people blocking you in...parking (Vent)
Parking around the kids school is HORRIBLE...people have to parallel park, the parking lot only holds approx 10 cars.... So when everyone parallels, they leave a huge gap between vehicles, so I try to leave a reasonable distance to allow the peron infront or behind room to get out, as well as another vehicle to fit in the row. So yesterday I came and parked NEAR a fire hydrant, I belive with the proper distance away, leaving a small space behind me...less than usual tho. BUT that vehicel behind me had ample room to back up to get out, no problem for her. THEN a lady parks infront me, illegally beside the fire hydrant, completely blocking me in. I swear no more than 3 inches from her back bumper and my front. I had to wait 15 min after school before I could go...waiting for her or for the person behind me. The person behind me came out first, and by that time I was fuming. I had a migraine, and kids had to pee etc...I was quick getting my daughter out... Anyways, I left her note saying she blocked me, I had to wait for 15 min, she is parked illegally and I am pi$$ed off. Not signed, but she did finally come as I was pulling away. I NEVER overreact to things, esp to strangers, but I couldn't control myself yesterday, I still feel mad at the situation, but want to apologize for my behaviour. I don't know the person, but i would know the vehicle...should I apologize, for overreacting? If I was a cop she'd be paying a fine for her parking there, she is clearly in the wrong....as well as blocking me in like that...that was just rude. has this ever happened to anyone? |
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That sounds really frustrating. I think leaving a note is hardly overreacting although I suppose it depends on exactly what you wrote. 
To give a different perspective, the other driver might come from someplace where tight parallel parking is more common. Here in Philly, it is very common to squeeze your car into whatever tiny spot you can manage. As long as you are only touching either the car in front or behind you (but not both), you can generally get out in and out of the spot with some very delicate back and forthing. While typically there is 6-12 inches between cars, 3 inches happens and sometimes zero. You couldn't back up to give yourself room to squeeze out? In any event, unless you were really rude in the note, I don't think you owe an apology. And if you were. . . well, I guess I'll wait to see what others say. I don't know. . . Sorry your day started so badly. Hope the rest is better.  |
| Don't feel bad, I think you did the right thing.
Some people just don't think. A note was a good reminder. My son uses a wheelchair and people were always blocking the curb cut at his school. I complained to the office and they posted an item in the next news letter about it. I used to work at a school and the drop off and pick ups were awful until enough parents complained. |
Daise! Your post brought back a fond memory! I was a commuter to college, and one winter day went to school. My classes started early am. The wonderful New England day that it was one snow flake lead to another. By mid morning, it was a raging blizzard. I finished classes and went to the library to wait for the storm to slow down. At about 3:30 pm I crossed through the snowy campus to my car clear across the university grounds. Ah, higher education ! My collegues made 3 not two rows, so I along with other students were trapped in the middle row!!!!!!!! Car in front of me and in back, returned to the library with my hot breath forming words I will not repeat here. I did not leave campus until I was freed at about 8 pm that evening. My husband laughs, when we go to a mall, I always park along a wall!! 
Sorry about your day. If the parking lot is on school property, I'd talk to the office. Maybe they could send a note out about courtesy and parking. Don't worry about your note, it appears you are owed the apology......... |
| thanks this makes me feel better
I would say on the street is public parking, not necessarily school property atho just across the street, (school zone area). If this lady would have followed the rules about fire hydrants there would be NO issue, she should never have parked there in the first place. My note simply said: You have blocked me in leaving me no room to move, and I've been waiting here for 15 min, and you are illegally parked...signed pi$$ed off... In my head I was yelling those words on paper. She is not known to me, not a parent in my kids class, not a vehicle I know. They had parking patrol, because we have a drop off zone, but everyone parks and leaves their vehicle..you are not to leave your vehicle...it always an issue. We don't have a bussing system so you either walk or drive. The parking lot is shared by the YMCA daycare and Capital Health clinic...routine baby checkups and shots...anyways it is for clients and staff...we are not allowed to park in it or we will recieve a fine. They have not monitored anything this year, and no parents are assigned to it. It is mentioned in the monthly newsletters. |
Daisie wrote: ........I couldn't control myself yesterday, I still feel mad at the situation, but want to apologize for my behaviour.
