The 7 worst neighbours Malaysians have to live with

Good neighbours are sometimes a much rarer find than you might think.

Malaysians are generally a friendly bunch and, in some neighbourhoods, everyone is part of one big happy communal family.

But not all neighbourhoods are pleasant places, with even less pleasant people living in them.

Here are the seven worst neighbours you could have the misfortune of living next door to.

1. The complainer

Returning home from work, you may just find this neighbour standing in front of your gate,feet tapping furiously.

What’s the bone they have to pick with you today? A leaf from your bonsai plant dropped into their compound and they want you to get rid of it.

A petty person by nature, they have a set of rules that you must obey if you want to be left in peace.

They might just call the police on you for disturbing the peace when you so much as slam a door by accident.

Expect to receive an angry note wailing about how you flushing your toilet destroys any semblance of peace in their house.

2. The party animal

While the music may be good, the sleepless nights are not. (Rawpixel pic)

The one neighbour that you will feel like strangling after many sleep-deprived nights is the one whose home is like a nightclub.

You should probably have realised something was wrong when you noticed the massive stereo and the strobe lights when they were moving in.

And then you see the endless line of visitors they get as soon as the sun begins to set.

As you sit down on your couch with a cup of tea in hand, you start to feel the walls shake as the music begins to blare.

All you can do is hope that the rave ends soon, but once the party starts, it’s hard to stop.

3. The busybody

The concept of personal space and privacy is of no concern for the perpetually curious neighbour. (Rawpixel pic)

Somehow, even as you engage in a private conversation about an intimate matter, you feel a sense of dread that someone’s watching.

The busybody knows all that goes on in the neighbourhood and no secret is safe from her.

You wonder if they simply have nothing better to do, have too much time on their hands or whether if they even have a job.

And if they do have a job, it’d probably be with a spy agency of sorts.

When you leave your house, you can almost always see the brush of a curtain in the neighbouring house; as they see everything.

4. The thief

Leave your gardening tools out in the garden at your own risk when there is a thief living next door. (Pixabay pic)

Your daily newspaper goes missing. Your previously bountiful chilli plant is suddenly left with nothing but leaves and a stem. The spade left in your garden vanishes into thin air.

You consider calling an exorcist; but it is not a ghost haunting your home, rather it is someone with extremely sticky fingers.

Perhaps investing in a CCTV system might cut down on the thefts, but once a thief, always a thief.

5. The borrower

A distant cousin of the thief, this neighbour at least has the courtesy to take your stuff with your permission, and they may even be polite while doing it.

Being a good Samaritan, you lend whatever it is they need, be it appliances or even money.

But your obliging smile starts turning into a frown when it becomes apparent that lending means gifting to them.

Eventually, you will have no choice but to keep a stiff upper lip as you ring their doorbell to ask for your belongings back.

Be prepared to grit your teeth when they admit to forgetting about it, or even say they never borrowed it in the first place.

6. The quarrelsome twosome

Enjoy those thin walls when you are living next to a bickering couple. (Rawpixel pic)

Much to the busybody’s delight, this neighbour makes no attempt to hide the dismal relationship they have with their family.

It could be a bickering couple or a squabbling family, but in any case, this is no happy family.

They will be screaming at the top of their voices at each other, making you wonder how they even live in the same house.

You can hear doors slamming, angry feet stomping, muttered curses and quiet sobbing even from your side of the wall.

Your residents’ association can’t do anything about their personal troubles, and the only thing you can do is drop a psychologist’s business card into their letter box.

7. The sleazeball

You rarely see this neighbour and you might be all the better for it. Their compound is almost always in a mess and you wonder how they can live there.

But someone definitely does live there as there is almost always a line of questionable characters dropping by your neighbour’s house.

Perhaps you catch a glimpse of him when he come home at three in the morning, but you never really see what he looks like.

Your heart might just skip a beat one day, if you peek through the curtains and find him staring right back at you, planning his next hit. - Mkini