So yesterday I pull into the parking lot of the Baptist church where my daughter gets her preschool classes. They have such an exceptional program! I nose into my parking space and the car to my left is backed in with a driver and passenger still in the large SUV. To my right is another van that is nosed in, perfectly parallel but maybe one tires width off center toward me. It is well within its space. Since the car beside me is occupied, I take an extra moment to make sure I have pulled into my space straight and well spaced. I am perfectly parallel to the white lines. I know this because when I got out I gave it a critical eye for a reason that is about to be explained. I am equally spaced between the two cars making my not perfectly centered in my parking space but well within the lines. I am probably a tire’s width off center and I could easily open my door and get out without the door crossing the virtual wall of the white line.
After I get out the occupied car’s engine cranks up, the car lunges forward, then backs up at an exagerated angle with the rear tire overlapping the white line and the backcorner now occupying the empty space beside him. I should have taken a picture with my camera phone.
Being a person not afraid of confrontation, I turn around and walk right up to his window and he rolls it down. I ask, "did I park too close to you?" He replies, "No, I was parked at angle." Me, "I am parked well in my spot with plenty of space between ours. Would you like me to move my car?" He politely replies, "No." I re-examine my parking job and am prideful of how straight I parked. I could have maybe been slightly more centered in the spot but not by much. Thank you Alan Shore for helping me not telling this guy what I really thought of him.
Fifteen minute later I return with my daughter and they are still sitting in the car and it is unmoved from the angled parking. These are the people that make me sad for they are the ones whose emotional problems are damaging our democracy and the American lifestyle.
I was in SC over the summer and saw, at one of those big parking lots for an attraction, a car that was parked so poorly that its back wheels were barely in the space (ie almost the whole car was parked where cars were supposed to drive). There were several rather humorous notes on the windshield, written in language that made my mother blush.
Maybe it’s because of this…