Fire Lane violator Takes It Out On Me!

[LillFilly]

So, while doing my rounds I drove by 2-cars parked in the fire lane. One with a driver, one without. After 3-minutes I pulled-up to the car with a driver and asked him to please find a parking space as he could not sit in the fire lane. He said his wife would be just a minute. I said ok. (Now we warn after 3-minutes and if they don’t move after another 5 they get a ticket; it’s hard to do this because of course they move as soon as they see you writing! Now if it’s a car with nobody in it, it automatically gets a ticket after 5-minutes) 2-more minutes, car with driver is still sitting there and I’m heading back to give the unoccupied car a ticket. It’s important to know that the driver I was giving the 2nd warning to was parked right in front of a stop sign; so I had to come to a stop to talk with him again, made sure the way was clear, and proceeded. So I stopped, told him that he’d had a few more minutes and he really had to find a place to park now. I continued on through the stop sign while the driver began screaming “Don’t you have anything better to do!? Why aren’t you talking to that car up there!?” I called back that there was nobody in that car and it was getting a ticket now, and if he wanted to argue I would be giving him a ticket too. He moved and I got to the other car and began writing a ticket. I turned back to the security car to verify the time on the console clock and there is the angry driver standing between me and the security car. He began yelling that he wanted my badge number because I had just ran that stop sign back there, and I was harassing him, and that he was going to report me. I dodged around him to get to the car and he was standing on my ass the whole time. I told him that I had to come to a stop to talk to him so no, I did not run the stop sign, and would he please stop bothering me while I was trying to do my job. He continued yelling how I don’t know the law, demanding my number (which he did not seem to believe when I gave it to him even though I pointed-out where it is engraved on my badge) and pretty much belittling me. I told him firmly that first, I know my job and I know I did stop, and that he was in the wrong for even being in the fire lane in the first place, especially since his car was pretty much blocking the stop sign from view and I would have only been able to stop if I had known if was there, which other customers wouldn’t, and that there is nothing to complain about because, technically, signs on private property are not enforceable anyway even if I had run it, which might happen if I’m on an emergency call for example. He just kept yelling that he was going to report me, he was going to have my job, etc. before finally leaving me alone so I could finish my ticket (which I was anxious to do because if I'm still writing it when the Driver comes-out, it's not enforceable). He seemed VERY put-out that not only did I dare scold and threaten to give him a ticket, but that I stood-up to him and, gasp, talked back! Which is why I think he was so enraged.

[PepperElf]

sounds like his p***y was sore because he had to obey you.

so the only way he could get any ego back was to try to intimidate you and fail at that too.

[EvilEmpryss]

And his wife was still not back from her "just a minute" of shopping.

Or she was hiding in embarrassment over her husband's sucky attitude.

[Sapphire Silk]

I'm sorry, but NO ONE goes in "for just a minute" to shop. Even if you know exactly what you are getting and get only that, you still have to go in, find it, get in line, hope there's no one ahead of you, pay, and then leave.

Just a minute my ass.

[raudf]

"Just a minute" when shopping is, as my son has pointed out, usually an hour, though I've been known to take half an hour when I'm "in a hurry." And it's no one's fault but my own.

On to the tale. I was the outlying cashier for the garden center at the Mart of Walls and given the area I was in, entitled describes almost every customer I'd dealt with during the year there. They'd park wherever they wanted, including the fire lane between the garden center and the GM door... in fact, pulling right up onto the concrete staging area between the two. One day, one of the garden center guys came storming into the building part of the garden center, mouthing up swear words galore.

He'd been helping Toys set up an outside rack of clearance bikes when this old bat in a big SUV decides SHE wants to park on the concrete staging area and nearly hits them. (I told you, these people were entitled. The stock associates refused to get carts until speed bumps were installed, because they got tired of being the speed bumps.) He threatens to get the little bobcat forklift and move her damn car for her. The department manager looks out down lot and smiles...

Up comes the first nursery semi of the season.. full sized trailer, crammed full of plants to be unloaded. Pulling into the fire lane, blocking the staging area. Needless to say, she willingly changed how she handled the unloading procedure to make it the slowest I'd ever seen.

Yes, the Old Biddy did get a ticket for parking in a fire lane. City police had a field day with that one, since she apparently called the cops to have them move the semi, because it was "blocking her in," and she couldn't leave. Funny that.

[taxguykarl]

I'm sorry, but NO ONE goes in "for just a minute" to shop. Even if you know exactly what you are getting and get only that, you still have to go in, find it, get in line, hope there's no one ahead of you, pay, and then leave.

Agreed...the occasions when I've been so lucky can be counted on one hand. Less than 15 minutes is a good quick trip.

[PepperElf]

yep.

it's SC time!

An hour is really "just a minute" when the SC wants to have more time.
And a minute is really "OMG TWO HOURS" when the SC wants to have less time.

[Merriweather]

Yes, the Old Biddy did get a ticket for parking in a fire lane. City police had a field day with that one, since she apparently called the cops to have them move the semi, because it was "blocking her in," and she couldn't leave. Funny that.

Oh, don't you just love it when the SCs shoot themselves in the foot? That is just ever so funny - parking illegally, then calling the police cause someone blocked you in. Bet that made the cop's day - how often can they tell the other cops they just gave a ticket to a person who basically called up & asked them to do so

[wolfie]

One day, one of the garden center guys came storming into the building part of the garden center, mouthing up swear words galore.

He'd been helping Toys set up an outside rack of clearance bikes when this old bat in a big SUV decides SHE wants to park on the concrete staging area and nearly hits them. He threatens to get the little bobcat forklift and move her damn car for her. The department manager looks out down lot and smiles...

Up comes the first nursery semi of the season.. full sized trailer, crammed full of plants to be unloaded. Pulling into the fire lane, blocking the staging area. Needless to say, she willingly changed how she handled the unloading procedure to make it the slowest I'd ever seen.

Yes, the Old Biddy did get a ticket for parking in a fire lane. City police had a field day with that one, since she apparently called the cops to have them move the semi, because it was "blocking her in," and she couldn't leave. Funny that.

Are you SURE that semi was carrying plants? Sounds more like it was bringing in a shipment of PWNADE(tm). It takes an awful lot of that to "weigh out" a semi.

[downforit2008]

At my job, I secretly hope the fire-lane violators will all BURN IN HELL!!! The only people I want to see parking there are the fire engines, police cars, and ambulances, and even the occasional delivery truck. There was a time when I would be able to go and tell these drivers to move their cars to a parking spot, but when I asked one guy politely to remove his car because it was illegal to park there, he ran whining like a baby to my supervisor about how I "harassed" him. My boss didn't believe a word of it, being outside himself and well within earshot while telling another illegally-parked driver to move as well, but we don't have to do that anymore. At my store, customers are above the law now and can do whatever they want, including stealing whatever they feel like is worth stealing.

[Jay 2K Winger]

At my job, I secretly hope the fire-lane violators will all BURN IN HELL!!!

...the Special Hell?

[dragon_wings]

...the Special Hell?

That is rhetorical right?

[Dips]

"Just a minute" when shopping is, as my son has pointed out, usually an hour, though I've been known to take half an hour when I'm "in a hurry." And it's no one's fault but my own.

On to the tale. <snip>

I love it. It reminds me of my father-in-law.