Does the hive mind understand what the thinking of these HA officers is? Did they possibly make mistakes in their approach? Should I talk to my downstairs neighbor, telling him to always first contact my other neighbors and leave me alone? Should I file a complaint on him, on the HA? Has this happened to anyone else in the hive? Can this just happen so easily? Is this a downside of renting from a social housing association (paying double rent as higher income earner)? How to de-escalate the madness?
Today at work, I (woman 45) discovered I had missed calls from the social housing association between 10 and 12 am and some messages of a friend/neighbor etc. Because I was in a meeting I had missed the calls (also had mistaken the name of the social housing officer for someone I thought could wait till evening or next day). At 12 in the middle of a patient consultation I saw two neighbors I'm friendly with texting me if I was allright and they were worried. The social housing association together with the police were ready to break my door down because they had had two people contacting them that I hadn't been seen for 3 weeks. They couldn't tell me who the two different people were because of privacy law.
(Btw I rent a unit on the 3rd and 4th floor, an exception for higher income earners and am saving for a downpayment on a house. The units are six in total sharing a stairwell).
Luckily two of my friendly neighbors were home during the day and had told the police and housing association that they had seen and texted me 6 days before (one is gone a lot because of a new relationship, I'm away often too, and the other neighbor I only see once in a while in the stairwell or street). So the three-weeks-no-sign-of-life alarm was busted/falsified right away.
They took the word of this guy, and told me that I should be happy with the concern 'in these times', who with all his sincere concern apparently hadn't checked with the two other neighbors I have contact with before alarming the housing association (HA).
I am annoyed and shocked because the person I suspect of having caused this false alarm, my downstairs neighbor, is a very manipulative person that I do my best to avoid (after years of situations, like him harassing the elderly woman for which I have tried to file complaints with the police and HA), and he apparently gets taken seriously to the point that they almost forced my door.
He rings my doorbell often but I don't open the door, he has been doing this for years and I have told him I have nothing to say to him and don't want any contact with him. He would react that I have no choice because we share the stairwell etc. It goes nowhere so I avoid it as much as possible. The SA knows I have tried to file complaints against him.
I can't fathom why they can't convey the identity because of privacy law, but they can apparently escalate within two hours of me not calling back or texting them (10-12am) to breaking in and searching my house!
Initially during my workday I didn't have a lot of time to think during very busy patient-consultations, and was wondering if any of my friends or family could have been this alarmed about me, if I had missed calls/texts, hadn't answered voicemails or something.
This dude (in his late 50's) wakes up daily at 2 or 3 pm, where I wake up at 4.45am and am out the door at 6 for a 1,5 hour commute, so he doesn't see me and then thinks up drama or gets all curious as to what's up, possibly.
The social housing officer did not understand at all that I was surprised and inquired about their steps of escalation because I just don't understand how this could have happened to me. They also asked why my blinds were down at the streetside of the apartment, which is my kitchen: I closed those yesterday evening cooking my dinner when it was dark out, and then didn't open them this morning because I left super early and it was still dark. At the backside of the apartment I open and close curtains daily. Also the HA asked my friendly neighbors about a woman with a headscarf coming every two weeks (my cleaning lady). Why would this be of any concern to them? It feels so weird that suddenly I have to explain myself to the HA in this way, because of this drama loving person who probably engaged one of the other people in the block somewhere.
What if my friendly neighbors hadn't been at home, and working from home to be able to tell the police and SHA? Can any weirdo just make one call and within 2 hours your door's broken down because of "sincere concerns"?
There had been no call from the HA, letter, nothing I could have reacted to before today. I love my anonymity and privacy in the down town area of a big city, I hate all this attention, but I really do understand the HA awful circumstance of having to do these house calls with worse endings multiple times a year. |
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