I think you've answered your own question. It sounds as though you're bothered by your actions so I would apologize if possible. One act of kindness with an explanation of why you reacted the way you did may trickle down the parking lane. Sometimes we do things without thinking so maybe the next time she's ready to park she'll think of the other guy too. Years ago a friend gave me a copy of a really cute, but rude note you could leave someone that parked too close. I can't remember the picture that was on it, but it said: NEXT TIME, LEAVE ME A F--------G CAN OPENER! Whoops. Sorry.  (Hope no one was offended - if so, sorry) |
I completely understand how you feel, I get so annoyed at my children's school because there are so many parents who just think of their own convenience!! At our school there is a drop off area and all along this long sidewalk it says "Student Drop Off Only, No Parking", but every morning it is the same thing, parents park and leave their car sitting there so it becomes very congested and the parents who follow the rules have a harder time dropping their children off safely!! Last year the principal even sent out a memo addressing the issue, did anyone listen?? I think I will call the school and tell them to issue another memo 
Sharon |
mouthypf wrote: [Years ago a friend gave me a copy of a really cute, but rude note you could leave someone that parked too close. I can't remember the picture that was on it, but it said:
NEXT TIME, LEAVE ME A F--------G CAN OPENER! Whoops. Sorry. (Hope no one was offended - if so, sorry)ROTFLMAO |
valerie wrote: As long as you are only touching either the car in front or behind you (but not both), you can generally get out in and out of the spot with some very delicate back and forthing. While typically there is 6-12 inches between cars, 3 inches happens and sometimes zero. You couldn't back up to give yourself room to squeeze out?
Valerie, are you saying that it is ok to actually touch someone else's car with your own? I guess if you drove a piece of crap and didn't care but it would be one thing but I'd be ready to kill someone if they were to touch my car with theirs. I'd love to see someone get out of a spot with only 3 inches to spare. Good luck on that, lol. |
ButtersStotch wrote: Valerie, are you saying that it is ok to actually touch someone else's car with your own? I guess if you drove a piece of crap and didn't care but it would be one thing but I'd be ready to kill someone if they were to touch my car with theirs. I'd love to see someone get out of a spot with only 3 inches to spare. Good luck on that, lol.
Yup, that's exactly what I am saying. Here in Philly, it is very common to be just barely touching on one side or the other. The trick is to be gentle enough so as not to set off any car alarms. It is not ideal but people live with it because parking is so scarce. And people celebrate being able to claim a space that someone else thought was too small to be possible. I'll start taking pictures to show you what I mean. . . |
| Wow, I would never be able to park in Philadelphia!! I never parallel park, so therefore I now have parallel park phobia.
Sharon |
| here people leave 3-4 ft of space between cars...too much space, and if they would park a little bit closer than at least 1-2 more vehicle could fit. Here there is no lines on the street to designate a space. So it's all willy nilly. But that day I purposely parked closer to the vehicle behind me, still leaving enough room to walk through, but not enough to manuever myself out.
Of course I am driving our Tahoe, which is big and blocky, so it's hard for me to judge the distance. I'll never drive to Philly and parallel park either....LOL |
| Parallel parking? Oh yeah, thats where you keep driving around the block until someone leaves and you can pull right in behind a car, leaving 3 to 4 feet in between that car and yours so you can get back out.
Lines on pavement? Are those the things you're suppose to park in between in the parking lots, but when you get ready to park everyone is out of line so you park accordingly, but when you come back out it looks like the "mess" was your fault.
When I took my first drivers test I was taken to an almost vacant side road to parallel park. One car and me. lol Pulled up beside it, backed in, was 3 foot or better from the curb. Had me try again, a little better, but not much. Told me I'd get better with practice. I'm still practicing many years later. |
| This is somewhat related...my next door neighbor Ann has your typical driveway in the front of her house....across the street is a park, where on Wed. nights they have a renaisance thinger...jousting sword fighting etc...in full costume...we call it weird wed...any way one evening she came home from work to find that someone had parked in front of her driveway...extremely mad, she went across the street to find the culprit. Now granted she was ranting mad...one of the "knights" said to her, that she must speak to the "king"....leads her all the way across the park to these 2 thrones...so she starts her rant again...who are you. who gives you the right to block property...etc...well, the "Knight" and another "Knight" took their poles and crossed them and said "You do not speak to our King and her Majesty like that..." Well, you can guess how the launguage turned...she storms off to call a towing truck. As she is on the phone, the "Queen" runs over and moves her car...lol...I guess you had to be there, but it was commical to see a bejeweled renaisance "queen" in full corset and gown running across the park to move her car...... |
| There is some justice in this world. Remember the scene in Backdraft where the car was parked in front of the hydrant? Oh yeah, it happens! I've actually seen it done twice!
