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Conversations About Parking (The Rebuttal)

The recent post about parking couldn't have been timelier.  I was walking home the other day, and I found someone that was on the other end of the parking conversation.  In this case, someone had blocked the driveway in front of this person's house.

To be clear, I think the person has every right to be upset in this case.  For one, that's illegal.  Secondly, it legitimately blocks the path of any cars trying to park in the driveway or garage.  My beef with the people who get on our case is that they feel entitled to something to which they're not actually entitled.  In this case, the people living in this house are entitled to have a driveway free of other people's cars.  I'm siding with the people in the house on this one.

So did these people just tow the offending car to deal with the problem?  No, they did something far, far awesomer (yes, I know that's not a real word, but it's awesomer than "more awesome," thank you very much).  Instead, they got to work with 8.5" by 11" sheets of paper, a marker, and some scotch tape.  When I walked by, every single window on the car had a piece of paper on it with a gentle reminder to the driver of said car.  I didn't spend time looking at every single one, but I do remember seeing all of the following:
  • RUDE!
  • NEXT TIME YOU'RE GETTING TOWED
  • OBLIVIOUS (this one was probably my favorite)
  • INCONSIDERATE (followed closely by this one)
This was a genius plan.  Everyone who walked by or even glanced in that direction would notice the paper, so the driver of the car would definitely get dirty looks if anyone was around.  Secondly, you can't possibly drive a vehicle in that state, so the driver would be forced to pull off every piece of paper.  There was zero way this person was slinking off with a quick getaway.  Lastly, it was completely non-violent & relied on the power of social shaming.  Sure towing the car would have been just as appropriate, but I somehow don't think the lesson would have been quite the same that way.

It's such an awesome plan that I'm half hoping someone blocks my driveway sometime soon.  We never really use our driveway anyway, but the response that I would then be allowed to use would be awesome.

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