Disabled Parking bays: Yesterday, this really happened...

The BBQ Pit
1

I live in Southport, Qld, Australia. I was born here. It’s a lovely seaside town which is surrounded by other areas otherwise known as “The Gold Coast”. Like all cities the world over, slowly but surely it continues to grow and more and more dropkicks start to show up around the traps.

Yesterday, I was walking from the undercover carpark at the Runaway Bay Shopping Mall at 10:30 am on a Sunday morning after having been in a cycling race earler in the day. I was in a great mood, merely popping in to get some fruit and nibblies etc for Mrs Boo Boo and our 15 month old daughter. A lovely day in the making, if you know what I mean.

At the particular entrance to the mall which I was entering is a “drop off zone” for disabled passengers. It’s obviously meant specifically to help disabled folks make the trip just that little bit easier. It’s not a parking zone, purely a temporary drop off zone, and then, about 50 yards away in the undercover area are a whole bunch of disabled parking bays proper. It’s a great system. Fair, and considerate. Except for one wanker… who I happened to come across yesterday at 10:30 am.

This bloke pulls up in his convertible Mercedes 320 CLK and (no shit) parks it smack bang out the front of the mall entrance in the disabled dropoff zone. So, he’s not only parked his car in a “no-standing zone”, but he’s breaking the disabled taboo thingey too. I couldn’t believe it. So, I took a look at him, and everything about his appearance, and his demeanour just screamed of him being a bloody nightclub drug dealing slimebag. I dunno… maybe I was wrong… but certainly, he gave off the air of being a dickhead.

So I said to him as I walking across the pedestrian crossing to the entrance…

“Excuse me sir, but did you see the disabled parking dropoff sign there, just above your car?”

And that was all I said… nothing else.

“Ummm… yeah… but I’ve just got to go inside for a few minutes and do a few things…” he replied.

So I thought to myself… “Uh huh, I get it. For some reason, you don’t think the rules apply to YOU huh? OK… dickhead alert… dickhead alert…”

I chose not to say a word, and simply keep walking. But Mercedes boy just didn’t get it, did he? Instead of simply copping it sweet, nah… he decides to get all narky with me and give me a hard time.

Next thing I know, as I’m walking through the sliding doors, I’ve got this asshole screaming in my ear, basically slagging me off and challenging me to a fight blah, blah, blah. Ahhh drugs I thought… wonderful things aren’t they? I know, he’s probably just a real estate guy or something, but he LOOKED like he sold pills in night clubs as near as I could tell…

Well, I didn’t say a word. I just kept walking a dead straight line. The more he screamed, the more I totally pretended he wasn’t there, and the more he looked like a total idiot. We got about 20 yards inside and a security guard had watched it all unfold and he stopped the wanker - as in forcefully stopped him. He called in the disturbance on his two way and within 30 seconds two other security dudes were on the scene. I told 'em what had happened, and how the lovely pretty Mercedes convertible was parked where it was parked etc.

The security dudes wished me a happy day and I went about my business.

When I came outside, the Mercedes had been locked dwn with official Shopping Mall wheel clamps. That car wasn’t going ANYWHERE. Mr Druggy Boy was screaming blue murder and making a threats into his mobile phone.

So, in hindsight fellow Dopers… what would you have done differently? Please be aware, I am by no means some friggin Parking Nazi - but there was just something so astonishingly arrogant about this guy’s actions that when I saw it happen I couldn’t keep my mouth shut - not this time anyway.

Whaddya reckon?

2

I too, might have spoken too him, just a simple sentence similar to yours. It might have been better not to speak to him, just to go straight to security and let them sort it out, maybe not though. Glad the Prick got what was coming to him. Walks off singing “Asshats, asshats, asshats, asshats, asshats…” (Think “Ode to Joy”)

3

Good on you! You gave him an opportunity, politely, to correct his “mistake” and instead he demonstrated his total assholiness. In front of security, no less. Wonderful! Your total refusal to react to his tantrum was just right.

I once had occasion to flag down a mall security car to report a van with no handicapped plate or placard parked in such a way as to block TWO handicapped spaces. The guard was appreciative and went right over to deal with it.

I may have been more sensitive to the issue than most people, since I was bringing my wheelchair-bound mom to the mall at the time and we’d had to park farther than we should have from the entrance.

4

Oh glee! I love it when there is instant karma.

Boo Boo Foo, you did the right thing, and walking away when the guy turned snarky and asshatish must have been tough.

