Noise complaints

[xekuter]

I guess this specifically applies to small private salons. We opened in February. The building we’re in is old and, as most buildings do in the city, has residential apartments over it. We’re open 9-6 only 4 days a week and take only a few dogs at a time (there might be 3 around because of siblings or a dog waiting to get picked up). We only have one HV dryer.

Today we had a dog come in at 10 - a German Shepard that ended up being quite reactive and barked a lot. At 11:15 the elderly woman came to yell at us to shut the dog up because this was way too loud. Shes never spoken to us before about anything, I honestly didn’t even know who lived there. Would literally not listen to anything about the dog being a living creature and that we had no way of even knowing if he’d be loud or not. She said ‘put something on the ceiling’… which would cost thousands of dollars. When we moved in the landlords ‘soundproofed’ a tiny portion of the back, without even asking us where to put it, and then sent us a cheque for 1000$ (they nailed some 1/2” foam to the ceiling).

I guess if anyone has advice I’d love to hear it, but I’m more than happy with commiseration because I’m honestly so annoyed and overwhelmed right now.

 

[thankfullness]

@xekuter Direct them to the landlord. Put a sign on the door and a message on your machine. If your landlord didn't inform the other tenants that a dog grooming salon was going in, it's not your job to field complaints. Don't engage with them. Tell them to speak with the landlord. Otherwise they are going to keep interrupting you to yell. My guess is they were informed. You aren't breaking any mandatory quiet rules for the building so the tenants need to figure it out. Just shut them down immediately.

 

[xekuter]

@thankfullness I honestly think the landlord doesn’t care one way or the other (they’re not terribly responsive. lol) but it definitely is their problem. We’re considering emailing them first just so they’re aware of the actual situation, in case they get told the dog was barking since 6 am or something. My instinct was also just to shut them down and not engage at all, I’m glad that’s not totally out of line!

I really don’t know what the woman’s immediate desired outcome was either? Like we could just magically make this dog stop barking but didn’t feel like doing it? We throw him out the back door and hope he runs home?!

 

[thankfullness]

@xekuter Some people just want to complain. It could have been a radio, someone talking, the sound of the dryers, literally anything. It just happened to be a dog. I would give them a heads up, remind them that your business hours are not super early or super late and let them know you'll be sending complaints to them from now on!

 

[walkinthewoods]

@xekuter White noise machine. The one I have is called Dohm. You might need an extra-powerful one.

I live in an apartment and all day long my ceiling sounds like my upstairs neighbor has a toddler and a German Shepard running all over the place in zigzag patterns.

Because they do.

With the white noise, when they say, "sorry, it was loud", I just tell them not to worry, I have a white noise machine in every room. Nicer for both of us.

A noisy air purifier can serve the same function.

 

[xekuter]

@walkinthewoods I’ve lived in many apartments and I absolutely agree! Not sure the neighbor will be that reasonable, but I really hope so.