I've Always Wanted to Use One of Those...

[Myra]

Had a customer the other day. He bought a car charger. After he bought it, he spent a minute or two studying it to see which car it would look better in. Yes, I'm not kidding. He was trying to figure out if this grey car charger would match better in his truck or the wife's vehicle. It's GREY. It's a CAR CHARGER for your PHONE. WHO CARES?

But what really amused me was this. He goes into his pocket, and starts digging through cards. "I really want to know what asshole left this under my windsheild wiper..." He flops a yellow card on the desk. It reads:

"Thanks to YOU taking up TWO PARKING SPACES I had to park six blocks away you INCONSIDERATE BASTARD!"

The "inconsiderate bastard" was in HUGE letters. Took up most of the card. Oh how hard it was for me not to laugh. I've heard of these cards, and thought of having some made up myself. Dude then goes into this tirade about how he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on the paint job of his truck because of people dinging it with their car doors, so he'll park how he damn well pleases.

Let me tell you how hard it was for me to pretend to care. It is a HUGE pet peeve of mine, douchebags who take up two spots for their stupid car.

After the guy left I went back and told my co-worker about it. He chuckled. "I hate bastards who park like that," he said.

Yeah. Had to share that. Now, I wonder what it would cost to make up cards like that....

[BlakeMP]

There should be a whole variety pack -- "taking up two spaces," "parking so close to the line the next driver can't get into his car"...

[Ryu]

heh, i wouldnt mind getting those cards either
i dont know how you managed to not laugh in his face
i once had to park in the furthest area of the parking lot at work due to an suv taking up 4 spaces
also whenever we get trucks they take up somewhere between 10 and 20 spots
its ridiculous, at least with trucks if theres no spot for them to park its understandable but with suvs/cars/anything else its just plain .......

[Crosshair]

I used to squeze my hatchback Ford Escord in between people who parked lke that with 2 inches to spare on each side. I would then climb out through the hatch. They got mighty pissed when they found my $800 car 2" from their $40,000 SUV and they could not get into it. (I watched from a distance after class.) Eventualy all the idiots that parked like this parked closer together so I couldn't squeze in. However, as a result, there where more parking spots for everyone.

[CanadaGirl]

Hundreds of thousands of dollars? Dude? What did he paint his truck with, liquid gold?

[Maevis]

Oh oh, I want some of those cards. I also want one that says compact with a big red circle around it with a slash through the center.

I would print "Not a compact car" but it's obvious that the people who park their SUV's in the compact parking spaces are illiterate.

[powerboy]

I want one of those cards also. I hate people parking in more then one spot. I hate people that has a huge vehicle, and parks in a compact parking. Also, I hate people that are not handicapped parking in a handicapped spot.

[SuperDan]

My biggest problems with parking are a) asshats parking in the fire lane, right in front of a no-parking sign, and right in the middle of my path into the back of the cart room, b) asshats thinking that their handicap permit gives them permission to park in the striped over spot on the other side of the second layer of handicap spots (this is a no-parking spot intended for people who need room to set up wheelchairs or use a wheelchair lift from their vans, and we have regular customers of both of these varieties who get rather ticked at inconsiderate assholes who think they own the paring lot--I swear the husband of the couple with the matching Hoverounds was going to start a fight one night because he couldn't set his ramp up to get his chairs back in his van), and c) assholes who park over the line on the spot next to a cart corral. When I'm using the QuicKart, I only go down every other row and the entire reason the cart corral is pushed over to one side of the spot in the first place is that I need that space to get the carts on the opposite side of the cart corral, especially on the ones that cannot be pushed all the way through. If people park partially in the cart corral space and I'm in a good mood, I'll try to make the gap a little wider and go through carefully, or go to another spot. If I'm not in a great mood, rather than stress out over it I just move the cart corral to the other side of the spot, yes, about two inches from the asshole's car, and start going around the cart corral on the other side of it.

