Customer Demands "Common Courtesy"

[Argabarga]

Despite clearly not giving it to anyone else... he parked in a private parking space, and was a little mad that his car got towed. I got to deal with him when he called to see if we had it.

-Did you just tow a Scion Tc from I-don’t-live-here Apartments?
-Yes sir, it was in a private parking space without permission
-But, you didn’t call us
-Excuse me?
-You didn’t call us and give us a chance to move it?
-No sir, we didn’t, the space owner had their lease showing it was their space that’s all we needed
-Well, I know it wasn’t mine, but, I thought someone would call us. Isn’t that, illegal?
-No sir, I have no legal obligation to try and find the owner of an illegally parked vehicle, besides, how exactly am I going to find you?
-Well, you could run the plate and get a phone number
-I lack that ability sir, only the police can do that. Even if I could, all I’d get was a home address and name, not your current whereabouts.
-Well, couldn’t you knock on the door? We were in apartment 21 right there!
-How would I know that Sir? The spaces up there do not correspond to the apartments, they’re numbered differently, you got towed from space R12, but there is no apartment R12.
-Well, you could’ve gone around and….
-And knocked on the doors to 40 apartments? That’s not my job, nor is it something I have the time or obligation to do. You’re the one who broke the law.
-Well, it was very rude, it would’ve been nice if you would have shown some common courtesy
-Common courtesy? You mean like not parking in someone else’s space, that kind of common courtesy? Sir?
-But, but that guy who owns that space doesn't even have a car! I see him all the time, there's never anything in that space!
-It doesn't belong to you sir, it belongs to him.
- Whatever, this is BS, I'll be in to get it later

Funny how many people say that I'm the bad guy for towing cars, conveniently forgetting that I can't tow them unless they're ILLEGALY parked in the first place.

[Polenicus]

It has been my experience that there is no drama like parking drama, and there are none so dramatic as those who are being denied a parking space that they have no right to in the first place.

I used to work in a parkade booth. The first 8 floors of the parkade were teacher and staff parking, with half of the first floor right behind the booth reserved for VIP parking (Which was reserved through the Parking office, and as such was charged to their department budgets). Now, this parkade had an an elevator (Two actually), so really, parking on the 8th floor was no more onerous than parking on the 3rd floor.

Do you think the staff were reasonable about this? HELL NO!

They would complain about going 'All the way up to the 5th floor' and not finding parking... that's nice, but this is a 14 floor parkade, and you can park ANYWHERE in it, even if the first 8 floors are full. But they never wanted to hear this, and would demand to be allowed to park in VIP parking.

Ummm, no, those spots are reserved, and more often than not, I'd need them ALL for some event (That they invariable overbooked)

Still I'd be chasing them out. They'd pretend to not see the booth, sneak in from the other side, and when I caught them, bitch moan, complain, or even in one case, threaten physical violence. These were COLLEGE PROFESSORS, all perfectly sober, and all perfectly physically able, and with plenty of parking in the parkade for them ELSEWHERE.

These weren't even particularly desirable spots. It just seems that because they were told they couldn't have them, they wanted them.

Then there was the department head who STOLE a book of VIP Parking passes, and gave whole stacks of passes to his staff so they could park for the year in VIP parking. Unfortunately for him, parking passes are handed out AT THE BOOTH, distributed only if your name is on a list. So we caught him right quick, and he not only got chewed out royally, but his department was charged for the passes.

And no matter how often we slapped their wrists (Or pocketbooks, via parking tickets) they still did it over and over and over again, throwing tantrums and arguing and writing two page complaint e-mails about how it was unfair that we didn't reserve parking for staff members who DIDN'T have parking passes, and they never learned, and never just did the easy thing of just doing what they were supposed to and saving themselves and everyone else a lot of grief.

