So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Trenchfriend]

But, as far as I can say from Germany, it's good, that parking-lots are here normally still build with classic size, means 2,30 metres wide (minimum by law).

If they would build plus-size parking lots, that would be the evil invitation for all these SUV-guys or people with other fat cars and we would have got less parking lots. And that, we don't want to risk, of course.

 

[Zombie_61]

People who take two spaces to park their Mercedes because they are afraid of getting it scratched.

In my younger days I knew quite a few people who would use their keys to scratch the paint on a car parked this way, as Miss Lizzie intimated. I've always been of the opinion that a person shouldn't own a car like that if they're going to be so concerned about what might happen to it. It's annoying when they do this, especially in a filled-to-capacity parking lot, but in the grand scheme of things it's really a minor offense and I have neither the desire nor the energy to get worked up over it.

But, as far as I can say from Germany, it's good, that parking-lots are here normally still build with classic size, means 2,30 metres wide (minimum by law).

If they would build plus-size parking lots, that would be the evil invitation for all these SUV-guys or people with other fat cars and we would have got less parking lots. And that, we don't want to risk, of course.

Here in the U.S. we have rules and regulations that dictate the size and space of parking spaces, but some developers push them to the limit and paint lines on the pavement that are barely wide enough to accommodate a Smart Car. Considering how narrow many of the streets are in Europe, to me it seems impractical to own a large vehicle there. I prefer smaller cars myself--easier to park and more fun to drive--but I'm 6' tall and often don't fit comfortably in smaller cars.

 

[Fading Fast]

People who take two spaces to park their Mercedes because they are afraid of getting it scratched.

The height of obnoxiousness.

Be terrible if something happened in spite of their precautions.

It would put you in the same league as the Mercedes owner and I know you are much better than that.


And I'll add one: Keying someone's car. Really? Thievery I understand, even though it is wrong. But wanton destruction - if I can't have it, I don't want you to have it - is even more despicable.

 

[Fading Fast]

In my younger days I knew quite a few people who would use their keys to scratch the paint on a car parked this way, as Miss Lizzie intimated. I've always been of the opinion that a person shouldn't own a car like that if they're going to be so concerned about what might happen to it. It's annoying when they do this, especially in a filled-to-capacity parking lot, but in the grand scheme of things it's really a minor offense and I have neither the desire nor the energy to get worked up over it.....

I feel the same way. It's obnoxious, but whatever. I don't believe in cosmic justice, but the people I know who do things like that - and working in finance, I've met several - are all uniformly unhappy people.

I respect that some people have worked very hard to afford nice things and don't want them mistreated, but I'm with Zombie, if you can't accept the normal risks of damage to an expensive car, then you're better off not owning it. Otherwise, you, then, become either overly protective (I've known some who don't even drive the "nice" car in the rain) or a jerk that takes two spots. Part of the fun in life is not worrying all the time - to make a lot of money to buy a bunch of things that you then worry all the time about seems self defeating.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I once had a bag of human feces left in the back seat of my car. And I wasn't even double-parked.

 

[Fading Fast]

I once had a bag of human feces left in the back seat of my car. And I wasn't even double-parked.

Any other relevant details?

And here's a NYC one: who are these people that go to the effort to do the right thing by picking up their dog's poop and then leave the bag right there on the sidewalk - it happens a lot. Is it that hard to complete the job - walk it to a garbage can for God's sakes.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I suspect they were meant for someone else, and my Toyota looked too much like theirs for my own good. Either that or someone was sore when I told them we didn't have public restrooms.

During my apartment days in the Ritzy Tourist Town down Route 1, I was standing on my second-floor porch looking out at the drugstore parking lot, when a snazzy European convertible pulled in, a slick-looking young man in a tweed driving cap and shades got out, stepped around the board fence, and peed all over my garden. I yelled out at him, but he walked away without paying me any mind. So I went into my bathroom, got the wastebasket all full of little festive things, took it downstairs, and dumped it in his open convertible. Tit for tat.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

People who take two spaces to park their Mercedes because they are afraid of getting it scratched.

I do this with my truck but I park as far away as possible when I do. If the lot is too busy to actually do this I accept the risks & only use one spot.

 

[Fading Fast]

I suspect they were meant for someone else, and my Toyota looked too much like theirs for my own good. Either that or someone was sore when I told them we didn't have public restrooms.

During my apartment days in the Ritzy Tourist Town down Route 1, I was standing on my second-floor porch looking out at the drugstore parking lot, when a snazzy European convertible pulled in, a slick-looking young man in a tweed driving cap and shades got out, stepped around the board fence, and peed all over my garden. I yelled out at him, but he walked away without paying me any mind. So I went into my bathroom, got the wastebasket all full of little festive things, took it downstairs, and dumped it in his open convertible. Tit for tat.

Agreed - fair exchange.

 

[ChrisB]

Be terrible if something happened in spite of their precautions.

I would have no sympathy should a flock of incontinent seagulls take an interest in this person's car.

 

[Zombie_61]

I would have no sympathy should a flock of incontinent seagulls take an interest in this person's car.