Glad you got to see the results of your good deed. :smiley:

5

Well, I’d like to think I’d have said something to him since I need to use such spots! But I wouldn’t have if I were alone because, frankly, if he’d gone psycho and jumped me I might have gotten hurt. I’d have gone inside and told security, though.

Asshole.

6

As someone who once upon a time needed a temporary handicapped parking decal, but was all too often unable to use it because of jerks like the one you encountered, I salute you. I used to try to do the same thing when I was working in a mall in high school, but was forbidden to call the cops (our mall was too small to have its own security guys) because my manager decided it was “bad customer relations.”

It irks me to no end when people abuse handicapped parking spaces/privileges. If I had my way, there would be driver’s license suspensions for people like that, because they have proven they cannot behave in civilized society.

7

What would I have done differently? I probably wouldn’t have done anything or said anything. That’s what I would have done.
You, on the other hand, were perfect.

8

This has me wondering – the mall just down the street from us has security guys that drive around the parking lot all the time. I wonder if they go so far as to go after people who illegally use the handicap spots. I think they’re more there to keep bands of roving kids from breaking into cars, though.

9

I don’t see how things possibly could have worked out any better. Your own actions were perferct. You informed him in a non-confrontational manner that he was illegally parked, and you did not respond to his verbal assault. His behavior, and his behavior alone was responsible for his downfall.

You were a good citizen. I can tell as a person who works with and frequently transports disabled people that there is nothing more aggravating than finding those spots taken up by assholes who think that the rules don’t apply to them.

I think it should be legal to vandalize any vehicle that is illegally parked in a handicapped spot but i know I’m just a dreamer.

Good on ya, mate.

10

You were much more polite than my first inclination would have been: “Ahh, illiteracy is a handicap, after all.” (Being male, about 350 lbs, and rather sturdy on my feet, I don’t worry about any single person giving me problems.)

All in all, I think your comments were much more acceptable.

11

I think that things turned out perfectly, but what in the world does “Like all cities the world over, slowly but surely it continues to grow and more and more dropkicks start to show up around the traps.” mean?

12

I believe ‘dropkick’ is a aussie slang for idiot shitheads such as the Mr. Parking Violation. Presumably it derives from the notion that they oughta be dropkicked themselves.

Can’t help you with ‘traps’, though the overall meaning is clear enough I think.

13

I carry stickers.

I printed them up when I got home after the third time I had to walk around a car parked on a crosswalk at a lit T-intersection, in front of a fire hydrant and a sign reading “NO STOPPING ANY TIME.”

I consider that the time that they spend trying to remove the sticker is a sort of convenience propitiation.

14

I’d have punched the guy in the mouth three times before he hit the ground, but that just me. You did the right thing.

This reminds me of the time a young girl (I’d say about 19yrs old) driving a spanking new Jeep zipped into a parking lot the wrong way (using the one way exit)
She then proceeded to zip her little Jeep into a diabled spot. Her boyfriend then bounded out of the vehicle then into the building. I looked for a placard/plate, none. So I sat there in my car and glared hoping(sp) she’d look my way. Nope, she was oblivious, as is often the extremely self-involved are.

So I got out and did a very obvious walk around her Jeep looking for a placard. By the time I decided to say something the BF bounded out of the building, jumped in and they screeched out of there. If I had a cell at the time I woulda called the little shit in, thats a $100.00 fine here.

15

“Lovely seaside town” my arse, BBF! Las Vegas at the beach, more like :slight_smile:

Anyway, well done.

16

What would I have done?

Probably just glared at the guy. Look pointedly at his car and at the sign, at at him and his non-handicapped self…then not said anyhting, and gone over what I should have said for the rest of the day.

Or possibly I would have said something similar to what you did. And then when he started screaming in my face about it, I’d probably have hit him.

Neither of those options would have been as good as what you did. As others have said, you handled it perfectly.

17

I salute your actions. I have often seethed in cowardly silence faced with similar situations. And the car involved is more often than not a Mercedes. Funny, that.

If I were to get stickers printed for cases like this, they would say ‘morally handicapped’.

18

Apologies for the consecutive post but imagine my surprise at this coincidence in today’s news.

19

Excellent work. Were it I, I probably would have flattened two tires after the wanker skipped away, and maybe even drawn my key filled fist down the length of the cars’ shiny finish… But your solution was much better.

20

Damn, good on you!

Although I’ll admit that whenever something like this happens, whether or not it even makes sense in the context (it never does), what flits through my head is, “Yeah well, the <i>jerk store</i> called, and they’re runnin’ outta <i>you</i>!”
:slight_smile: