A reader sent me an email upset because her boss had given her a “first and final warning” for a parking incident that went a little too far. That may seem ridiculous, but she took the incident a bit too far. Our reader, who we’ll call Jill, works for a small business that doesn’t have sufficient parking, so Jill parks on the street. The business across the street lacks appropriate parking as well, and their employees park on the road. And here’s what happened.
I parked on the opposite side of the public street and left to get lunch. When I returned another car (that was parked down the street for the first half of the day) was in my spot but there was still room for another vehicle so I parked in front of her. Then a lady got out and started yelling at me. I asked her if she needed help getting out she said no. She continued to yell and was upset that I parked there. I then asked her how she knew my spot was open. She then slammed her door and that was that. So I thought.
Come to find out she is the business center supervisor and she now had a vendetta toward me. She called my boss to complain, he immediately thought this was ridiculous and left it at that. I took him outside to show him where I parked and come to find out she was still in her vehicle and I saw her get out to go inside to her office. I laughed at the insanity of the situation and showed my boss where I was parked and then we both went inside. The other driver then called my company again and demanded to speak with the manager. When he did nothing, she demanded to speak to the owner.
To keep reading, click here: When Revenge at Work Backfires
It seems like we hear about these kinds of situations nearly every day: some minor traffic or parking conflict that turns into a major, sometimes disastrous, deal. If someone you encounter in traffic or in parking attempts to hostilely engage you, walk away. Do not make eye contact with them, attempt to reason with them, etc. These things only seem to escalate and get worse.
Some cities cannot provide enough parking. There is NOT ENOUGH SPACE. Please take public transportation when it is available. My city is pretty densely populated; I walk or take the bus when I go downtown. It is difficult to find a parking space in my neighborhood; fortunately, I have my own driveway in which to park.
Whenever I read an article or post says that seems to have an issue with businesses not providing enough parking, I kind of assume that the writer has never lived/worked in a city. I’ve never been to an actual city where most businesses had free parking lots for employees/customers/visitors. They either park on the street or they pay to park in a lot. And I’m not talking about big cities- even in cities with a 10K population, it’s not common for businesses to have parking lots.
Parking Pouting: the stationary version of Road Rage.
No one owns public parking spots unless the city gives them a parking permit which comes with a cost, very similar to paying a parking garage fee. She’s lucky it didn’t escalate into a physical encounter and or damage to her car. My son’s car was physically damaged for parking in someone’s public street “parking spot” (about $8000 of damage) which no one heard or saw” when it occurred. Ignore those idiots who get huffy about things like this. I would suggest contacting the parking department about the lack of parking facilities and hound them and correcting this.
The comment about switching to public transportation is fair but not always a good enough solution because of the lack of reliability.