Morons in parking lots - pwned

[AccountingDrone]

Im a gimp, I make no bones about it. I will never walk normally again and will be in a chair all too soon.

I have handicapped plates on my car, most people have the little placards that hang from the mirror, which I also have for when I need to be in someone else's car. I prefer the plates, they dont dangle in the middle of my field of vision and I dont forget to hang them up when i park =)

So here I am just parking in a gimp spot at a reasonably local Paneras to score some orange scones and a nice sourdough boule [the counter peeps at this panera are fantastically nice. Yes I have mentioned it to corporate =) ] my window is down and I havent gotten out of my car yet because I am waiting for the end of the song on the radio.

Some dizzy bint in a momvan screeches to a stop, jumps out of her momvan and runs up to my door to yell at me for taking a handicapped parking spot with no placcard, and how it is reserved for the handicapped.

I swing my door open, pushing her out of my way, almost whack her in the head swinging my canadian crutches out of the passenger seat, silently point at my handicapped license plates and stump into the paneras for my floury goodness.

The 4 or 5 people hanging out at the cafe tables outside are almost rolling around on the ground laughing at her.

I stump back out to my car and she is falling all over herself babbling some lame apology. I get back in my car and drive off silently ignoring her.

Moron. I really hope she has learned her lesson about jumping to conclusions.

[VComps]

Her heart was in the right place - at least you know that if some douchenozzle decides that his convenience overrides the whole 'handicapped' concept, there are people around who'll give them sh*t

I'm one of them, truth be known - but I do make sure I have my facts right before I give them the gears.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yeah, I can see both sides here. She really did have her heart in the right place, even though she was clumsy and misguided in this attempt.

Bet she's jumped on people who deserved it in the past, though. Let's hope she continues to do so.

I'm impressed that she was so torn up about it that she waited to apologize to you. Don't be so hard on her, she meant well.

[AccountingDrone]

then she really needs to look at the vehicle, plates are very common in CT. You should also not approach vehicles while yelling at them ... I am mostly nonviolent, BUT I know asshats who would punch her out for screaming at them ...

Bu then, I have a dim view of people who get their exercise jumping to conclusions

[bookworm]

I'm pretty militant about people using handicap spaces myself. Dad is disabled, and I can't count the number of times I've had to push his wheelchair much further than I should have had to, or had to drop him off in front of a building and leave him sitting there while I parked the vehicle and walked back.

The difference is that I look for both plates and placards, I'm pretty polite about it unless the person is an a$$, and if they don't move their vehicle, I simply walk into the store and inform an employee of the situation.

Some stores respond, some don't.

[VComps]

I'm pretty militant about people using handicap spaces myself. Dad is disabled, and I can't count the number of times I've had to push his wheelchair much further than I should have had to, or had to drop him off in front of a building and leave him sitting there while I parked the vehicle and walked back.

The difference is that I look for both plates and placards, I'm pretty polite about it unless the person is an a$$, and if they don't move their vehicle, I simply walk into the store and inform an employee of the situation.

Some stores respond, some don't.

^This.

And the stores that just kind of shrug their shoulders... well, those are stores we don't necessarily have to shop at in future.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

When I was working at Kinko's, I would tow the illegal parks in the handicapped spot before any others. And they would never have plate or tags. Ever.

I would tow a car out of there so fast it would make your head spin. I took great peverse pleasure in that.

Half the time, they'd park there and SPRINT across the street.

Jerks.

[Akasa]

I've been known to use my lipstick on a person's windows for parking in a handicapped spot w/o plates or placard. W/ things like "I like to park in handicapped spots w/o a placard" and "Asshole."
My best friend is blind, I was engaged to a man in a wheel chair for a while, and my grandfather was in a chair for most of my life.
I kinda take it personally.
I could probably get a placard for myself, but I prefer to leave the spots for those who really need them.

