The "complaints" of neighbors really seems to depend upon what building you are in from what I can tell. I've heard a lot of these stories but have thankfully never experienced them. We are lucky to live in a building with thick walls, and we can shower and flush whenever we want. We and the other neighbors even do laundry on Sunday. I appreciate that rules are rules, but am just so glad not to be dealing with neighbors so involved in my business that they notice every time I flush. If you have to be paranoid about your bodily functions I believe that rules have gone too far to be reasonable, regardless of whether you are Swiss, or from any any other country for that matter.
Our 9 apt' building has 'the bathroom rules' but the other tenants seem to apply reason and logic to them.
The son in of the Swiss family above us works in a restaurant and regularily showers when he gets home form work at 11 -12 pm, as I hear the shower going when I'm in our bathroom... peeing standing up They have some great bbq's on their balcony too and the smell is fantstic, (I'd love to make that illegal as it doesn't half give you the munchies ) but you can see the old goat (also Swiss) in the building opposite, who opens his bedroom window, and stands there hands on hips, shaking his head He's not even in our building and it must be getting to him watching people having fun, I reckon if he were in our building he would be a stickler for every rule.
So I guess you just have to take pot luck, we have a beautiful apartment, in a nice setting with great neighbour....others aren't so lucky, so be mindful of the rules, respect the people around you and you should be OK
Switzerland is unfortunately full of stupid and anal rules. It's part and parcel of the reason why it's also remarkably clean and safe. Rigid adherence to rules is part of the character and nature of Swiss society.
You don't have to just blindly accept rules- if you have a residency permit you are not just a 'guest' as many of the "Switzerland is perfect" people like to think, your voice should be heard - but the chances are that you aren't going to have much luck changing them.
Ultimately you'll probably fall into one of a number of well defined 'foreigner' ways of thinking:
Those who love the "Rules are everything" culture and decide to stay for the long term. In fact, they often get more anal than the locals.
Those who aren't great fans of all the silly rules but accept that overall the experience is at least good enough to warrant staying into the foreseeable future.
Those who get hacked off with them and leave for somewhere a bit easier going.
Best to try to decide which category you'll fall in to (probably not the first ) and get on with life.
A good post. A lot of the rules are stupid but after being here for some time you tend to roll-with-it and then become a bit more astute and exploit the very same rules for your own ends. I was in a local Gemeinde-local-park-for-local-people-we'll-have-no-trouble-here by the lake: there was a large sign , prohibiting everything you could possibly imagine: grill-parties; ball games; dogs; walking in a funny way. But nowhere on this was anything prohibiting playing of musical instruments, hosting equestrian events, grazing of cattle etc....so.....
The point is, a system that attempts to explicitly define the rules and what is not allowed has to be pretty-damn-comprehensive. It allows you to make the best of any loopholes and exclusions and play the system at it own game.
The ten o'clock silence rule is a good example (I don't condone this, but this is just for illustration) you can play music as loud as you like up to 10pm, because the rules don't specify an SPL . Most common-sense environments would be a bit more flexible, but these systems are a victim of their own need to presecribe.
Good point. i think that the environment can affect the attitude. I used to live in apartment in England and the 'leakage' of sound through walls and ceilings was bad. I had continual problems with the upstairs neighbours making noise even though they were aware it was bad build quality and the hassle it was causing. I had no interest in hearing them shower, go to toilet, listen to music etc but had little choice.
Some kinds of noise are more irritating than others, and some neighbors are more tolerant than others. So there are some arguments in favor of neighborly common sense and letting the courts decide, instead of set norms. My point being that it hasn't to be contradictory to emphasise the importance of night silence without regulating the daytime in much detail?
I'm sure that the Swiss Engineers and Architects Association SIA sells many acoustic insulation norms though...
That's the point. If you try and legislate for every aspect of someones life then it removes the capacity (or some might say need) to use common sense. hence there are blank faces and confusion when unusual circumstances arise....