It’s that time of year again. It’s time for the onslaught of neighbors. A week earlier than usual, they’re already starting to make me want my extra week of peace and quiet back. Today I’m offering some PCSing tips to help you make a better impression on your new neighbors.
1. Be aware of your surroundings. If there’s a name plate on the front, toys in the back yard, a wind chime and pinwheels out front, and a welcome sign hanging on the door, chances are people live in the house next door.
2. Common Courtesy. If there are people next door that you share space with, don’t just swoop in and take over. This extends to giving a heads up that your semi sized truck will be parked in front of both houses and blocking the shared drive way all day when you get your household goods.
3. Common Sense. If space in the back yard is shared and you choose to hog the storage area, your neighbor is not responsible for your things on their side that you placed there without asking.
4. Rank doesn’t matter. I don’t care what rank you are. At work, feel free to let your Napoleon complex shine all you want. It’s why junior officers are complaining about the senior leadership right now. At home, I don’t care who you are. A bad neighbor is a bad neighbor regardless of rank.
5. Keep track of your children. I’m not your babysitter. Your three year old shouldn’t be wandering across streets alone.
6. Be polite. If you ask a neighbor who has lived here for years information about the area, don’t whine that 30 minutes is too far to travel for anything. If that’s your attitude, you’re going to have a very boring tenure since due to traffic it takes about that long to get to anything good. You have to get off post to experience anything truly fun.
There you have it. A short list, and really pretty common sense if you ask me. And yes, I find as I get older and deal with more and more of these move ins I become more of a curmudgeon. Can you think of anything to add?
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Great post and these are awesome tips for anyone moving anywhere. Common courtesy never hurts!
Don’t let your pet use your neighbor’s property as a toilet. If you can’t avoid it, clean it up right away.
Great list, these are definitely great tips. The common sense one gets me sometimes. I marvel at how some people lack common sense!
these are great tips for being a good neighbour no matter where you live!
Great list and if you have a dog don’t let it bark till all hours of the night.
Soooo love it – especially the common courtesy one. Can I add a few?
- not everyone likes your music. Keep it at a decent level when you work outside. If you have a party let your neighbors first.
- pick up your dogs poop. It’s not THAT hard.
Sorry pet peeves
How about some tips or a list of things that a current post resident can do FOR the new, incoming families? We all have to PCS at some point, so many of the things that happen are things that everyone has to experience (like the truck in the way — it will be gone at the end of the day!) What positive things can we do for the new neighbors to make them feel welcomed (instead of making them feel like they are raining on the parades of the existing residents)?
If you read, it wasn’t so much that the truck was in the way. It’s that no one has the courtesy, with a shared driveway, to come over and say “Hey, we’re getting our household goods today. The truck will be in the way all day.” When you share small spaces with people, you can’t just bust in and expect existing residents to be happy about it. Also, I’ve tried to help neighbors when they ask what there is to do, where there is to eat, shop, etc. I get told everything is too far away. Traffic makes most things worth doing 20-30 minutes. The really fun stuff is an hour. Really Really fun stuff is 2-3 hours. The street works both ways, and I’ve been trampled too many times when I’ve been nice.
I did read it! Promise! But we all go through the same PCS routines. We’ve all been there. Some more than others. Some less than others. Moving can be a hassle for both the family who is moving and the family who is staying (and watching others move in/out around them). If you know it’s PCS season and there are empty houses around you, certainly you can expect that there will be trucks pulling up and unloading — this is a given — and at some point everyone (whether you are the family moving in or the family next door to the family moving in) you will be inconvenienced during the day (whether it’s all day or just part of the day). It’s not personal — new neighbors aren’t personally trying to upset you or get off on the wrong foot — it’s just the pain of PCS and everyone knows it’s going to happen. And with military quarters, we are all sharing small spaces … we aren’t “busting in” — we are moving in, and there are parts of moving in that simply suck for all parties concerned (like if the truck next door takes too long to load/unload and you can hear the diesel engine under your window well into the night, while you’re trying to sleep. This is not your neighbor’s fault — this is the moving company’s fault, so the disdain should be directed toward the company and not the neighbors. Or even if the truck parks in the wrong place — again, not your neighbor’s fault — your neighbor is just trying to move in — like you did several years ago — it’s just where the truck driver parked). We’ve all been the “existing residents” and we’ve all been the one moving in. Sure it sucks, but it will be over shortly. Yes, common courtesy is important and should be practiced on both sides of the fence, coming and going. Totally agree! However, in a very small neighborhood, with very small quarters located very close together, it is to be expected that all parties may experience some inconvenience on move-in day. (Not a big deal to politely ask the driver to move the truck so you can move your car out of the driveway, etc.) Despite “being trampled too many times” I think it’s still always better to be nice, especially to families who are moving in next door/behind you. You know the saying .. more flies with honey ….