We also park people in who are in the fire lane. That's why it's a fire lane and not a, "I'm really lazy and dont' feel like abiding by the same rules as pertain to everyone else", lane. People will be jerks in this world and you either rise above it or give them a demonstration of Karma. |
Just for fun, I took some pictures of street parking here in Philly while I was walking CHum the other morning. It is not always this tight, but these are completely within the norm. You see cars this close together on every block. People take pride in squeezing in:
This one is closer than it looks due to the big bulging headlight which was just about touching the car in front 
 |
| I'd just drive the crappiest car I could find that ran if I had to endure parking like that. I don't even like if people breathe on my car wrong... |
| I have a Tahoe, I need three spaces in the mall to get out If I lived in Philly I'd be walking. |
| no way!!!!! the car in front of me and behind me would be all dented....not to mention what my car would look like, thank you but no!!! |
| Now, I know why my uncle always talked so badly about my aunts driving. And, that explains why my mom, after riding with her once came home saying "NEVER" again. lol
Here when someone bumps your car its considered an accident or a wreck. Just curious, if the alarm does go off would they consider it an accident then and file an insurance report? I know I've heard from family in New Jersey that insurance is very high there. Do these pictures explain why that would be? Not being rude, I'm really curious. Like everyone else, I'd be walking. |
| I can't even image that someone can squize in to a place like that ,unbelivable. Oh ,yes and I'd be walking also.
Tanya |
mouthypf wrote: Now, I know why my uncle always talked so badly about my aunts driving. And, that explains why my mom, after riding with her once came home saying "NEVER" again. lol
Here when someone bumps your car its considered an accident or a wreck. Just curious, if the alarm does go off would they consider it an accident then and file an insurance report? I know I've heard from family in New Jersey that insurance is very high there. Do these pictures explain why that would be? Not being rude, I'm really curious. Like everyone else, I'd be walking. I am not sure what you see as bad driving. It takes alot of skill to maneuver a car into a small parallel parking space. Bumping the car is definitely not considered an accident -- it is accepted as a normal part of parking. You try to be as gentle as possible -- just a nudge to determine the boundary. The cars aren't harmed in the process. If you actually whack one and cause a dent, you are expected to leave a note. But that rarely happens. My mom has had more injury to her car from the treatment it receives in the parking garage. If the car alarm goes off, it is considered a nuisance and neighbors blame the car with the alarm rather than the poor person trying to claim a space. I think people who park regularly on the street try to get them calibrated so parking bumps won't trigger it. Most harm to cars in philly and DC (where I lived previously) comes from vandals busting windows or -- get this - snipping off your antennas. That used to really burn me up. The insurance rates in Philly are about double what I paid in DC. I have no idea why. |
| I consider it bad driving anytime someone else's car touches mine! Even a feather touch to a painted bumper can damage the clearcoat of the paint leaving the exposed area more open to the environment. It may take "a lot of skill" to park that way but, honestly, I just want to get in the car and go, I don't really want to exert a lot of effort just to get out-- especially when I have to go someplace in a hurry! I agree with the others, I'd be walking or moving!
Is insurance really high there? Somebody bumped me here and damaged just the clearcoat of the bumper. With labor and repainting it was almost $800. I would think those types of repairs would be common place in your area! |
ButtersStotch wrote: I consider it bad driving anytime someone else's car touches mine! I agree with respect to moving cars, but city parking is different. There just isn't enough space and everyone has to compromise. ButtersStotch wrote: It may take "a lot of skill" to park that way but, honestly, I just want to get in the car and go, I don't really want to exert a lot of effort just to get out-- especially when I have to go someplace in a hurry! I agree with the others, I'd be walking or moving! I agree! No one likes it -- it is one of the hardships of living in a city without alot of parking. I actually do walk to work. I only use my car for trips to Target, home depot, and to get out of town. ButtersStotch wrote: Is insurance really high there? Somebody bumped me here and damaged just the clearcoat of the bumper. With labor and repainting it was almost $800. I would think those types of repairs would be common place in your area!
Yes, insurance is really high but no one really fixes an injury to the clearcoat on a bumper. Heck, I was sideswiped about a year ago which left a dent and a scrape, and I still haven't fixed it since as soon as I do, something else will happen.
