Spilling the MOST Tea, Part 3: A Neighbor Nightmare

Hello hello, dear friend!

While my love life came to an end, something else in the background was arising as new beginnings were, well, beginning. What might that mean to me?

My very first court appearance.

As you may have seen on social media, I had to take a neighbor to court over stalking and harassment, and went through a restraining order process against my neighbor. However, this didn’t happen overnight; this was a process that led to a head injury, a burn, and to make it all better, several hundred dollars' worth of broken tableware.

So what exactly happened for all of this to transpire?

Here’s exactly what happened…

First, we need to go back to 2023. This is when we meet Neighbor.

My first introduction to Neighbor and his dog Cujo was one afternoon when I opened my front door to go to work. While holding a plate of food, a latte, and a backpack in my hand, I opened the door at the exact moment that Neighbor was walking Cujo by my unit. The moment I opened the door, Cujo turned and leaped on me, making me fall back in my apartment. As I fell back and dropped my latte and breakfast, I hit the back of my head on my bathroom door.

As a knot began to swell on the back of my head, and laid there in bewilderment as to what exactly just happened.

Quickly, I stood up and rushed back to my door and looked to the left, to see an elderly man with a medium-sized white dog standing at the door of a unit at the opposite end of the hall. I pulled out my phone, zoomed in, and snapped a photo of the man and texted my property manager.

“Hey, I don’t know who this is, but this man’s dog jumped on me and caused me to fall back and hit my head. The man didn’t even stop to see if I was okay or not.”

A few moments later, the property manager replied, “We know who this is; we’ll have a talk with him.”

After that, you’d think that would be the end of it, right?

It was, but only for a short period of time.

Three months later, I was sitting on my couch watching TV as my cat Sunshine sat in the living room window.  Then, suddenly, a loud boom erupted at my living room window. I jumped out of my skin as I quickly stood up, while Sunshine ran under the couch. The boom was so loud that it sounded like someone was going to break into my window.

I quickly stood up and ran to my door, only to see the old man and Cujo walking towards the stairwell. I quickly rushed over there, snapped a photo of them, and texted my property manager.

“Hey! Remember the old man and his dog? Well, I believe the dog jumped on my window. There are paw prints and dirt all over my window, and it sounded like someone was trying to break in.”

The property manager replied the next day and said, “Oh, we’ll have a talk with him.”

However, that didn’t do anything.

Although Sunshine stopped sitting in my living room window after that incident, the dog would repeatedly jump on my window.

Now, before I go further, I should explain the layout of my apartment.

My apartment’s parking garage is connected to the South of the property. From there, you have to walk through a stairwell entrance, where you’ll find a door that leads to the complex. From there, when you enter, there’s a hall with units to the left. My unit is the first to the left when you enter the complex. From there, there are 6 units, and at the opposite end of the hall, there is another staircase next to a freight elevator. This is important to know, because this came into discussion a few months later when I was in the shower late at night…

While in the shower, I hear a loud boom at my living room window again. I couldn’t make out any noise past that, but I heard a commotion at the window after. I quickly threw a towel on, ran to my bedroom, and froze in place. I wanted another few moments with 9-1-1 dialed and waiting to be called, and waited to hear anything else. I walked to my living room  and looked out the window to find another fresh set of paw prints, accompanied by a few scratches on the window.

While angry, I called the property manager and had a discussion with her the following Monday. She said, “We have been with that tenant to get his dog under control. We have video footage of the dog jumping on your window, and we’ll have another discussion with him. Unfortunately, you are not even the first neighbor to complain about this dog. You’re behind a long list of tenants.”

I replied, “You know, it’s starting to feel intentional. You’ve talked to him before, and it didn’t stop it. If he’s going out to walk his dog, why isn’t he using the stairwell or the elevator that’s literally by his unit? The fact that he’s going out of his way to walk by my unit now feels intentional.”

The property manager replied, “Well, he’s probably going that way because that’s where the parking garage is. Plus, I think the dog was jumping at the cats initially. You know how dogs are, if they see a cat, they’ll want to chase it.”

I then angrily replied, “No, I don’t. We have other tenants walking their dogs past my window, and the other dogs don't jump at my window. Hell, I even had a dog growing up, and our dog never uncontrollably lunged at a neighborhood cat! Besides, the cats aren’t even in the window anymore.”