[LewisLegion]

I've gotten harrassed dozens of times for parking in handicap spots...in a car with handicap plates. It's gotten to the point that if I'm in said car (always with my mother, who is handicapped but does not look like it), even if I'm not driving, I always cringe a little as we get out of the car, waiting for the inevitable tirade.

Look, we got plates. She's legitimately handicapped. I don't care if you don't think she looks it, she's damn lucky she's not in a wheelchair, her foot is fused, her knees are bad, her bones are brittle enough she breaks them WALKING, yeah, she's kind of having a good day so she's moving pretty good...that doesn't mean that walking from one end of the lot to the other won't transform that into a bad day REAL quick.

I don't mind polite people who ask but the raging asshats who come foaming and slobbering out of the woodwork, calling you names before even LOOKING at your plates...so horribly irritating.

[ArcticChicken]

I've been known to use my lipstick on a person's windows for parking in a handicapped spot w/o plates or placard. W/ things like "I like to park in handicapped spots w/o a placard" and "Asshole."

We had an incident a few months ago where someone wrote all over this nice lady's white car with a black sharpie. She was handicapped, but her placard had fallen off.

[edible_hat]

I once saw a fancy car park across two handicapped spots. Karma was working quickly that day - just as the driver went around one corner, the parking inspector came around the other.

[draggar]

My wife has the dangler and she only uses the handicapped spots when she needs it (painful day etc..). She has one for each car and I NEVER use those spots unless she is in the car with me.

Once we were at the airport and they called all handicapped / special needs passengers. The line was a little long so I told my wife to stay seated (near the gate) and I'll stand in line, holding all of our bags and she was with Zorro.

Of couirse, the guy behinds me says loud enough for me to hear "He doesn't look handicapped at all, maybe he should have some respect". I turned around and said "See that lady over there with the service dog? That's my wife, I"m letting her sit until I get near the gate:.

Of coursem the guy apologized, half smart-ass like.

[aniwahya]

I'm a 26 year old gimp with a placard. Even with the placard it's a rare day when I can park without getting hostile looks. So far no one has approached me at the car, but many still find ways to make their hostility known.

Before I was handicap I used to take a lot more interest in people parking in handicap spots who didn't "look" handicap. Now while I still notice them, I have a lot more empathy for those who don't fit the handicap mold who are often the target of zealous handicap spot defenders. Even when I see cars parked with no plates or placard present my first thought now is, "Well it's not like I've never forgotten to hang the placard, and if they aren't handicap karma will get them."

Edit: Actually as my mom reminded me I have had someone say something to me, I had just blocked out the memory.
I don't think confronting non handicap people who park in handicap spots affects them nearly as much as confronting a handicap person who is parking in a spot who is confronted by a "helpful" citizen.

To the OP, I am sorry that you had such a stressful encounter during an already stressful event (going to the store while gimp can be far harder than it sounds). I think you responded to the woman's rude, thoughtless tirade in the best way possible and I hope that the whole incident doesn't make you feel self-conscious when you go out and need to use handicap parking. You are not alone. Hopefully the woman learned a lesson about assumptions and in the future will not confront people directly but rather inform the store that someone may (emphasis on may) have parked illegally in a handicap spot.

[One-Fang]

That's why it's so important really NOT to go off at anyone parking there. There's no way you can tell if they actually need the spot or not. And while a placard falling off legitimately means they probably shouldn't park there that day, they may not even know it.

I never challenge anyone parking there. I might consider reporting a car with no tag to the stores inside, but I never say anything to the drivers. If the car's not valid in the eyes of the law they'll tow it, otherwise it's none of my business.

[wagegoth]

My first husband was diabetic and had a placard. His doctor did not want him to walk very much as he had a tendency to get ulcers on his feet. If you saw him walking, he looked fine, but the only time we were ever questioned was by a security guard when we forgot to put the placard up. That I appreciated, because we could have ended up with a huge ticket and having to deal with clearing it in court.