One of the pitfalls I’ve found of living in Army housing is that all the houses look exactly the same. This has created a small problem that would not normally happen in the civilian world….at least I don’t think it would.
Three times now, I have had complete strangers walk into my home thinking it was someone else’s.
Every single time, I think it is the oddest thing.
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The first time was when we were living at Ft. Campell. We lived in a community of duplex houses. But the outside of pretty much all the houses in the community looked exactly the same.
I was cooking dinner one night and Keith was in the back of the house playing with the girls when I heard the door open and someone walk in.
In the split second of time before I actually saw them, I had two thoughts….1) “Did Keith go outside and I didn’t realize it?” and 2) “What is Ribar (Keith’s assistant) doing walking into my house?”
Well, no, Keith did not walk outside and it wasn’t Ribar at our door.
It was a complete stranger, along with her daughter and her mother.
She looked at me…..I looked at her….and she said, “I think I’m at the wrong house”.
Apparently, she was going to a friend’s home for the first time. She was on the phone with her friend when she pulled into the driveway and her friend said, “Come on in,” not realizing that she wasn’t actually at her house.
It made for a good laugh.
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Now we’re living in stairwell apartments in Germany. Each building has three stairwells and each stairwells houses about eight apartments.
They all look pretty much the same.
My upstairs neighbors have a teenage daughter that babysat the kids for me once during the deployment.
As I was showing her around the house after she arrived to babysit, she said, “I know where the kitchen is, because I came here once by accident.”
Apparently when I was out taking out trash one day, she was returning home from school and stopped on the wrong floor.
She opened the door to our apartment and walked into the kitchen before she realized that she wasn’t in her home.
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And just this week, I was in the bathroom one night getting ready for bed.
Our one and only bathroom is the very first door when you walk into the apartment.
Keith was in the bedroom at the very end of the hallway, on the other side of the apartment.
All the kids were sleeping.
I heard lots of noises outside in the sairwell because the teenager from upstairs just graduated from high school and the family was having a party.
Then I heard a group of people coming up the stairs and our door opened.
I called for Keith and then heard someone say, “Oh, no!” and hurriedly close the door.
Apparently a friend of our neighbors came in the wrong door just as the babysitter had done.
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I have to wonder is this is just some strange phenomenom that just happens to us and/or just how many times this may happen over the course of Keith’s Army career.
I guess now is a good time to start keeping track.
Veronica Mitchell says
I did that once in college. The men’s and women’s dormitories looked exactly the same, and I walked into the wrong one, right up to theopen door of “my” room.
Veronica Mitchell’s last blog post..Pools, Parenting and Family Size
Stephanie says
The Lego tower is awesome! What great creativity!
The wrong door thing – don’t you have a decoration on the door with your names? I think I’d have to be locking that door all of the time. That would totally freak me out.
Pat says
One Christmas we walked out of the store and got into the SUV. My hubby started to fuss because I had left the doors unlocked and presents were in the back. As I started to tell him that I thought we locked the doors, he started yelling at me to get out of the car. I jumped out and he grabbed my arm as we walked away from the car. Then he tells me that we had gotten in the wrong car! Ours looked exactly the same only two cars down the row! I was so embarrassed!
Pat’s last blog post..Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom
LifeAtTheCircus says
Wow! To have it happen once is funny, three times, that’s crazy funny! I see you don’t keep your doors locked on base. 🙂
My little brother once got in the wrong car after school. But haven’t done the wrong house yet!
Hope you are feeling better!
LifeAtTheCircus’s last blog post..In the Elevator
homegrownstrawberries says
we had it happen and I almost did it one when we lived in apartments. I found what prevent both from actually happening is that we had to keep the door locked 24/7 because otherwise it would not shut fully… Yeah I know. Plus The Husband prefers to keeps thing locked all the time anyway. Just in case.
homegrownstrawberries’s last blog post..Weekend Thoughts: Joy
Rachel C says
Franklin did it here in Germany…he was in a hurry, thought he was all the way to the top, and walked right into our neighbor’s house. Too funny!!! My neighbor got a kick out of it, Franklin was beet red, needless to say, hasn’t made that mistake again! 🙂 We had a blast at your house yesterday! We don’t lock our doors either! 🙂
Happy Mama says
And A good time to start locking your door??? LOL
Happy Mama’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday
Jordan says
That’s too funny! Buck’s mom said that happened to them a few times…once it was here in Germany and this guy who had “escaped” from the mental hospital walked in, went into their bathroom and started taking a shower!! She was so freaked out that she forgot the baby asleep in the crib and fled the house to use the neighbors phone! LOL! It hasn’t happened to us yet…but the first thing I do upon entering the house is to lock the door…maybe you should try that! LOL!
Monica says
I am becoming more conscious of locking my door. Sometimes the Army (or living on post housing) creates a false sense of security.