Is AUTHOR wrong in the post ? POST : This is actually more of an "are we the asshole neighbours?".  

We've got a neighbour who is constantly complaining to us in ways that infuriate me. I'm looking for some outside perspective on whether he's justified.    


**To paint the picture:**   
My GF and I moved into our new flat in August. It's an older building, and there are two flats on each floor. Ours is on the second floor, so we have a neighbour below us, one above us and one next to us. There technically is another one, but they are in a separate building, and cut off by an unusually thick wall, so they'll not be counting here.    

When we moved in, we actually were very pleasantly surprised by just how little noise we could hear from the other flats. We have never heard a sound from below us, only occasionally from the flat above us (they sometimes have a dog over, and when he's running, you can hear his little tip-taps - not that this would bother us), and slightly more occasionally from the flat next to us.    

The family living there has two kids, aged 8 and about 2, and when one of them is screaming, we obviously can here them.  
Which is fine, kids sometimes scream, we get it.     


**Now for the actual problem:**   
My girlfriend has a severe obsessive compulsive disorder. It's not some kind of mild, "look what a cute quirk they have!" kind of OCD. This disorder literally dictates every tiny bit of her daily life - and since I'm living with her, it heavily affects my daily routines as well.    

The main aspect of this that would be observable to outsiders is the way she showers, more specifically, the amount of time she needs to shower. When she gets home from work, she will shower anywhere between one and one and a half hours.   

We are working on cutting this down. But therapy for an OCD as severe as hers, which she has had since she was in highschool, takes years or decades to get rid of, if ever.   

"Just take a shorter shower!" is therefore not viable. I've seen her in situations where she was unable to take a shower, or unable to shower for as long as she needs to, and the fallout from that is catastrophic. The last time she had to be in her own flat without showering after working, she hab a complete breakdown, was held at the psych ward, and we ultimately decided to move in together, as going back in her flat was not an option for her OCD.    

You probably have guessed what the main issue with our neighbours is. They like to complain about noise.     

At least I though so.     

The first time they complained was on a Sunday at around 11pm. Which was fine, it was late, so we apologised. Luckily, my GF's shower was almost finished.     

A couple of weeks later, same thing happened. Except it was barely 7pm.     

Then, two weeks ago, our doorbell starts ringing at half past 6am on a Saturday. We are obviously still fast asleep, so we don't react. Two minutes later, the doorbell rings again, this time for nearly twenty seconds. We ignore it and try to continue sleeping. But again, and again, the doorbell rings. I decide something important must be up, so I open the door.    

It's the neighbour, asking me whether the shoes on his doormat are ours. Yes, they are! I don't know how they got there; my only explanation is that the cleaning staff moved the shoes for some reason and forgot where to put them back.   

I tell him, yes they are ours, obviously we didn't put them there ourselves, we'll get them later, we are still sleeping. Why is this so important.    

He seems fine with that, goes back inside, my sleep is ruined.   

Cut to this morning. I've got an exam at 8:30, my commute to campus is one hour, I need one hour to get ready in the morning, and I add another half hour buffer in case my train is late.   

So I took a shower at 6 am. (Note: my showers don't take long at all, 10-15min tops).    

At 6:05, our doorbell starts ringing. And ringing. And ringing. Finally I slam the water shut and shout at them: "I'm under the shower, I'm not coming to the door right now - what is it you want?". Definitely loud enough for them to hear. No answer. I shout again. No answer.    

This entire thing obviously woke my girlfriend, who could have slept another hour.      

By now, I'm almost certain their behaviour has cost more lost sleep than ours.    

And the cherry on the cake, at least for me? The way our flat is built, it is literally impossible that his bedroom is adjacent to our bathroom. There's just no way.    

I'm really starting to lose my temper here, and I'm not sure I'll be able to be friendly the next time this happens.    

On one hand I get that long showers at late or very early hours could be annoying.    

On the other hand, I fail to understand how they could hear that shower loud enough to be woken by it. I also know there's no way in hell we can cut back on showers.   

Are we the assholes here?    

**tl;dr:**  neighbour presumably gets woken by / is kept awake by hour shower. Jumps on every opportunity to ring us awake in turn. 