Submitted by getnakedivegotaplan t3_z70igq in philadelphia
My parents have been living in their South Philly row home for 40 years. They are friendly with their neighbors and don't really cause any trouble. They're the kind of people who would sit out on their stoop and say hello to you as you pass by ask you how your kids are doing that kind of thing. Last year this younger couple probably around my age (in their 30s) moved in right next door to them and right from the start have been not very nice. My mom has tried to initiate conversation with them and they've always been extremely short with her or flat out ignored her.
If that was the end of it it really wouldn't be that big of an issue but what has been ramping up is their continual harassment of my parents whenever my dad happens to smoke a joint in his basement, which is every now and then (maybe once a week or less than that). It started with the husband coming over and knocking on the door to tell my dad that they didn't appreciate the smell of marijuana smoke coming into their house and my dad was a little bit surprised by this but bought an air filter to keep in the basement so that he could smoke his weed and you know filter it out so that it didn't go through the walls.
Mind you, my parents house never smells like weed you can't smell it at all even when he's smoking in the basement. The basement sometimes smells like weed but it doesn't waft out all over my mom and dad's house or all over the neighborhood (edit: i concede that the neighbors can probably smell weed but i also think they're overreacting). This didn't stop them though the next time my dad smoked a joint they came over again to complain. Then they started leaving post-it notes.
The husband even said something to my mom when she was lighting her barbecue grill in their backyard that he didn't like the barbecue grill smell and his wife was extra sensitive and could she not grill in the backyard. My mom is very upset with this. She hates not being able to get along with her neighbors and she feels like these people are harassing her.
The wife came over last night to say something to my mom about the weed smoke and my mom was on the verge of tears because the wife said something about she had just had a baby and she didn't appreciate her whole house reeking of marijuana smoke. My mom said that the people who lived in the house next door before them also had kids who grew up in that house were born in that house and it was never an issue that my dad would occasionally smoke weed. The wife smirked at this and that just made my mom even more upset. She ended up closing her door on the wife and saying I don't know what else I can tell you.
My mom told me all about this this morning I mean I've heard the stories about them before and I've seen this couple in the neighborhood and they are not friendly I've tried having a conversation with them and they're just not interested in being neighborly. I really don't know what to do about it but it makes me angry that they're causing an issue with my parents and I would like to try to settle this or at least go over and ask them to stop bothering my elderly parents. I also don't want to escalate this but it really hurts me that they're being harassed like this over the occasional joint. What would you do? Have you ever had neighbors who aren't used to row house living or city life or getting along with the people whose neighborhood they moved into?
Update: A genuine thank you to the people here who gave good advice and didn't feel the need to make personal attacks on my parents. I talked to my mom and told her not to answer the door the next time they come knocking to complain and she agreed this was the best course of action. I'm getting my dad some edibles for Christmas. I also asked my mom if any of her other neighbors have said anything about this couple next door and she told me that the guy who lives on the other side of their house told her that he saw the husband of the harassing couple throw his bag of dog poop in someone else's personal trash can after trash day and he didn't like that. So it seems like it's not just my parents who have a problem with this couple.