Responding to a noise complaint

[FlyingWhales]

I'm not sure if this is specifically Social Anxiety related but oh well, this seemed the most relevant place. I just got a letter documenting apparently "Anti Social behaviour" from my flat The premise of course is ironic but ridiculous, as I'm certainly NON social but not "anti" social If the phone or intercom goes my heart rate shoots up and I panic and usually ignore it unless I'm expecting a call or I'm feeling comfortable to let people in the house.And if the DOORBELL goes then heaven help me Anyway, the complaint is supposedly about excessive noise, and there was a phone number on the letter as well as an email, and obviously I chose to respond via the email address given Here's what I wrote

Hello, I recently received a letter regarding alleged anti-social behaviour ("excessive noise") at my address (myaddress). I am aware that I am responsible for the noise level at my flat, and had taken every step I thought was necessary to prevent disturbing anyone. By nature I am a very introverted and retiring person and do not like bringing attention to myself, so I hope you can understand that I would never intentionally cause annoyance if I could help it. The only incidents I can think this complaint is in respect to is that I have recently begun some moderate fitness workouts, however I always tend do this between 7-8pm. On two occasions I was running late and so began a session some time after 11pm. The only noise that I could have possibly produced was a slight "clunk" as the bar was being lifted onto and off its stand so I did not anticipate that it would be audible even in the next room, compared to say a television on at this time of night, let alone the next flat. I listen to music to whilst doing this, but again, it is moderately low volume and barely audible in my bedroom from the living room so I doubt this could be reasonably be the cause for any concern. The next time this happened however I got loud knocking and someone asking me to keep the noise down, so I realised that I must have somehow made noises loud enough to be heard, and so immediately stopped. In the future I will not be working out at this time of night, and I regret any disturbance caused.

I am however rather disappointed that it would come to such an official "complaint" - I am hardly an obtrusive person and try to keep to myself. There is a flat nearby which is constantly pouring out excessively loud music which disturbs -me-, and is far more constant and disturbing than anything I have done. (Incidentally, I have heard this same neighbour who has knocked on my door talking to others about this and various other "noisy neighbours") However, I do not complain about this issue because I think it's rather immature to go down this route for something so trivial and non-threatening. If it gets to a point where I have a problem with them I will write a note/talk to them civilly and ask them to try and be more considerate. However, in this case, I -was- asked to stop, and I did, and have been if anything excessively quiet since then, constantly on guard against causing any excess noise even to the point where I avoid simple noiseless things late at night such as cooking, which surely I have every reasonable expectation to do at any time of day. So why it was felt necessary to complain instead of simply accepting my cessation of the accidental noise is unknown to me and seems rather unfortunate, as if a fellow adult cannot be trusted to understand the meaning of "Could you keep the noise down". In any case, I apologise for any inconvenience caused to my neighbours and myhousingassociation, and will continue as I have been doing to be vigilant against any future disturbances.

Yours sincerely,
Myname

As you can see I did something which I wouldn't usually do, instead of just apologising I actually did something "aggressive" by saying how I was upset that this person felt the need to go over my head as it were for something so minor, instead of just writing me a peaceful note or just TRUSTING me to do what she had asked. I'm usually far too anxious of "repercussions" and get anxiety as I do with anything like this. I realise that I probably did make more noise than should be expect but I honestly would never INTEND to. Knowing I might get in trouble for it considering how anxious I felt just hearing this lady knocking on my door for something so MEANINGLESS really upset me. I hope I didn't come off sounding like a dick but I was just annoyed/scared to get something so "official" over something I thought was done with and trivial. Especially since the thing I'm at fault for was 100% entirely accidental unintentional and I HATE being treated as the "bad guy". I can GUARANTEE that what minuscule disturbance I may have caused this person wasn't half as bad as the anxiety and panic I went through just hearing her knock on my door unexpectedly let alone yelling at me so rudely... I've been second guessing EVERY noise now 24/7 and constantly turning down my music even when it's already quiet because I'm so paranoid that she's going to come knocking again, or worse. It doesn't help that I tend to be awake very late most nights as I feel most comfortable since I know it's just me awake in the building, and it helps me feel less anxious. So now I'm just hoping that she doesn't complain and get an ASBO stuck on me next time I decide to have a late night fry up and accidentally drop a frying pan Maybe I'm taking this too personally because of how sensitive I am to this kind of social interaction but it just pisses me off that we've really come to the point where "official" actions result from things so minor and unintentional