Neighbour just rung doorbell at 2.30am!

[greywolfie]

I'm now wide awake and fumming. She rung twice so I opened the front bedroom window as I worried it might be an emergency. Women stood there on her phone in tears and I thought - oh, she could need help.
My husband is on his way down to.open the door.
Then she says...."my cat is in your garden"
I mean - FFS!
I said "well your cat will get out of our garden"
"Really?"
"Yes. If your cat is still in our garden in the morning we will bring it back"
Shut window.
Husband then opened the door and she started telling him about the damn cat- I yelled at him to shut it.
He wanted to go out and get it but I said that was mad and would encourage the over protective cat mother to do it again in future.
For reference, we have 2 elderly cats that very rarely scale the fence. One night one got over very late and was struggling to make it back (we have stuff by our fence that would've also helped her bloody cat up, if he cared - but their side is just the bare fence). I was a bit worried but would NEVER have rung their bell in the middle of the night! About an hour later our old lady regained her energy and made it back.
AIBU to go round in the morning and point out you don't ring people's doorbells for this reason? It's batshit right?

Ok, I'd answer to the police OR if my house was on fire.

😂

and if she was me, she wouldn't care either!!

Me too. I would have helped humanity by removing this lunatic from the gene pool.

yup, blues and twos only!

FEIW I think you sound great . Intelligent and kind . x

YANBU. I don't doubt she was worried about the cat but given you've seen it in your garden most nights and she couldn't give a reasonable explanation as to why she needed the cat to come home so urgently she shouldn't have been ringing your bell in the middle of the night.

I think a lot of posters who are responding 'Well I would've helped' are basing this on how they feel now. Certainly if someone knocked on my door at 2:30PM I would also do all I could to help even if I was thinking 'well this is a bit insane'. At 2:30AM when I've been suddenly awoken by the doorbell going, been awake for 30 seconds worrying that my house is on fire or that someone's died only to look out the window and see my crying neighbour say 'my cats in your garden'. Yeah? I'd be fuming actually?

"My cats in your garden and he looks injured."
"My cats in your garden, I know it's late but he's a house cat who escaped and I'm worried he'll roam further and I won't find him if I don't grab him now."
"My cats in your garden, I was about to take him to an emergency vet and he got out of his crate."

All fine and acceptable and I would understand. "My cats in your garden" with no further explanation as to why that's a problem in the middle of the night is not.

Fuck being kind

Yep. In seriousness though we have had the odd drunk person knocking for the wrong house (one fell asleep in the garden) as we live in a terrace in a town centre near pubs and I'm just not risking opening it for a sob story. They can knock on the door of my 6ft3 neighbour who has a Ring doorbell.

I’ve said several times. Asked why specifically she was so distressed at it. Still no word on that.

Sarcasm isn’t necessary.

If you don’t care about your neighbours in tears then you do you. It’s an opinion at the end of the day.

at 2.30 am over a lost cat!

It always amazes me when people post that the OP is wrong about why she did something, and that she did it for a much worse reason.
The arrogance on some people. And the nastiness. I wonder if they say those things to people's faces too.

How would you know if you don't answer the door?

Call me weird but if you're waking your neighbour at 2.30 in a state of distress because your cat is in their garden its on you to explain yourself. The OP has had no further explanation about why the cat being in her garden was cause for distress and the neighbour seemed surprised to be told the cat would get itself out again. The neighbour posted a note and knocked twice FFS. If I was that worried about my cat I'd have got a ladder, climbed over the fence, got my cat and left my neighbours to sleep.

You're free to be on call for stressed neighbours 24/7 if you choose but you don't get to accuse other people of being hateful and unkind because they are not that insane self sacrificing. I thought the sarcasm was entirely necessary.

That wasn't even lost...

I would NOT be kind to someone who rang my doorbell at 2.30am for something that was not an emergency, @ShetlandishMum - and this was definitely not an emergency!

smoke and or blue lights would be a dead giveaway

Being woken up at 2.30am for a cat in a garden?! Fuck that.

I’d properly find out the reason for anyone in tears and distress at any time of the day or night, yes. If you wouldn’t, then that’s you.

If neighbour did this frequently, on multiple nights, as a pattern, then that’s a different conversation. But that’s not happened.

Yes, and I did say I wouldn't open it for random people at night. I would shout through the door and use the peephole.

Please do this 🤣

She's 'distressed' at 2.30am. Because her cat is in someone's garden. Where is her consideration for her neighbours? Get a grip.

Yep, and still don’t know why. I would have asked. End of.

She just sounds like a very inexperienced cat owner which isn't OP's problem, especially in the middle of the night.