We don't have much of a problem with people caring about their paint jobs, and those who do tend to park in out of the way sections of the lot and don't necessarily take up multiple spots. We have a few old-farts who refuse to use their reverse gear and therefore park somewhere that they will be able to pull through to get out, even if it means parking all the way down at the other end of the strip mall (and leaving their cart down there of course). And of course my personal favorite--when there has been enough snow over the course of a few days that the plowing crew has a pretty good pile going, there are usually at least a few adventurous folks with jeeps and SUVs who decide to park on top of the snow pile. Happens mostly on super busy days when parking in the general area of our store becomes a hot commodity, like the week before Christmas or around the third of the month.

[Melxb]

I used to squeze my hatchback Ford Escord in between people who parked lke that with 2 inches to spare on each side. I would then climb out through the hatch.

Heh. I used to do this too. For five years in the late 90's I drove a 1985 Honda civic hatchback/3-door. It was awesome to park. If a car was parked over the line, on my passenger side, I'd park smack dab in the middle of the parking spot. Since my car was so small I never had a problem finding a space. However, the driver to my right, that crossed over to my spot, was only about 2 inches from my car. There was no way he/she'd be able to to get into their car on the driver's side. It was awesome. It was so passive/aggressive. I totally miss doing it (I drive a Blazer now).

I never climbed out of the hatchback though, but only because it never occurred to me. If I had thought about it back then I KNOW I would've done it. Just to be a big PITA.

[lordlundar]

Dude then goes into this tirade about how he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on the paint job of his truck because of people dinging it with their car doors, so he'll park how he damn well pleases.

I'll be sure to call the towing company if I see you doing that.

[Dreamstalker]

I would print "Not a compact car" but it's obvious that the people who park their SUV's in the compact parking spaces are illiterate.

"But, but, it's a 'compact' SUV!" (well, compared to an Escalade or whatever the newest behemoths are called, anything's compact)

[repsac]

When I worked at Moore's, I had the pleasure of ruining some lady's day.

When she pulled in to park, rather than picking an actual space, she just swung in behind a car that had actually parked halfway into the spot. (the car in question was a compact). Well, at first this didn't seem bad, until several other cars pulled out leaving her parked in the middle of the road. I tried to explain this to her, to which she got testy with me, and I shrugged. I asked her to move it or I'd call the police to have it towed, and her retort was "I parked in a space. You can't do that." So, I did that, and she got a nice fat ticket for double parking and something else. I think something along the lines of impeding the flow of traffic.

[Hemily]

i drive alot of diffrent cars, here in Norway, we only have one sized parking spaces, and they're not made for big american cars or SUV's.

driving my own car, a 80's Buick stationwagon, a kinda big car here in Norway, as everyone drive tiny cars like Golfs and Civics, parking with it, is a nightmare...

i have to drive around the shop, looking for a space where my car fits, and to my luck, there's actually only one spot left in the entire lot... and to my luck, it's between two SUV's... even more to my luck... one of them is a Mercedes SUV... meaning it looks like they just lost their car in the lot, not even bother to stay between the lines, took me a couple minutes to slowly inch my little buick between the cars.

it's even more fun when i borrow my dad's offroader, a Ford Bronco on 33" offroading wheelswhen i drive that one, it's the opposite way... i swear, people can take up 4 spaces with a mini morris....

and another random rant, people with small cars take the most space on the road! it's insane o.O

[protege]

Hundreds of thousands of dollars? Dude? What did he paint his truck with, liquid gold?

I was wondering the same thing. Unless he's driving something with a fiberglass (or aluminum) body, there's no way he spent that much cash....and even then, that wouldn't cost nearly as much. A few thousand, but that's it. Most of the cost of a good paint job goes towards the preparation, finishing and polishing work--spraying the paint is relatively straightforward. With that said, I'd be pretty pissed if some idiot damaged my MG...especially since I've just had it painted. However, I wouldn't go around making outlandish claims like that!

Around here, taking up more than one space is *guaranteed* to get your car messed with in some way, especially in city neighborhoods. Parking there isn't cheap and can be in short supply during events.