If you do, I’m the guy that gets them. I’ve gotten likely 5 in the last five years. Side question: Are there any posters out there who’ve gotten a lot more than that?
Anyway the question is, are you the kind of person that leaves a note on the windshield of a car that is poorly parked? If so I’d love to hear what made you stop and do that.
None of the notes were nice in that they simply said, “please be more careful next time I had a hard time getting my disabled grandmother out of the car because of you.” It’s typically “You suck blah blah, learn to drive, blah blah, die and get hemorrhoids, blah blah.”
I don’t want this to be a pit thread but I can see where it might become one, if any mods feel it should be moved, please do with my apologies.
So do you leave notes on windshields of cars that are poorly parked? If so what are you hoping to accomplish? Really I mean what makes you take the time to do that?
I don’t write them because it is a chickenshit thing to do.
I’ve never gotten one because I know how to drive and therefore how to park a vehicle correctly. I’d say if a driver can’t park his or her car correctly, and by that I mean within the lines, equally spaced between the two other cars, maybe said driver need to take driving lessons.
I don’t, though I have been known to mutter at the car (or its driver if they’re there). My SO hates this, and is convinced that I will one day be stabbed/thumped/whatever because I upset someone bigger than me. Fneh, I say.
The point is that bad parking is inconsiderate and rude, and if you don’t realise that then you obviously need to be told. If you do something that inconveniences others, why wouldn’t they tell you so? If you’re getting a lot of these notes, maybe you should actually consider changing your behaviour. Though personally I think if it upsets you so much that you actually have to take the time to leave a note, you probably have some sort of problem, I don’t hold back from just saying, “Well you’re well parked, aren’t you?” in just the kind of sarcastic way that’s likely to really make the person think about what they did and never do it again. Or thump me: whichever.
Meh … usually there has been vehicles at the time I parked there that made me do it that way … two out of the five times I specifically remember that being the case. The other three I think I was just in a crazy hurry and there were no cars to the left or right of me.
My parking skills aside, I’m still curious why someone would take the time to write the note.
Edit: I should clarify that I live in Europe and they tend to have smaller spaces than America does. Not sure if that helps or not.
I was wondering that myself. If I kept getting notes regarding my parking (and considering how many people were annoyed who didn’t leave notes), you’d think at some point you’d consider learning how to park a car.
I don’t leave notes, but I often would like to. Hell, I’d like to slash the tires of jackholes who take two or more parking spots in a crowded parking lot. No, change that - I’d like to see tow trucks circling the lot and swoop in and tow away any vehicle that is driven by someone so incompetent that they can’t manage to fit between the thoughtfully-provided lines.
I am having trouble imagining, in a situation where there are no cars to the right or left of you, how parking inside the lines takes any more time than parking outside the lines.
I have a long driveway that looks like an alley. The only time I’ve left notes on cars is when they park across my driveway, blocking me out or in, and I can’t figure out where the driver is to confront them in person.
maybe I explained it poorly, likely the case. In two of the times I did this … there were already cars that were outside the lines of their own spaces that (to the left and right of where I parked) when I parked … when I came back the cars that were originally there have left and new cars came in an … usually this happens when I’m parked somewhere for a long time (maybe a full day or multiple days like at an airport).
On at least one of the times yes I was just in a super cazy hurry and didn’t do the right thing.
You, sir or madam, need to visit youparklikeanasshole.com. I, someone who is annoyed to near death by bad parking, don’t think these people are malicious. I think they’re oblivious to the fact that their car is four feet from the curb or is taking up two spaces. It’s frustrating that some people can’t park because someone else didn’t bother to pay attention to what they were doing. Perhaps a note would be a good way to inform folks they should watch what they’re doing? Some people are egregious enough that it goes beyond mere negligence, and makes you wonder how someone can be so self-absorbed that they don’t realize they’re parked squarely in the middle of two different spots, and then think they *have *to had noticed, but just don’t care. For me, those are the ones who are note-worthy. I’ve only issued one note in my life, and it was a car parked diagonally across two parking spots. At Target. At Christmastime. What a cunt.
I used to drive a tiny little Toyota Tercel hatchback that would fit in anywhere, and sometimes if I noticed that someone had parked with their vehicle slopped way over the left line of the parking space, I’d slide my car in right next to them so that they couldn’t get their driver’s-side door open.
I guess maybe some enraged person might have taken it out on my car, but it was a beat-ass old Tercel and I really didn’t care that much.
I received a note once. It was at a shopping mall. I parked beside another vehicle that had backed into a parking spot and left about four inches between the yellow line and his SUV. I pulled into the empty spot beside him such that the passenger door on my SUV was about a foot away from the passenger door on his SUV. It was literally the last spot in that part of the parking lot, and I reasoned that if there was indeed a passenger using this vehicle then the driver would pull out a few feet and then let the passenger in: simple, right?
The note read “Next time leave me a fucking can opener asshole!”
To this day I can’t imagine why anyone would be so full of vitriol when the solution was painless and took, what 20 seconds longer?
Heh - my husband does this in his old Tercel all the time, too.
When people park so that you can tell they’re trying not to get their Precious scratched, that makes me want to go crazy all over their car - “Don’t want a ding in your door? How about deep gouges on every surface? You didn’t really want those windshield wipers, did you? Gum in the keyholes? More, please, you say?” I don’t DO it, but their attitude brings out the egalitarian in me.
I left one of these vouchers (pdf), and marked the “two spots, one car” box and scribbled “Merry Xmas to you too, fucker.” I’d like to think the person’s reaction was to feel annoyed, like everyone in the Target parking lot no doubt felt trying to find a spot on December 22*. Of course, anyone that spiteful probably gets off on the idea of being despised. I wouldn’t (and don’t) write notes for people who are parked just slightly over the line, though. I’m annoyed by it, but I don’t have time to write up demerits for everything I’m annoyed by. I do like this method of parking close enough to them that getting into their car is a hassle, and will likely employ it in the future.
*Please no “Then don’t procrastinate!” twaddle. People don’t stop needing things just because Xmas is approaching.
I keep one in my glove box… just in case. I have a few printed out and clipped to my wall at the office. Whenever people come by to talk to me, they think they’re pretty funny, and take one. As far as I know, no one has yet given one out, but they think they’re amusing to look at. I mainly find them amusing to look at, but that one lady at Target finally forced me to use one.
