The other day, I drove home and there was no parking. I drove all the way up my block, and I didn't see anything. That was surprising, since this was late at night. It's not like there's a shortage of parking on my street (except for right around church services); there's usually a spot or two free. Still, I had to circle for a bit to find a space, and I went about my business. It was mildly annoying, but that's how it goes sometimes.
Apparently, though, I may be alone in my thinking on this. Recently, I've discovered that people can be very touchy about the parking near their houses. The public parking near their houses, mind you. For example, the van I ride to and from work needs to be parked somewhere overnight, so we always park it near the last stop. I've actually counted, and there are something like 10 spots for 4 houses on each side of the street, for a two-block stretch. So we park in whatever space we find when we drive home after work. It's almost never the same spot twice in a row, but we make do.
A few months back, we did that, and a guy started questioning us. Apparently, he lived in the house in front of which he had parked, and he was less than pleased with our choice of parking spots. In his defense, he was fairly civilized. He did however, keep asking why we had parked there instead of "where we lived" (technically, the last stop is right around the corner from one guy's house, but that's none of his business). In the course of all this, I mentioned that the car would be gone by the time he got up, since we usually leave really early. This helped make him feel a little better, as he said something along the lines of, "oh yeah, I know. It's not a problem for tonight."
I didn't think about it at the time, but this really meant that he and his household had managed to park all of their vehicles already. So this guy wasn't even complaining about not having a spot in which to park his vehicle. That'd be an understandable concern, even if I'd disagree with his sense of entitlement to the spot in front of his house. No, he was actually complaining on principle, that someone had the audacity to park in his spot. I think I'm glad this didn't occur to me at the time, I might have made a smartass remark.
What's even worse is the behavior we've observed from another lady who lives on the corner, about two blocks down from this guy. She has actually threatened to call the police because we parked in front of her house. Now, this lady lives in a corner house, so she inherently has more options. What's more, she has a stretch of about three parking spots in a row in front of her house in addition to her driveway. And apparently, in her mind, they are her property.
She has complained at least twice, using pretty much every excuse she could think of. She has complained that we're parking a commercial vehicle (it's not) in a public space (which sort of renders the first part moot), that she needs space to park all of her vehicles (just how many are there, lady?), that parking the van at the corner creates an unsafe condition because cars can't see pedestrians crossing the street (yeah, I rolled my eyes, too), and that the police were going to tow the vehicle (I was tempted to dare her to do it).
Now, the first guy asked us to park elsewhere if it was possible, so I can work with that. I don't mind spending a couple of extra minutes looking for parking because he was civil and asked for a favor. This lady? Not so much. She has gotten into arguments with other people driving our van, and I don't think she's once used the word "please." Clearly, she doesn't know me. =p
Still, we've grudgingly made an intra-vanpool decision not to park in the first two of the three spots, so that she can have her space. That third spot, the one that borders the house next to hers, is fair game. I think at some point, we're all willing to chalk up the complaints to her being what we'd call "crazy."
So, I parked the van in the third spot the other day. I unpacked my stuff, grabbed my headphones, and started walking home. I heard some shuffling, but I didn't think much of it. As I walked past the front door of this lady's house, I heard something and then the front door slammed. It actually took me a couple of seconds to realize that she directed her words at me, since I don't usually have people yelling random things at me from their front doors. In hindsight, I think this may have pissed her off even more, as I didn't even register a reaction to her yelling.
Regardless, after my brain caught up a little bit, I realized she had yelled out, "park where you live!" Again, I'm not getting into a discussion about where any of my coworkers live. On the bright side, at least she was back to making sense. However, she'd already slammed her door shut and I was a good two or three houses away at this point, so I couldn't compliment her on her new and improved debating skills (generally, I see this as a positive trait).
Oh well, I guess I'll have to pay more attention when walking past her front door. Maybe I'll have time to respond the next time we get yelled at.
Apparently, though, I may be alone in my thinking on this. Recently, I've discovered that people can be very touchy about the parking near their houses. The public parking near their houses, mind you. For example, the van I ride to and from work needs to be parked somewhere overnight, so we always park it near the last stop. I've actually counted, and there are something like 10 spots for 4 houses on each side of the street, for a two-block stretch. So we park in whatever space we find when we drive home after work. It's almost never the same spot twice in a row, but we make do.
A few months back, we did that, and a guy started questioning us. Apparently, he lived in the house in front of which he had parked, and he was less than pleased with our choice of parking spots. In his defense, he was fairly civilized. He did however, keep asking why we had parked there instead of "where we lived" (technically, the last stop is right around the corner from one guy's house, but that's none of his business). In the course of all this, I mentioned that the car would be gone by the time he got up, since we usually leave really early. This helped make him feel a little better, as he said something along the lines of, "oh yeah, I know. It's not a problem for tonight."
I didn't think about it at the time, but this really meant that he and his household had managed to park all of their vehicles already. So this guy wasn't even complaining about not having a spot in which to park his vehicle. That'd be an understandable concern, even if I'd disagree with his sense of entitlement to the spot in front of his house. No, he was actually complaining on principle, that someone had the audacity to park in his spot. I think I'm glad this didn't occur to me at the time, I might have made a smartass remark.
What's even worse is the behavior we've observed from another lady who lives on the corner, about two blocks down from this guy. She has actually threatened to call the police because we parked in front of her house. Now, this lady lives in a corner house, so she inherently has more options. What's more, she has a stretch of about three parking spots in a row in front of her house in addition to her driveway. And apparently, in her mind, they are her property.
She has complained at least twice, using pretty much every excuse she could think of. She has complained that we're parking a commercial vehicle (it's not) in a public space (which sort of renders the first part moot), that she needs space to park all of her vehicles (just how many are there, lady?), that parking the van at the corner creates an unsafe condition because cars can't see pedestrians crossing the street (yeah, I rolled my eyes, too), and that the police were going to tow the vehicle (I was tempted to dare her to do it).
Now, the first guy asked us to park elsewhere if it was possible, so I can work with that. I don't mind spending a couple of extra minutes looking for parking because he was civil and asked for a favor. This lady? Not so much. She has gotten into arguments with other people driving our van, and I don't think she's once used the word "please." Clearly, she doesn't know me. =p
Still, we've grudgingly made an intra-vanpool decision not to park in the first two of the three spots, so that she can have her space. That third spot, the one that borders the house next to hers, is fair game. I think at some point, we're all willing to chalk up the complaints to her being what we'd call "crazy."
So, I parked the van in the third spot the other day. I unpacked my stuff, grabbed my headphones, and started walking home. I heard some shuffling, but I didn't think much of it. As I walked past the front door of this lady's house, I heard something and then the front door slammed. It actually took me a couple of seconds to realize that she directed her words at me, since I don't usually have people yelling random things at me from their front doors. In hindsight, I think this may have pissed her off even more, as I didn't even register a reaction to her yelling.
Regardless, after my brain caught up a little bit, I realized she had yelled out, "park where you live!" Again, I'm not getting into a discussion about where any of my coworkers live. On the bright side, at least she was back to making sense. However, she'd already slammed her door shut and I was a good two or three houses away at this point, so I couldn't compliment her on her new and improved debating skills (generally, I see this as a positive trait).
Oh well, I guess I'll have to pay more attention when walking past her front door. Maybe I'll have time to respond the next time we get yelled at.
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