apt neighbor props fire doors open

[JimmyTheSaint]

My building has big fire doors at each of the two stairwells. They have an official looking label on them stating that they're to remain closed. Except for the first floor, all fire doors can only be opened from the hallway not the stairwell for security purposes. So tenants never use the stairs (8th floor and up), only the elevators. Recently, one neighbor has taken to propping the doors on the 9th and 10th floor open, which brings me loud annoying noise from a dog on the other floor that barks all day. My problem is with the noise, but technically speaking propping the doors affects the air circulation and goes against fire safety. It's also a very real security issue. Others have asked the neighbor to leave the doors alone, but he doesn't, claiming it's more comfortable with the doors open. It's actually not more comfortable, but my fear is that keeping the doors open has become a point of honor for him that he won't want to back down from. Is there any possibility of playing the fire safety angle? For example, in the U.S. you'd schedule a fire safety inspection and the inspector would demand those kinds of doors remain closed. Is there a way to do that in Taipei? The problem would be that any fines would go against the management, and I wouldn't want to make enemies with them because they're good managers. I'd just like to know if we can play the fire safety angle to persuade the neighbor that it would be best to leave the fire doors alone. We could tell him we all have to suffer together because the bad inspector is making us, and he'd have a way of backing down.

[Lord Lucan]

Obviously the management aren't that good if they're allowing fire doors to remain open.

[sulavaca]

That's nothing. My neighbours keep a shopping trolley, several old doors, countless boxes, six bicycles, furniture, rubbish, a ping pong table, office supplies and more in our fire escape route. You would need to be Sir Edmund Hilary if you believed you stood a change of surmounting the shit heap which prevents any of us escaping during a fire.
That's if anyone can even be bothered to try. Nobody knows when there is a fire, or isn't a fire any more. Whoever is in charge of fire-bell maintenance can never be bothered to let the residents know when the alarm system will be tested. This results in bells going off on average once every two to three weeks. Each time you run, trip and fall downstairs, resulting in another trip to the medicine cabinet for the first aid kit, only to find out its another test. They never bother to tell you when there is another test scheduled, and the bells just go off at random times.
The only time I ever actually bothered leaving because of this stupid random, uninformed testing, and after the third false alarm was when I actually smelled smoke along with the bells.
The people that run my building are fools. Idiots at best!
I'll take your unclosed fire-doors, and I'll swap you my situation any day!

Unfortunately, both of our situations fall under the category Idiotic, "cultural bog-stump". I coin this category myself as I think it best describes the situation where you can use all the logic in the world to describe the precise nature of the danger or socially unacceptable nature of the enquiry, yet nobody within the local culture will openly agree with you for fear of upsetting some other tunnel minded, luddites, who will then look down on them too as some kind of "trouble maker". I have suffered the scorn of countless Taiwanese when pointing out the blatantly obvious in regards to dangerous situations and/or unacceptable behaviour, including my own wife, who would prefer I keep 'my issues' to myself, as my opinions regarding the health and safety of people such as my family and fellow residents are to be treated with utter contempt and scorn upon even mentioning them.

I prefer the term "cultural bog-stump" as I think it fittingly describes this situation where simply because nobody believes you have the right to question their own short-sightedness, because you are obviously a "foreigner" and only a guest to their culture, then you are faced with the all too well known and documented, depressing, no win situation.
The more you struggle to make your point in even a calm and logical manner, the deeper you sink and the more perplexed you become about the simple situation at hand. This carries on of course until you have become completely exhausted, bogged down in a stew of sense versus nonsensical blather and finally "stumped".

My advice is to develop your own plans given the situation at hand. Clear a path when no one is looking, and then force yourself to suffer no sympathetic feelings towards people whenever you see another story where an entire building was destroyed, only because there was no clear exit route and the fire services couldn't clear a way for all the illegally parked motor vehicles outside.

Unfortunately Taiwan culture is only "reactionary" in nature, and not "pro-active". It isn't going to change any time soon, so I suggest you get to grips with it in your head and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Think of yourself as blessed that you received an education which allows you to think for yourself, and pity those that weren't so fortunate. Help when its asked for, and don't bother the rest of the time, unless you enjoy being shunned for your good intentions.

[urodacus]

Weld the doors shut, jimmy. Problem fixed!

And Sulavacaa, just move the crap out of the stairwell into the foyer area. And then weld the doors shut.

[sulavaca]

Weld the doors shut, jimmy. Problem fixed!

And Sulavacaa, just move the crap out of the stairwell into the foyer area. And then weld the doors shut.

That's impossible. I don't have the energy and the foyer isn't large enough. Neither is the pavement outside!
It would take a removal firm to get rid of all the crap in my stairwells.

[JimmyTheSaint]

Thanks for all the commiseration. I understand about being very selective about which battles are worth fighting. The endless dog barking is a real problem for me since I work at home a lot, and it's so easily fixed by closing the fire doors that it's worth pursuing. Of course, the added fire risk of propped doors is a greater harm, but since it's intangible it's not felt directly as a harm. So I wouldn't want to try to represent to people why increasing other people's risk actually injures them. But I thought the fire safety angle would invoke an obedience-to-authority response so that the other party doesn't have to back down to me. My thanks to the forum member who PM'ed me a public services contact number.

I did also think of begging the neighbor's indulgence to grant me a personal favor. He'd then be the big man in the situation. I might still do that, but now that he's heard from other people, he might just see me as a manipulative character who's in on the conspiracy to control his behavior. But honestly there's zero benefit to anyone to keeping the fire doors open--it's just a fixation he has. He has to go out several times a day to re-open them, so maybe he'd take the face-saving way out of a situation that's burdensome to him too. With neighbors who leave junk in the hallway or fire escape, at least there's a clear benefit of convenience for their inconsideration. With these fire doors, though, there's absolutely none so backing down would be like him admitting he's been a big dummy. He's the authority figure at the space he rents, so he's invested in continuing to do a dumb thing so that he doesn't look like a fool in front of the people who see him as an authority.

[sulavaca]

You see? You are trying to find reason! Stop yourself already. It will only result in sweating a lot and becoming annoyed.
This is another reason I could never purchase an appartment here. Its easier to give up and just move if you are renting

[redwagon]

Just remove whatever he props the doors open with so he can't reuse that item. Eventually he'll run out of stuff to prop the doors with. If that dog really does bark all day long, get the EPA involved with a noise complaint. When the dog owner realizes that his dog barking is only annoying you and then only because the door is open, he might get behind your cause to have the door shut.

Well, worth a shot anyway.

Otherwise, I agree with everything Sulavaca posted.

[sandman]

Yeah. I can't see a problem. Just keep shutting the door every time you see it open, making sure you put his prop on the outside. You don't even need to confront him or even speak to him.

[JimmyTheSaint]

Can you give contact information for EPA? Even if it's not right for this situation, it would be a good reference to have.

The plan to give up and move is sound reasoning and I've been considering it. But first it's less work to reason through a plan to get the neighbor to change his behavior. He had a reason to start doing what he was doing, so maybe we can provide him a reason to stop.

No dice on stealing the neighbor's door prop: the doors are self-propping if you push them open wide enough. I and other do frequently close the doors. But it's been a month now, so he's pretty dedicated.