The Worst Sound on Earth

The fancy new condo building across the street in Teele Square has its own tiny garage. The driveway crosses the busy sidewalk on Broadway, so there is an alarm that sounds whenever the garage door is open. Residents seem to open the garage door when they leave their apartment, then walk down to their Audi, start it up and drive away. All the while, the alarm sounds, warning pedestrians that a vehicle might cross the sidewalk. The alarm shuts off if the resident remembers to close the garage door.

The first alarm the building used sounded like a giant blender full of mice. The horrific squealing sound would bother me at all hours of the night and day, too high-pitched to tune out. Then, there was a long, silent period. I figured that people had complained and that the alarm was gone for good.

Last week, a man came with a pickup truck and a ladder. He banged and banged with his hammer, and installed a strobe light where the old alarm he had been. Then, he installed a new alarm that sounds like cattle being electrocuted. The thing buzzes in a loud, obnoxious, staccato meter. And it NEVER SHUTS OFF. All day and night, the thing buzzes. I'm listening to a CD at my desk, and I can actually hear the alarm clearly over my music.

Of course, some douchebag has left the garage door open once again, which is why the alarm continues incessantly. I wonder what I will do to resolve this.