Parking Idiots

[Gurndigarn]

Call the police? I'm pretty sure they would laugh at me and tell me to handle it
myself. Their have been times when I have called the police because there were tweakers/drunks in the store who where threatening me and the customers, but unless they actually hit someone or pull out a weapon, the police aren't coming.

Aside from repeatedly asking for a car to be moved until they are either too embarressed to refuse or just want me to shut up is about the only option I've come up with.

The police won't respond to someone parking in a fire lane? Just out of curiousity, where do you live?

[bean]

The police won't respond to someone parking in a fire lane? Just out of curiousity, where do you live?

Don't know about them, but Dallas PD won't respond for that either, nor will they come out for a non-injury accident if both cars can still move under their own power. Hell, it took Dallas PD 4 hours to respond to an injury accident that I was a witness to - SUV drove under an 18 wheeler - and the cop basically told us to go get bent for calling him. Arse.

Plano (where I actually live) on the other hand, oh man they LOVE that shit. A shithead neighbor of mine loves to park in the handicapped spot in front of my apartment (even though it's reserved for someone who's actually, you know, handicapped), it's amusing watching the cops leaving a nasty ticket on the windshield within 5 minutes of an anonymous call that I had no involvement in.

[powerboy]

Where I live, cops won't do squit, if you call them. My grandmothers pick-up got broken into, and ofcourse, the police, didn't come out. And they are suppose to help you, if you need it.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Agreed. While I have no sympathy for an asshole like that, we do not condone illegal activity or destruction of property here.

Actually I have such a dim view of humanity that I don't care what they do to each other any more. I have no sympathy for either of them. I'm in such a [censored]-it mood that I'll answer a question posed to me and let them ignore the morality of the decision.

I think I can honestly say that if a guy came up to me asking where the shotguns and ski masks were I'd just point out the aisles, shrug and move along.

M

[RecoveringKinkoid]

See Recoveringkinkoid's post... sounds like you should go to the bank and get a loan, start up a towing company in your town.

On the other hand, here in Latte Land, there have been problems with predatory tow companies that claim permission from a business and tow people who don't deserve a tow, just because they parked in the lot for more than one errand.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsourc...&date=20050129

Well, I suppose you could probably make a case for R (my beloved tow guy) being predatory. I mean, hey, it was not beneath him to sit idling in a nearby lot watching our lot like a vulture. However, we had a desperate parking situation going on. It was not unheard of to have our lot completely full and only three customers in the store. Then customers would come in and want to bitch at us because there was no parking.

There were 12 signs in our small lot, explaining that the lot was for Kinkos's customers, and only then while they were in the store. We had similar signs on both sides of the door, so there was absolutly no chance we would take the "I didn' t know" excuse. As for the "more than one errand" thing, well, as long as those multiple errands all took place inside our store, it was fine. You leave, though, kiss your car goodbye. That sounds harsh until you consider that we had HOARDS of college kids, who thought they were quite clever, coming in and making an eight-cent copy, then thinking that entitled them to 6+ hours of free parking in our lot while they went to class.

Frequently, R would even do a sweep, if the situation warrented. If we didn't see the walkers walk with our own eyes, R would go around the store and find out what everyone was driving. Unidentified cars got hauled away with a quickness.

We really needed this guy's help.

[repsac]

At one store I used to shop at, they had requested and were actually given one of those boot things by one of the local towing companies.

IIRC, this is what they'd do:

1.) Confirm that the person is illegally parked.

2.) Call the customer up front to tell them and ask them to move. (Ask as in make)

3.) If the person refused they would not press the issue. They would call the towing company.

4.) Once the company was called, someone would head outside and boot the tire. Interestingly, the towing company were the only ones with the key to the boot. Once it was on, it wasn't coming off.

The average bill for that towing fee, counting boot removal, storage, and removal of the car was around seven hundred fifty dollars. Plus, the Towing company would call the cops and the person would have to deal with a ticket too.

[FredKlein]

Agreed. While I have no sympathy for an asshole like that, we do not condone illegal activity or destruction of property here.

Simple solution: http://shop.aholics.com/productinfo....1-2%20DEFLATOR

"These handy tire deflators... will attach to the valve stem to allow gradual tire deflation. Deflators can be screwed together for easy storage and can also be attached to your keys. "

No damage, no destruction. Just a flat tire (or two).