[PepperElf]

one of my old coworkers M was like that
he had to get a lift in to work cos he parked in a covered parking spot and the man who owned the spot called up to complain...

my workers was offended. he felt the man who paid for the spot "had no right" to do that.

but M was like that over a lot of things not just parking

[eltf177]

-Well, you could’ve gone around and….
-And knocked on the doors to 40 apartments? That’s not my job, nor is it something I have the time or obligation to do. You’re the one who broke the law.

Yeah, this would have gone over well. "Excuse me, I'm banging on your door at this ungodly hour to let you know that an illegally parked vehicle needs to be moved or it will be towed. I have _no_ idea which unit the owner's in so I'm waking everybody up so I won't inconvience the obviously entitled driver."

Yeah, I can really see this happening!

[LillFilly]

Sigh. People like that are real winners.

I used to hear a lot of calls over the police scanners for people who'd called because some strangers' car was parked in their driveway or in front of their garage & they couldn't get-out to go to work; lots of towing fun and drama. Half the time the people who got towed went ape-shit on the homeowners and the police had to come back and arrest them!

[bhskittykatt]

This reminds me of a good friend of mine. She's normally a nice, rational person, and I was bewildered at her for this incident.

On either side of my husband's parking spot is an unassigned spot and a spot assigned to another apartment across the way. The apartment across the way seldom uses that spot, and they will often let our guests park there (they always let us know when they need it). Normally at least one of these spots is open when we have friends over.

Anyways, one day the apartment across the way was actually using their space, and someone was parked in the unassigned spot (ANYONE is allowed to park there), and my friend visits, and she is FURIOUS that both the spots are taken! We live next to a high school that had it's own empty parking lot for her to use, but apparently that wasn't good enough. HEAVEN FORBID that other tenants should use "HER" spots! (she doesn't even live there!) I understand being upset when someone takes your assigned spot (that is a huge pet peeve of mine), but these weren't her spots, one belonged to someone else and the other was a first-come-first-serve!

[Dwight K. Schrute]

I have to agree about how crazy people are about parking see this thread.

I also had an incident happen last month at another of my stores. we are located in a strip mall at the end of which is a Dollar Store. To the side of the Dollar store there is limited parking, mainly handicapped. One day some lady saw that all the parking on the side was filled up so she simply parked next to the last space, blocking the back alleyway behind the strip mall and blocking in our delivery truck. Apparently the driver noticed her parking there and told her to move her car and she said that she'd only be in the store a minute and ran into the store. Needless to say the driver of the truck had a few choice words for her upon her return and she took her complaint all the way to me about it. I told her that because she was parked, blocking access and exit of our delivery area, given the choice between being cussed out and having her card towed she got off lucky by simply being cussed out. Anyway he wasn't my employee and she would have to make a complaint to his superiors not me.

[Andara Bledin]

I've been the parking spot owner who got a squatter towed.

Sure, I didn't actually own a car for much of the first 2 years I lived there, but when I had a rental or invited friends over, that was my spot that was paid for with part of my rent. Keep out!

Now, this parkade had an an elevator (Two actually), so really, parking on the 8th floor was no more onerous than parking on the 3rd floor.

This. A thousand times this.

I've never understood people's desires to be on a lower level at any cost, even if you parked at the furthest corner and had to walk the entire structure to get to the exit, they would want that lower level. Rather than just, you know, going up another level or 2 and getting a really sweet spot right next to the elevators, or even just the stairs.

^-.-^

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

This thread reminds me why I love watching Parking Wars so much. I am constantly going at the massive disrespect and aggression of people I see on this show. The last ep I saw the following:

- A dude who had parked his car and blocked a sidewalk in the process, he cussed a mean streak at the parking attendant who gave him a ticket.

- A guy who was disputing a parking ticket he was getting for parking ON THE SIDEWALK. Yes, his vehicle was on the sidewalk and he was arguing he should NOT get a ticket.

Sure, I get it. They are parking attendants, they are not cops but they still have the ability to issue tickets and such. People don't like them, but they don't deserve to get pissed all over for doing their jobs.

