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  • When They Just Don't Get It

    And never will....



    People Who Don't Get it

    You've decided to spend a jolly evening at your friend's apartment getting inebriated.

    Okay, to be fair, I can't say for sure you were getting drunk, but, I think it's a reasonable assumption on my part. I mean, as we'll all soon see, your intelligence level demonstrates clearly that you probably weren't there to participate in a roundtable discussion on whether or not your average historian these days is, once again, giving way too much credit to the ancient Athenians.

    Needless to say, you parked in that building's lot even though you don't have a permit for doing so. And several signs strewn about say that you do or you'll be ticketed and/or towed at your expense. But you parked there anyway.

    When you come out at festivities end, you notice that the lot monitor who goes around checking the cars for permits has stuck one of his tickets on your windshield.

    The front side of it has all your vehicle information, make, model, plate, time of ticket and violation (no permit displayed) and the amount of the fine, $15. This information is neatly printed out, as a sharp-eyed person can tell, on a mass-produced blank where a printing machine has filled in the relevant boxes with information. It's not one of those hand-written ones where you have to decipher bad penmanship or figure out which of those 50 near-microscopic tick-boxes have been checked off to know exactly what you did. It's fairly obvious.

    The flip-side of the ticket has the statute in the vehicle code you have been ticketed under (Section 75, Vehicular trespass) and your options for paying the $15 (Mail a check, bill credit card, bill debit card, drop cash in apartment office rent box) and a warning that unpaid violations will be prosecuted. The envelope the ticket was in has the apartment address and phone number pre-printed on it and a "place stamp here" box so you can easily use it to mail in the money if you want to do that.

    So, what do you do?

    A. Concede that you should have parked elsewhere or gotten a temp permit, because now your lack of foresight has cost you $15 you could have used to buy a really interesting pair of socks

    B. Grumble that once again the man (tm) is keeping you down by extorting $15 from you for no good reason other than you broke the law.

    C. Call the municipal police department and report that our towing company is running a "scam" by issuing "fake" tickets and expecting people to fall for it and mail us their hard-earned cash.

    Yeah, if you picked "C", you're the nitwit we had to deal with tonight.

    Or rather, the confused-sounding police officer they pestered who then had to call us and get our side of the story (i.e. reality) so he could finish his paperwork and close out another one for the crackpot file.

    According to him, there were several red flags they found that made them certain someone was trying to scam them. Apparently, the ticket didn't "look official" and the envelope was a "funny color" and furthermore, when they called the phone number for the apartment, nobody picked up! AHA! SCAM! SCAM! SCAM!

    Well, that, or the fact that there's nobody in the apartment office at 11:58pm on a Saturday night? Which is when you got ticketed? That might have something to do with it? Or is that, like most conspiracy minded folks believe, just a bit tooooooooo straightforward to be the truth?

    Why you even involved us, I have no idea, our name/number doesn't appear ANYWHERE on the ticket. It only appears on the signs in the lot. You tried to call party "A", and when they didn't pick up, you immediately pinned the blame on party "B", without even trying to talk to party "B" first, because.... well........ you know what? The "logic" required to reach where you're at right now is so twisted, that I think I'm in danger of spraining a frontal lobe just trying to imagine how you did it without bleeding from the ears... so we'll just leave it at that.

    P.S. - It's too bad I couldn't be there when the nice officer called you back, as he said he would, to inform you that that ticket is in fact, VERY real and has to be paid.

    Of course, there's always the possibility that you now think the cops are "in on it" too.....




    People Who Don't Get It - II


    Them - I think you have my car, a grey Mazda? It would have been parked at Keystone Plaza?

    Us - Yes, we have it, it will be $220 to pick up

    Them - What?! Why so high?

    Us - You owe us $115 for the tow, plus, you have $105 in unpaid parking tickets

    Them - Huh?

    Us - You have $105 in unpaid delinquent tickets, and you were also parked at an unpaid parking meter.

    Them - But I was only there for like 20 minutes! There's no way I could get $105 in tickets in 20 minutes!

    Us - You didn't, the $105 is in unpaid tickets that go back to September

    Them - But I put a quarter in the meter! I had 15 minutes!

    Us - Didn't you just say you were there for 20 minutes?

    Them - Uh

    Us - So, that explains why you got towed, your meter ran out, and when they gave you a ticket, they noticed all the other ones you've been getting and not paying, so they towed you

    Them - But.. I wasn't there for very long!

    Us - Doesn't matter, it will be $220 to pick up the car

    Them - Can I just pay for the tow? And not the tickets?

    Us - ... ... ... Uh, no

    Them - Fine, I'll be in tomorrow!

    Yeah, she actually thought that would work, first the feigned clulessness, then the lying, then the attempt to "bargain" in a way that has absolutely no upside at all for us, and doesn't seem to be able to draw a simple causal relationship between NOT paying tickets and what I just did to her car about 30 minutes prior..... Yeah, that's a big negatory there sister. And by "Big" I mean that if it physically existed as big as I'm imagining it now, it would be influencing the tides.

    P.S. - Thank you for backing into that parking space with a FWD car and leaving the e-brake off. I like it when you do that. You've heard of "gone in sixty seconds" right? Well, when you park like that, you can cut it down to about 15 if I'm really on my game.



    People Who Don't Get It - III

    A short note for once

    DO NOT TOW CAR BORROWED

    Well, it just got borrowed, again, by me! *yoink*
    - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

  • #2
    Negotiation works when both parties have something the other person wants of equal value.

    When one side has a running car (something that runs and has a aalid license plate is usually worth $500 or so, at least) and the other is trying to haggle-down parking tickets worth considerably less than that... well, that's a negotiation not exactly destined for success.