The property manager hesitated before replying, “Understood. We’ll have a talk with him.”

However, this was only a band-aid. A few months would go by of complete silence, and everything would be seemly fine. Then, out of the blue, the dog would leap at my window again. The dog would’t just do it once; the dog would leap and jump at it 3-4 days in a row. I would complain about the neighbor, the property managers would ‘have a talk with him’, and his dog would be on a tighter leash for 3-4 months, then it would start back up again. This cycle lasted for almost 2 years, until last year.

At the beginning of 2025, our property managers released a newsletter stating that they’d be hosting a town-hall meeting for all of the residents of the property to discuss various maintenance updates, as well as any apartment community concerns.

Later next week, I arrived at the town hall in the apartment’s meeting room, and sat and observed as around  a dozen and a half of my neighbors filled the room. As the property managers went over planned agendas, they then opened the floor for tenant comments.

Immediately, a neighbor stood up and proclaimed, “Yeah, I’d like to talk about the dog problem we have at the property.”

Then, another neighbor interrupted and said, “Yes, I have a dog problem too!”

Then, before I knew it, four neighbors were talking over each other about how they all had a dog problem, and started sharing separate incidents they had with dogs on the property.

Then, once the dust settled, I stood up and interjected, “Wait, I think I see a commonality. Raise your hand if your dog problem is with a medium-sized dog who is owned by an older gentleman.”

Then, everyone in the room raised their hand.

“Yeah, we don’t have a dog problem. We just have a problem with that dog in particular.”

The property manager then quickly interjected and said, “We are working closely with this person to get everything under control. Please report to us if you continue to have any further issues.”

A few months later, I was sitting on the couch when I heard several dogs barking and a woman screaming to the top of her lungs. The next morning, I called the property manager and said, “So last night, it sounded like there was an incident. I heard a dog loudly barking and a woman scream to the top of her lungs.”

The property manager replied, “Oh, we’re already aware of the incident, and we already talked to the older gentleman about his dog.”

I hung up the phone and thought to myself, “I didn’t even complain about him, and she admitted it was him. Of course, it was him.”

Everything seemed to quiet down until the cycle continued. One weekend, the dog jumped on my window three nights in a row. On the last night, I was pouring tea on the couch when the loud bang made me jump, as I spilled boiling water on my leg. I was mid-pour, and as a result, I burned my thigh.

It’s safe to say, I was hotter than the water I boiled on myself.

At that point, I had started looking at various apartments across my city, and to my disappointment, I couldn’t find anything affordable. Currently, my apartment is under my county, as I belong to a housing program. With the county’s housing program, my rent is around $500 cheaper per-month compared to the next-cheapest apartment in town. Even with my discounted rent, I still could barely afford it. Compared to other parts of the country, I know some of my friends pay less in their mortgages and house insurance. So how am I supposed to afford to move?!

I reported it, and to my surprise, my property manager said, “We are moving forward with the next steps with this tenant. We are tired of dealing with this, and we also want it to be over with. If the man can’t handle his dog, then the dog has to go. Trust us, we can only imagine how you feel. Thank you for your patience.”

That seemed to be the end of it, except, of course, it wasn’t.

One night, I was sitting on the couch with my blinds closed while watching a movie. It was close to midnight when I heard a bang at my window. However, it didn’t end there. It sounded like someone was repeatedly punching at my window, and from there, it continued over to my living room door. My cat Sunshine jumped and ran across my counter, and when doing so, mowed over several pieces of teaware that were drying on my counter.

I jumped up, dialed 9-1-1, and looked out of my peephole to see my neighbor and his dog at the door. I opened the door, and in the deepest-bravado scream I’ve ever produced, I screamed at the old man, “Leave me the fuck alone!!”

Then, I slammed my door as 9-1-1 answered. The cops came out as I explained to them that it sounded like someone was trying to break into the apartment. I explained to them my broken property and some of the issues happening. They told me that this is a civil dispute between me and the property management, and ultimately, they can’t do anything…

…unless I had an order of protection that the neighbor was breaking.

After the cops came, I called my property manager and left her an angry voicemail.