Instant karma is the best revenge.

 

[Fading Fast]

I do this with my truck but I park as far away as possible when I do. If the lot is too busy to actually do this I accept the risks & only use one spot.

I've seen this and it makes sense to me as you get to protect your truck but not inconvenience others - fair tradeoff.

And to be even fairer to those who do it and assuming everyone is parked within the lines (or as best they can if the lines are too close), let's not forget that's its rude people who carelessly open their doors hard into the car parked next to them. Even if the space is close, you can always softly rest your door on the other car if it is the only way to get out - that won't leave a mark.

 

[tonyb]

I used to own precious cars. Not anymore. It isn't that I don't appreciate a fine automobile, especially an old one (I am an American male born in the middle of the 20th century, after all). But I just don't have room on my life for a car I would fret over anymore. Half of my two-car garage is given over to shop equipment, which leaves the other half for the Toyota Sienna van, to keep it from getting snowed and hailed upon. (Body shops around here do a good business in hail damage repair.) Perhaps if I had a covered space to put an old roadster or a 1960 or '67 Coupe de Ville or a '61 through '65 Lincoln (always liked those body styles), maybe I'd have one. But I don't. So I don't.

It's akin to my attitude toward old houses. It's great that some people have the energy and/or financial resources and/or skills to properly maintain and improve such structures. But that person isn't me. Not anymore.

At some point a person ought to consider to what degree his stuff owns him, rather than the other way around.

 

[Nobert]

I feel the same way. It's obnoxious, but whatever. I don't believe in cosmic justice, but the people I know who do things like that - and working in finance, I've met several - are all uniformly unhappy people.

Dang, Fading, you work in finance? Well, slather me in grease, dump me in the English Channel and call me Gertrude. You have forced me to abandon a long-cherished prejudice saying that everyone who works in finance should be fired and probably jailed, and that Wall Street should undergo the time-honored N.Y.C. tradition of tear-the-thing-to-the-ground-and-start-over. You thoughful, considerate people who make me rethink me kneejerk assumptions are going to be the death of me.

 

[vitanola]

Dang, Fading, you work in finance? Well, slather me in grease, dump me in the English Channel and call me Gertrude. You have forced me to abandon a long-cherished prejudice saying that everyone who works in finance should be fired and probably jailed, and that Wall Street should undergo the time-honored N.Y.C. tradition of tear-the-thing-to-the-ground-and-start-over. You thoughful, considerate people who make me rethink me kneejerk assumptions are going to be the death of me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule

 

[Fading Fast]

Dang, Fading, you work in finance? Well, slather me in grease, dump me in the English Channel and call me Gertrude. You have forced me to abandon a long-cherished prejudice saying that everyone who works in finance should be fired and probably jailed, and that Wall Street should undergo the time-honored N.Y.C. tradition of tear-the-thing-to-the-ground-and-start-over. You thoughful, considerate people who make me rethink me kneejerk assumptions are going to be the death of me.

Thank you for your kind words.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of the things I like about the design of the Plodge is that the running boards prevent any door-bumping from adjacent cars. Not that I'd be especially bugged by a scratch or a paint chip -- one side already has several prominent scratches inflicted by my rosebush as I back out ofthe driveway, and I just paint over them with touch up paint and move along. I don't think of it as a Valuable Antique, it's more of a 76 year old used car.

 

[vitanola]

One of the things I like about the design of the Plodge is that the running boards prevent any door-bumping from adjacent cars. Not that I'd be especially bugged by a scratch or a paint chip -- one side already has several prominent scratches inflicted by my rosebush as I back out ofthe driveway, and I just paint over them with touch up paint and move along. I don't think of it as a Valuable Antique, it's more of a 76 year old used car.

That's the nice thing about a Flivver. "Touch-up Paint" can be had at 'most any store.

Of course this doesn't apply to the early Brass cars, or the Improved models of 1926-7, but for the vast majority of the Black Radiator cars Krylon will suffice.

 

[Trenchfriend]

One of the things I like about the design of the Plodge is that the running boards prevent any door-bumping from adjacent cars. Not that I'd be especially bugged by a scratch or a paint chip -- one side already has several prominent scratches inflicted by my rosebush as I back out ofthe driveway, and I just paint over them with touch up paint and move along. I don't think of it as a Valuable Antique, it's more of a 76 year old used car.

Oh right. The great, authentic rosebushes on german 90s shopping-center parking-lots, at the boundary stripes between the rows. Always recommendable and welcome for scratcing your headlamp-glasses.

 

[tonyb]

How 'bout the people trying to sell stuff who will tell you they aren't trying to sell you stuff? Or the people who would portray their attempts at selling you their goods or services as some sort of altruistic act?

A "no solicitors" sign is no assurance such pests won't appear at your door. I'm tempted to craft my own sign reading "no solicitors, survey takers, pollsters, religious proselytizers, or political canvassers," but my wife won't allow it. She thinks it's hostile, or something.

Doorhangers annoy me as well. If your aim is never to get any business from me, just leave that litter of yours on my front doorknob.