my communications being made via email. I sent everything, and I am now, of course, filing to break my lease due to uninhabitable dwelling.

The landlord came in yesterday, and just proceeded to explode. Told me I should have made him aware that my neighbour was doing dangerous things, to which I answered I had notified him about the very loud sounds and he never investigated, and that he also ordered me to stop complaining about my neighbours. It was not my responsibility to go out of my way to protect his assets if he is unwilling to cooperate with me.

My neighbours, roommate and I are now residing in a hotel until we can find a new place to live. We are now also looking towards adding a bit more salt to the injury by maybe filing for criminal negligence against both our landlord and the neighbour, the first because the apartment was apparently having some flaws and the latter for endangering us (had I not caught up on what caused the sound earlier, me or, god forbid, my roommate could have been under that.)

Anyway, it was a fun week. And I do enjoy the accommodations of my hotel. Never went to a four-star spa-included hotel before. Turns out the chocolate on the pillow is a lie and I am very disappointed about that.