People walk in front of an IKEA shop in Berlin, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012.Markus Schreiber/The Associated Press
If you hear a baby screaming and loud banging noises from your neighbour's apartment at 1 a.m. you may be inclined to think the worst. You might even call the police out of concern.
Which is exactly what happened in Stromstad, a small town in Sweden near the Norway border.
But when the police arrived, they found no signs of a crime scene. Quite the contrary. According to the Swedish affiliate of TheLocal.com, the family was attempting to assemble a piece of IKEA furniture. Once the baby awoke, the cacophony escalated – presumably playing out like a scene from a Judd Apatow midlife romcom.
"It remains unclear if the baby was simply crying in need of attention, or whether it too was frustrated by the complexity of the IKEA instructions," explains the article with a pinch of snark.
None of the parties involved have been named nor quoted. Also noted in the coverage of this non-news event was that Stockholm police had been called for a similar noise disturbance false alarm earlier in the week.
But it's the IKEA assembly part that has given the story traction. Even NBC's Brian Williams ended the evening news by recommending people keep it down when assembling their unpronounceable bookshelves.
Or, at minimum, make sure baby is fully distracted with a set of Mula hammering blocks.