By Dan Vierra Sacramento Bee UPS made the delivery on Monday. Or was it Tuesday? Ask your nosy neighbor.
Peering from behind drapes or parted blinds, spying through fence slats or out-and-out rubbernecking from front yards, nosy neighbors don't miss much.
Aren't sure if your daughter made curfew last night? Ask your nosy neighbor.
There's no shortage of neighborhood snoops. Research by
ServiceMagic.com, an online company that connects consumers with home-service professionals nationwide, found that nearly two-thirds of those surveyed admitted they've either had or currently have a nosy neighbor.
Even more, 67 percent, had caught a neighbor in the act of snooping, while another 5 percent said it was just a matter of time before they caught the sneaky snoopers.
"It's disconcerting to know that every time you're in the yard that you might have someone watching your every move," said ServiceMagic.com home-improvement expert David Lupberger in a statement accompanying the survey. "Let's face it ... it's a bit creepy."
Invasions of privacy may be creepy and meddlesome, but they also can be beneficial. As crime busters, nosy neighbors are the ones most likely to spot someone breaking into your house. They can rid the street of a meth lab, abusive spouse, chronic code violators or vicious dogs. Organized neighborhood surveillance is called "Neighborhood Watch."
Claire Frost of Placerville, Ca., admits she's been a nosy neighbor. And she's proud of it.
Suspicious when as many as two dozen cars would visit a neighbor's home each day, Frost turned to extreme measures to chronicle the daily comings and goings.
"When I went out to get the newspaper, there would be people passed out in the yard," she said. "Once there was a guy slumped against the garage. The neighbor on the other side found syringes in their yard."
Frost did most of her super-snooping by watching from her kitchen window. She kept a notepad and pencil on the windowsill and recorded detailed information -- license-plate numbers, vehicle descriptions, dates and times. Even when she walked her dog, she took notes.
She input these notes into a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet. After six months of watching and noting, she delivered her package to law enforcement.
The house was then raided three times over a two-week period, arrests were made and a neighborhood nuisance eliminated.
"What I gave them was what got the search warrant," she said.
Nosy neighbors also can be a source of information for potential homebuyers. Want to know all the juicy gossip about a particular street? Ask the nosy neighbor. They're not hard to spot; they're the ones with the digital camera or pretending to water the daylilies.
Once escrow has closed and you've become part of the neighborhood, the extroverted busybodies may also be eager to collect your mail and newspaper and tend pets while you're on vacation. Just remember: You may have to give up a chunk of your privacy.
Brand Walker of
RottenNeighbor.com says there's a fine line between nosy neighbor and concerned neighbor.
"If a neighbor is too nosy, they can end up doing more harm than good," says Walker. "In general, most people do not like other nosy neighbors, and this can lead to altercations."
Walker advises that if you persist on being nosy, be smart about it.
"Don't walk around sticking your nose in everyone's business all of the time," he says. "Use common sense."
Contact Dan Vierria at
dvierria@sacbee.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service,
www.scrippsnews.com.