I forgot to add the other two big problems -- kids with keys (who use them to scratch cars) and pot holes. |
Detroit has potholes bigger than some lakes I'm sure Jill knows most of them  |
| That's amazing, Val. I could NEVER park that well. I have driven in Philly a few times, but I parked in garages, not on the street. I'm not that brave!! |
bestdogsx4 wrote: Detroit has potholes bigger than some lakes
I'm sure Jill knows most of them Lol. That's for sure. Sometimes the repairs in Detroit are worse than the hole itself. I think Michigan has just about the worst roads in the U.S. anyway. No exaggeration, as soon as you cross the Ohio border, there's an obvious difference-- and I'm not even talking about the turnpike! |
Quote: I think Michigan has just about the worst roads in the U.S. anyway
You've never driven in San Diego...It is horrible out there. Mostly, I think because the weather never gets too bad, so it isn't factored into any sort of yearly/decade-ly repair schedule. Richmond, on the other hand, seems to be constantly repaving the streets. We moved into our house last October and they have repaved our street twice already! |
| I did once actually Stephanie, and I think Michigan still wins as lousiest (what a crappy contest to win)! Our weather gets bad on top of the fact that it takes years for construction projects to finish. By the time they're done, the solution is either obselete or the first part of what they began repairing needs repairing again.
Michigan people have a saying: We have 2 seasons, Winter and Construction! |
| Luckily we don't have parking problems in Boston,
we can't find our way out of the Big Dig !!!! www.bigdig.com |
Ive driven in both San Diego and Detroit. Detroit wins hands down...They ARE the worst streets in the country. I love it when they fix a pot hole and make it into a speed bump  |
| some of you need to uh.... get away from the materialism.
"If someone touched my car...!!" "If someone even breathed on my car..!!" C'mon guys. It's a car. It's not a person. It's a hunk of metal designed to get you where you need to go. Life is way too short. Just a friendly reminder... To remember priorities. There is a lot of suffering in this world. A scratch on a car is nothing. Someone breathing on your car is nothing. |
| Eek, you need to, uh, look at the dates on threads you reply too...2005...kinda silly for you to get upset over a 4 year old conversation, what with all the more important issues to worry about, and all. |
| I'm not sure why you're a bad person if you care about something you spent a lot of money on. It's not like we're saying we have nothing else important in our lives except for our vehicle, so if someone was dying in a street, we'd just pass them by b/c they were doing it too close to our car. Personally, I like people who try to take care of their things and even take pride in what they have than people who can whatever everything that isn't dying or suffering.
And back to the topic, even if it is old... I had someone blocking a handicap parking space at a game (who was also handicap) we were at. That person waited for them to come back after the game, and she was very upset that the person blocked in was mad. She said (screaming) she was in a hurry, and didn't have another handicap space to park in ....so she enjoyed the game that took several hours and then spent an hour after the game there. I hate people like that. I would have just called the cops and let her tell her sad story to them. Then giggled inside when she got her ticket. |
| The second "guest" posting was me, late last night, when I had forgotten to sign in...
For some reason, it just bugs me when people dig up ancient threads and then get all snippy about them 
Its cool if you want to bring an old topic back to start up the conversation again, but not just to be critical 
Ok,ok...or maybe its ME who's feeling a little snippy!!! |
eek wrote: some of you need to uh.... get away from the materialism.
"If someone touched my car...!!" "If someone even breathed on my car..!!" C'mon guys. It's a car. It's not a person. It's a hunk of metal designed to get you where you need to go. Life is way too short. Just a friendly reminder... To remember priorities. There is a lot of suffering in this world. A scratch on a car is nothing. Someone breathing on your car is nothing. People who drive crappy cars often feel that way. Some people put a lot of time and effort into their cars. They're more than just a means of getting from point A to point B. There's nothing wrong with expecting people to respect your belongings. I love how somewhere along the way in this country, having nice stuff became something to make you feel bad about. It's ridiculous. |
| Leave a note.... Hi, sorry I hit your car when I was trying to exit my spot. I had left enough room but you parked me in and I am in a hurry. I would love to leave you my number but can't for the life of me remember it at the moment. Here's hoping your bumper doesn't fall off before I can get back to you next time I see you at school. Have a nice day! Even though you didn't hit her, it will drive her nuts. |
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