A few days after starting this thread, I met one of my new neighbors...a Pakistani or South Asian (?) gentleman named Babu. He seemed nice enough. It's him, his wife, and their small child (about a year or so old). Judging from the license plates on their car, they came here from New York. Their child cries on occasion, but I only hear it if I'm in the hallway. They're not very noisy, seem to keep to themselves, and whatever they cook in there smells incredibly good...I need to get Rho and I invited over for dinner.
Last night, I happened to see them outside, unloading some groceries. I had my key handy, so I let them into the building, and made my way upstairs. A few minutes later, there's a knock on my door...it's them. Babu has locked his keys in the car. He wanted the rental office's phone number, but they don't do after hours lockouts. I broke out a yellow pages to look for a locksmith, but Babu had lockout service with his car insurance, so he called them. He made the call, and I spoke with the driver to give him directions to our complex. Then he, his wife, and the baby waited out in the hallway. Every couple of minutes, I'd hear another knock...he needed something to write on, he needed a phone number in case the tow truck driver needed to call back, etc. The whole time, they're all still out in the hallway.
At this point, it was feeling a bit awkward for me. We don't see our neighbors much, nor do we socialize with them. Not that I don't like socializing, but we just...don't. *shrugs* Here they are, sitting out in the hallway...and it was a bit chilly out there last night. My house looks like shit (when doesn't it?), but I didn't want to see them sitting out there anymore. So, I told them they were welcome to wait inside our apartment until the tow truck came...they thanked me, but refused. The tow truck driver arrived a short time later, and all was well. Babu later knocked on my door again, and thanked me for helping him out.
I could completely empathize with him. Two weeks after we moved into our apartment in DC, I lost our only set of keys. We had to call a locksmith, and sit outside our apartment for almost 3 hours. Then, I had to miss a day of work, b/c the complex had to put a new set of locks on the door the next day. On another occasion, during the 2-week period where we had 2 apartments (the one here and the one in DC), I drove up to bring some stuff for the new place. As I was walking up to the door, it dawned on me...Rho had both sets of keys to our new apartment. I wound up having to drive all the way back to DC, grab the keys, and drive back up to Philadelphia. I originally left for Philadelphia that night at 7:30. By the time I got back to Philadelphia with the keys, it was after 3am...and I had a meeting in Trenton at 8:30am. Oh...did I mention that I forgot dress clothes for the meeting, so I had to rush up to Wal-Mart when they opened at 7am?
I'm glad I was able to help out. I figure it shows the neighbors that we're half-decent folk willing to lend a helping hand. And truth be told, where we live, the attitude seems to be, "If it ain't white, it ain't right"...if you catch my drift. We could certainly use a bit more diversity in these parts...and now, we have whites, an African-American, a Native American, and a family of Asians...all in one building. Good stuff.