I have gotten exactly ONE parking ticket in my life, it was because I parked in a permit space without a permit. Entirely my fault for not noticing the sign. I paid it and life went on, these things do not have to be such major drama.

[Merriweather]

I have gotten exactly ONE parking ticket in my life, it was because I parked in a permit space without a permit. Entirely my fault for not noticing the sign. I paid it and life went on, these things do not have to be such major drama.

You constantly hear of people who have enough parking tickets pile up to have a warrant issued for their arrest. How can a person feel so entitled to park where ever they please?

I mean, anyone can get a ticket now and then, but enough to be arrested?

I've had two parking tickets in over 3 decades of driving. One was when I visited my parents and forgot to get up early and move my car to the other side of the street for street cleaning (payment involved putting $5 in the supplied envelope and mailing it off).

And once I parked at a "pay and display" lot, where you park, get a ticket for a specific amount of time, and stick it on your car before leaving it. I'd scraped my car coming out of a tight spot just before going there, so what with examining the damage from that and all, I then zoned out and forgot to get my pay and display sticker. My oops. I think that one cost me £10.

[depechemodefan]

This. A thousand times this.

I've never understood people's desires to be on a lower level at any cost, even if you parked at the furthest corner and had to walk the entire structure to get to the exit, they would want that lower level. Rather than just, you know, going up another level or 2 and getting a really sweet spot right next to the elevators, or even just the stairs.

^-.-^

I guess, having to drive up mulitple levels might annoy people. All that gas going to waste.

[EvilEmpryss]

Maybe if they were shown the bright side of the situation: Those who park the highest up will be the least squished should an earthquake flatten the garage!

Those "special" VIP parking places won't seem so special under a few thousand tons of rubble, will they?

[Mikkel]

I've been the parking spot owner who got a squatter towed.

Sure, I didn't actually own a car for much of the first 2 years I lived there, but when I had a rental or invited friends over, that was my spot that was paid for with part of my rent. Keep out!

A former coworker was the victim of someone who was much to nice. His car was stolen and was not found for 8 months. It turned out that the thief had left the car on a reserved spot, just 500 meter from our workplace. The owner of the parking spot had just used his guest spot and waited for the strange car to disappear. At last he complained and the police phoned. My coworker was very displeased with the nice man who had let him use the parking spot for so long .

[Andara Bledin]

I have gotten exactly ONE parking ticket in my life, it was because I parked in a permit space without a permit. Entirely my fault for not noticing the sign. I paid it and life went on, these things do not have to be such major drama.

Ditto. Only I knew the sign was there. I was taking evening classes, but there wasn't enough student parking, so I parked in a teacher space, since most of those were empty and would remain so. It was my last dollar, and you didn't get refunds if the lot was full; you paid your money and took your chances. I hated that school's parking set-up.

That was in my aunt's car. I paid the ticket and all was well. Sometime later, my aunt parked my car on the street the night before street sweeping, and got a ticket. The court never received the money order (I put it in the mail myself, so I know it was sent), and years later when I was pulled over because my tags were expired (my registration was paid, but I never received the tags in the mail - had to go to the local office to get them) and they let me know that I had a bench warrant on that parking ticket. They let me go and told me to get it taken care of, which I did.

^-.-^

[protege]

I used to hear a lot of calls over the police scanners for people who'd called because some strangers' car was parked in their driveway or in front of their garage & they couldn't get-out to go to work; lots of towing fun and drama. Half the time the people who got towed went ape-shit on the homeowners and the police had to come back and arrest them!

We have to deal with that where I live. There's an elementary school around the corner...and whenever they have an event (breakfast with Santa, parent/teacher conferences, etc.) there are always idiots parking on both sides of the street. Most of those idiots are smart enough not to block someone's driveway. But, every now and then...someone either gets towed, or gets their car messed with. Sorry, no sympathy from me about that.