Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/1u1xc1n/tifu_by_assuming_my_upstairs_neighbor_was_doing/

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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Akimovell on 2026-06-10 09:34:28+00:00.

This happened over the course of like two months so its not a single moment of stupidity, more like a slow build of me being an idiot.

I moved into my current apartment last winter. Its an older building, the walls and floors are not exactly soundproof. Within the first week i started hearing this loud rhythmic banging from the apartment above me, usually in the evening, sometimes after 11pm. Sounded like someone repeatedly dropping something heavy on the floor or dragging furniture. It would go on for 20-30 minutes and then stop. I was already stressed from the move and starting a new semester and this just made everything worse.

I told myself id say something but i kept putting it off because i hate conflict. Instead i just stewed about it. I started timing it on my phone. I complained to my friend about it constantly. At some point i convinced myself the guy up there was doing it deliberately to annoy me, like he had something against me personally even though we had never spoken. I worked myself into a genuine quiet hatred for this person i had never met. Two months of this.

Last week the hallway door was open when i was coming back home and my neighbor was in the doorway. We made eye contact and i thought okay, this is it, im gonna say something calm and adult about the noise. Before i could open my mouth he smiled and introduced himself and mentioned he does physical therapy exercises every evening because of a back injury he got at work two years ago. Just offered that information completely unprompted like he was used to explaining it to people.

I said "oh thats totally fine" and went inside and sat on my floor for a while.

Two months of low grade anger at a guy with a bad back doing his physical therapy. I never said anything to him but i feel like an idiot anyway.

TL;DR: Spent two months convinced my upstairs neighbor was banging on the floor to annoy me on purpose. Turns out he has a back injury and does physical therapy every evening. He told me this himself before i could even complain.