"Young Lady!" and a nutty neighbor issue

[Sharnita]

I can understand your concern. while there is no proof of those things (obviously) proving something didn't happen can be pretty difficult.  The whole justice system is set up in recognition of that.  However, I also understand there might be a few specific jobs that are so sensitive that they would want to know absolutely that it wasn't true.

[PastryGoddess]

Speaking here as someone who works in and around the DC area and deals with a lot of people who have various levels of security clearances.   

Investigators have a pretty good BS detector.  Unless he is going to be certified for a very high security clearance such as Top Secret, SCI, or SAP, the investigators will probably not even interview your neighbors.  While yes, allegations of impropriety are bad, the investigators do a very thorough job of investigating those allegations, if they determine them to be valid.  If they think that there is some truth to the allegations, they'll ask him point blank and give him the opportunity to explain...then they'll go and verify he's telling the truth  

They are very thorough.  I'm on a loan with my parents and they have to do a re-certification every 5 years. I have to do a phone interview with the FBI.  That's probably not going to happen with your neighbor. Of course you don't want your neighbor to go off spouting things like DRUGS! S3X! ORGIES! all over town, so you'll need to monitor whether or not she is actually targeting you or if she is equal opportunity crazy.

[postalslave]

As a person who used to be a "hoodlum that does drugs" I can assure you my planters were always the picture of perfection.

[Ida]

I think the magic word/nuclear bomb here is "Alzheimer's" and you should be very careful where you plant it. Surround it with sympathetic noises and be sure it's watered appropriately.


What's really sad is that it might be accurate.

[Giggity]

Whoa, way too close to medical talk.

[YummyMummy66]

Speaking here as someone who works in and around the DC area and deals with a lot of people who have various levels of security clearances.   

Investigators have a pretty good BS detector.  Unless he is going to be certified for a very high security clearance such as Top Secret, SCI, or SAP, the investigators will probably not even interview your neighbors.  While yes, allegations of impropriety are bad, the investigators do a very thorough job of investigating those allegations, if they determine them to be valid.  If they think that there is some truth to the allegations, they'll ask him point blank and give him the opportunity to explain...then they'll go and verify he's telling the truth  

They are very thorough.  I'm on a loan with my parents and they have to do a re-certification every 5 years. I have to do a phone interview with the FBI.  That's probably not going to happen with your neighbor. Of course you don't want your neighbor to go off spouting things like DRUGS! S3X! ORGIES! all over town, so you'll need to monitor whether or not she is actually targeting you or if she is equal opportunity crazy.

Sorry, but I disagree.  My next door neighbors son applied to be a police officer in Baltimore, Maryland. We live in PA. We did have someone come down and do a neighborhood check regarding this neighbor's son.  I don't believe he was applying for a top secret position either.  So, yes, some businesses' do do neighborhood checks.

But, I do agree that an investigator will know a bullcrap story from a real one and which stories need to be checked out versus those that do not.

[PastryGoddess]

Speaking here as someone who works in and around the DC area and deals with a lot of people who have various levels of security clearances.   

Investigators have a pretty good BS detector.  Unless he is going to be certified for a very high security clearance such as Top Secret, SCI, or SAP, the investigators will probably not even interview your neighbors.  While yes, allegations of impropriety are bad, the investigators do a very thorough job of investigating those allegations, if they determine them to be valid.  If they think that there is some truth to the allegations, they'll ask him point blank and give him the opportunity to explain...then they'll go and verify he's telling the truth  

They are very thorough.  I'm on a loan with my parents and they have to do a re-certification every 5 years. I have to do a phone interview with the FBI.  That's probably not going to happen with your neighbor. Of course you don't want your neighbor to go off spouting things like DRUGS! S3X! ORGIES! all over town, so you'll need to monitor whether or not she is actually targeting you or if she is equal opportunity crazy.

Sorry, but I disagree.  My next door neighbors son applied to be a police officer in Baltimore, Maryland. We live in PA. We did have someone come down and do a neighborhood check regarding this neighbor's son.  I don't believe he was applying for a top secret position either.  So, yes, some businesses' do do neighborhood checks.

But, I do agree that an investigator will know a bullcrap story from a real one and which stories need to be checked out versus those that do not.

Yes every type of clearance is different.

[FenigDurak]

...    "I don't believe we have properly introduced ourselves. I'm TealDragon."   ...

I see your point, and it's a valid one, but I'm not sure I'd want this particular old woman knowing my name.   

If this woman is daring enough to peer into the house to spy window boxes, it's a safe bet she's rifled through any mail left in the mail box (unless OP has the interior mail slot).

[BeagleMommy]

POD to the PastryGoddess.  Any investigator who has to run background checks on employees/applicants has the ability to detect who is disgruntled, who is telling the truth and who is just shy of crazy.

DH and I both had background checks done when we applied for government jobs in Washington, DC.  The agency we worked for did background checks beginning at age 16 and running through to your present age.  They talked to all our neighbors (different agencies have different levels).

I would contact your landlord and let him know you suspect she is coming onto your property without your permission.

[lurkerwisp]

I don't know if it helps any, but I admitted to the investigator who called about DH's college roomie that he was an alcoholic at the time and he still got his high security job in DC.  So your concern that someone will contact your neighbors is valid, but I wouldn't worry too incredibly much about them not granting clearance on the word of a nonprofessional contact.

[Jocelyn]

I think I'd take a different approach.  I'd kill her with kindness and say, "Thanks so much for letting me know!  I will do my very best to take care of them (it).  Bye now!"  And then go inside.    Regardless of the condition of my landscaping, no matter what she says, I'd agree with her and promise to do my best.  I wouldn't get confrontational with her, I'd just take the wind right out of her sails.

I'd be afraid that this would encourage her to create a longer list of things I needed to do, and the entitled feeling that, having identified them, I would be obliged to recreate my home to her standards.

[mmswm]

I agree with the advise to talk to your landlord.

All of the talk of security clearances reminded me of a story about one of my father's friends.  My dad's friend is an engineer at a company that works with high level government contracts.  For years he wanted to apply for a promotion, but kept putting it off because one of the questions on the clearance paperwork asks about former/present drug use.  My dad's friend had smoked quite a bit of weed as a kid, but had long since stopped.  He thought that a "yes" answer on that question would automatically disqualify him, but lying would be just as bad.  He eventually decided that he had nothing to lose, and went ahead and submitted the paperwork with a truthful answer.  He was then called in for the interview.  It goes well until the interviewer got to that question. My dad's friend mentioned that was the question that worried him the most and assured the interviewer that it was something that was long ago left in his past.  The interviewer then reviewed the paperwork and told him "well, you were a teenager in Southern California in the 70's.  If you'd said you never smoked weed I'd have thought you were a liar."

I know that's stereotyping, but I still get a chuckle out of that story every time he tells it.