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth Argabarga View Post
      P.S. - Thank you for backing into that parking space with a FWD car and leaving the e-brake off. I like it when you do that. You've heard of "gone in sixty seconds" right? Well, when you park like that, you can cut it down to about 15 if I'm really on my game.
      My wife does this. She will just not use a parking brake, and I cannot fathom why. It just abuses the parking prawl in your vehicle. And it's especially bad in the Prius, where they've been known to go walkabout should the prawl fail on a hill when you've not set the rear brakes. I wonder if it's just too many folks that have never driven stick that do this?
      But the paint on me is beginning to dry
      And it's not what I wanted to be
      The weight on me
      Is Hanging on to a weary angel - Sister Hazel

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      • #4
        Quoth Argabarga View Post
        Them - Can I just pay for the tow? And not the tickets?
        "Why certainly! We'll happily give up our very lucrative liaison with law enforcement to save you a hundred bucks."

        sigh. Yet another person who doesn't understand how the whole thing works.

        btw, story 1 would be a great scam... until someone followed up on the address all that money got mailed off to.....

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth Ophbalance View Post
          My wife does this. She will just not use a parking brake, and I cannot fathom why. It just abuses the parking prawl in your vehicle. And it's especially bad in the Prius, where they've been known to go walkabout should the prawl fail on a hill when you've not set the rear brakes. I wonder if it's just too many folks that have never driven stick that do this?
          I've driven both sticks and slushboxes, and I'll 'fess up. I vastly prefer a curb to a parking brake. I was taught to turn the wheel 'in' to the curb (if facing downhill) or 'out' from the curb (if facing uphill). And I take the extra step of letting the wheel to actually come to rest against the curb before leaving the vehicle in gear (if manual) or park (if auto).

          If there is no curb to work with, or if the hill is somewhat steep, then I'll set the brake.

          Comment


          • #6
            It's sensible to set the brake, engage the transmission appropriately, *and* use the kerb if parking on a steep hill. Each acts as a backstop for the others.

            NB: where on an automatic you would engage Park on the transmission, on a manual you can engage any gear (preferably a low one) with the engine stopped for a practically equivalent effect. Any inadvertent movement by the car then has to go to the trouble of turning the engine over, and in a low gear that's at a mechanical disadvantage - which is also why you engage low gear to descend severe hills as well as to climb them.

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth Argabarga View Post

              Them - Fine, I'll be in tomorrow!
              Wouldn't that result in an additional day's storage fees?
              I will not be pushed, stamped, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own. --#6

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Chromatix View Post
                It's sensible to set the brake, engage the transmission appropriately, *and* use the kerb if parking on a steep hill. Each acts as a backstop for the others.

                NB: where on an automatic you would engage Park on the transmission, on a manual you can engage any gear (preferably a low one) with the engine stopped for a practically equivalent effect. Any inadvertent movement by the car then has to go to the trouble of turning the engine over, and in a low gear that's at a mechanical disadvantage - which is also why you engage low gear to descend severe hills as well as to climb them.
                I've been on hills steep enough that low gear in my manual transmission car was not enough to hold the car. I can only imagine what that would do to a parking pawl.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Right. On very steep hills the transmission simply slows it down, hopefully enough to avoid or at least reduce damage caused, if the handbrake fails. It also increases the chance that the car will be stopped by meeting a low obstruction such as a kerb or a speedbump.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Ophbalance View Post

                    My wife does this. She will just not use a parking brake, and I cannot fathom why. It just abuses the parking prawl in your vehicle. And it's especially bad in the Prius, where they've been known to go walkabout should the prawl fail on a hill when you've not set the rear brakes. I wonder if it's just too many folks that have never driven stick that do this?
                    Parking prawl??? What's that?
                    My NaNo page

                    My author blog

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                    • #11
                      It's the mechanical part inside the transmission that actually locks the driveline to prevent it from moving when you put it in "park"
                      - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Argabarga View Post
                        People Who Don't Get It - III

                        A short note for once

                        DO NOT TOW CAR BORROWED

                        Well, it just got borrowed, again, by me! *yoink*
                        Some people have actually tried pulling this crap at the uni (there's this gigundo list of excuses that don't fly with the registry for parking fines) only to be told that it won't work. The only exception is if you can provide a statutory declaration stating that the car was not being driven by you (borrowed or otherwise). The uni is also under no obligation to actually accept said statutory declaration.
                        The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                        Now queen of USSR-Land...

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I think they really do get it most of the time. I think they are just hoping if they feign enough ignorance you will treat them like a moron and give them a break.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth fireheart View Post
                            Some people have actually tried pulling this crap at the uni (there's this gigundo list of excuses that don't fly with the registry for parking fines) only to be told that it won't work. The only exception is if you can provide a statutory declaration stating that the car was not being driven by you (borrowed or otherwise). The uni is also under no obligation to actually accept said statutory declaration.
                            That's like something out of Discworld. Unseen University has an arrangement with the city of Ankh-Morpork to dutifully pay their taxes or some such, provided that the city never asks them to do so.
                            PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                            There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth Ophbalance View Post
                              My wife does this. She will just not use a parking brake, and I cannot fathom why. It just abuses the parking prawl in your vehicle. And it's especially bad in the Prius, where they've been known to go walkabout should the prawl fail on a hill when you've not set the rear brakes. I wonder if it's just too many folks that have never driven stick that do this?
                              Hmm. Good question. My Dad taught me always to engage the parking brake, and he taught me on an automatic. Evil Empryss is always giving me a hard time about using the parking brake when on a level surface.

                              I do it out of habit, really. But on the plus side, I've never had any car I own slide down a hill.
                              They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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