“First off, what are you guys doing that in the past two and a half years, this issue is still on-going? I can’t afford to live anywhere else. Hell, I can barely afford to live here! I reviewed the lease, and we had to sign an anti-violent clause in the lease. Did that apply to only me? You can tell me all damn day that you guys are working with him, but nothing has happened! Do you know how absurd this is? Why aren’t you doing your job?! Stop playing this game, and actually do something!!”

To my surprise, the next morning, my property manager texted me and said, “The dog was supposed to be gone two months ago. What do you mean it’s still on the property?! We’re working to get this resolved.”

However, the next day, the old man walked by my apartment again, and this time, his dog was gone. Instead, he looked in my window and yelled at me while I was in my unit, “Piece of shit!”

And this happened again.

And again.

Over the course of the rest of the day, the old man walked by my unit and continued to yell curse words through the window. The next day, I propped my phone up in my window and even caught him calling me a ‘cunt’ through my window. And in those two days, anytime I went to or from my car, he would be afar watching me. He’d then follow me and watch for me as I was coming and going.  On two occasions, he watched me pull up home in the parking garage from his car. He’d then follow me to my unit and would proceed to yell curse words at me through my door and window.

I had enough.

The next morning, I did two things.

First, I went and filed a protective order against my neighbor. However, this proved rather difficult because I didn’t even know his name. I had to search through county voter records to obtain his first and last name, to be able to serve him the court paperwork needed to serve him with the protective order.

Second, I found the head of my county’s housing services, and filed a complaint against my property managers. I had a twenty-minute phone call with the woman regarding how my property managers didn’t do their due diligence in follow-up with this issue, which inevitably led to this situation becoming violent due to their inaction. Third, I complained that I had been injured twice, had several hundred dollars worth of my property damaged because of this neighbor, and lately, I was no longer safe in my unit.

A week later, the neighbor and I appeared in front of a judge in a preliminary hearing regarding the protective order.

The judge asked him, “How do you respond to this complaint?”

He said, “Judge, my integrity has been insulted by false accusations.”

I then interrupted and said, “I have two separate videos of him calling me a ‘cunt’ and a ‘piece of shit’.”

The judge then looked at Neighbor and said, “If what he is saying is true, and if he shows me these videos of what he claims, then it’s not going to look good for you. You could save us all of the trouble by having a hearing and just agreeing to the terms of the protective order now.”

Neighbor just sat there in silence.

After a moment, he finally gave up and said, “Well, since he has video…. I’ll agree to the terms of the protective order.”

Then, the judge lowered her head and looked directly at him and said, “Do not go near his unit. Do not walk by it. Do not make any contact with Cody whatsoever. If you do, it will result in a fine and up to 90 days in jail. Do you understand? Leave him alone.”

The neighbor then said, “Ok but I have to walk by his unit. It’s where the parking garage is. I’m moving after next month, and there is no other place for me to load the U-Haul.”

I then looked at the judge and said, “Judge, if I may respond? Neighbor’s unit is directly across from the freight elevator. When I moved into to these apartments 4 years ago, I parked my Uhaul in the street, used the apartment’s front door, and used that very-same freight elevator for myself. It is completely unnecessary for him to go near my unit. It has been unnecessary this entire time.”

The judge then looked at Neighbor and said, “Then it’s settled. You will not go near his unit, and you will leave Cody alone from this point forward. Wait outside for the bailiff to bring you the paperwork to sign.”

The neighbor then abruptly stood up from his chair as he stormed out of the court — slamming the court doors open as he left.

That was the last time I had contact with the old man.

You see, dear friend, this chain of events happened for almost three whole years. There were many moments where I felt trapped and unsafe in my own home. While these moments came and went in waves, I can’t tell you how much of a weird feeling it will be to be able to go on without hearing a 45lb cannonball being lunged at my apartment.

I wish I could make six figures and just up and move. If I had the means to, I would have moved to another apartment in town instantly. I don’t have a home to go back to. I don’t have family to move in with if I were to ultimately fail.

In my mind, I had to make the concession: Stay here and be patient, or risk becoming homeless.

Anyways, thank you for listening, dear friend.

Thank you for always being here for me and making me feel like our connection is unconditional.

Until next week,

~Cody

Aka The Oolong Drunk

“Blissfully Tea Drunk”