OK, a bit of background. On Monday I get back from work, and I have a group meeting for a big presentation the next day. Since I can't afford to park on campus (even though I live in a dorm), I cruise the area where I usually park (about a half mile from where I live). Eventually I see a couple spots, on the right and left of an alley. Unfortunately, a couple morons have parked on either side and (either deliberately or out of sheer idiocity) have only left ~6 feet between them and the end of the curb. Well, I need to park, so I pick the bigger spot and get as close to the guy in front of me as possible (about an inch from his bumper). I look at the rear of my car, and it makes me nervous because I'm past the curb by about 2-3 inches, but I figure that's not a big deal. Hopefully the guy in front of me will learn to park next time.
Fast-forward to today, when I get up bright and early and walk the half mile to my car.
Except my car is not there. I walk around the whole area, wondering if maybe I had parked it somewhere else and not remembered, but the car is gone. I call work and tell them the car's gone, I check the mail for a tow notice, I call the house I stayed at over the summer and see if THEY've gotten a tow notice. I start to call the cops, but first I call the impound lot to see if they have my car.
Sure enough, they do. So I take the long bus ride up to the lot, pay my $120 to get my car, and to add insult to injury they give me a ticket for $40, which presumably is extra.
On the ticket, it says "PARALLEL PARK-COMPLAINT-BLOCKING WESTBOUND" (or something like that).
OK, first off, I was "blocking" NO ONE, I was taking up all of two inches past the curb (which is bigger than the alley anyway), and if I was blocking someone it would be north-south, not west. Second....COMPLAINT???!?!? Am I to understand that some concerned citizen decided that not being able to physically compress my car to fit in the spot left by someone elses' crappy parking was an indication of a terrorist plot or something? What kind of worthless waste of genetic material would waste his time and the government's money to call in something like that? I can understand if I was actually BLOCKING the alley, but clearly whoever it was just likes to make other people miserable. I guess I'm not quite used to as perverse and legalistic a country as this.
You know, I TRY to like humanity. I really do. I remind myself of people who have been courteous and gone the extra mile for me, but it's hard for them to have as much an impact as when complete strangers try to make your life a living hell with little to no provocation. Sometimes I think the whole species should be scrapped and we should start fresh.
Cliff notes:
Due to someone else not leaving enough space, my car was about 2" too big for a spot, I get towed and have to pay $160, I'm pissed and hate the Nazis who called it in.
Fast-forward to today, when I get up bright and early and walk the half mile to my car.
Except my car is not there. I walk around the whole area, wondering if maybe I had parked it somewhere else and not remembered, but the car is gone. I call work and tell them the car's gone, I check the mail for a tow notice, I call the house I stayed at over the summer and see if THEY've gotten a tow notice. I start to call the cops, but first I call the impound lot to see if they have my car.
Sure enough, they do. So I take the long bus ride up to the lot, pay my $120 to get my car, and to add insult to injury they give me a ticket for $40, which presumably is extra.
On the ticket, it says "PARALLEL PARK-COMPLAINT-BLOCKING WESTBOUND" (or something like that).
OK, first off, I was "blocking" NO ONE, I was taking up all of two inches past the curb (which is bigger than the alley anyway), and if I was blocking someone it would be north-south, not west. Second....COMPLAINT???!?!? Am I to understand that some concerned citizen decided that not being able to physically compress my car to fit in the spot left by someone elses' crappy parking was an indication of a terrorist plot or something? What kind of worthless waste of genetic material would waste his time and the government's money to call in something like that? I can understand if I was actually BLOCKING the alley, but clearly whoever it was just likes to make other people miserable. I guess I'm not quite used to as perverse and legalistic a country as this.
You know, I TRY to like humanity. I really do. I remind myself of people who have been courteous and gone the extra mile for me, but it's hard for them to have as much an impact as when complete strangers try to make your life a living hell with little to no provocation. Sometimes I think the whole species should be scrapped and we should start fresh.
Cliff notes:
Due to someone else not leaving enough space, my car was about 2" too big for a spot, I get towed and have to pay $160, I'm pissed and hate the Nazis who called it in.
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