I reckon your opinion on all of this might change should you and your wife ever decide to have kids. Around then you might realise that this rant makes you sound like an asshole.
Me, I don’t have kids either - so it’s hardly an inconvenience for me to have to walk an extra hundred yards or so, which isn’t the case for some women in her third trimester or for some parent trying to carry a load of shopping and manage a couple of kids.
By the sounds of it though, your wife is already entitled to use the “with child” parking space as long as she’s with you.
Vinne, WTF, I seem to remember another rant http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=83499
Man is this a trend? Do you have a hard on for people with kids? Judas Priest, better hope that condom doesn’t break or you might get your worst nightmare.
It’s tough having a kid, it’s tough raising a kid. You don’t have to have one, I really don’t care either way, but ya should cut some slack to people who do.
For all it’s other shortcomings, I’m glad I live in the baby friendly People’s Republic of China rather than the democratic US of A, baby.
My understanding is that those spaces are provided for adults with children and most places will not insist on proof of biological parenthood before they let you use them. Likewise, parents are not allowed to use them if they are not accompanied by their children.
In London at least, these spaces are usually wider than the norm. This is because the average parking space does not give you enough room to open the car doors fully, which you need to do if you are trying to remove an infant in a rear-facing car seat. It also gives you enough room to put the child and car seat down beside the car while you sort the buggy out, rather than in front of or behind the car where it might get hit by passing traffic.
If this is true (rather than some sad fantasy about how you would like to behave if you had the balls) I’m afraid it makes you a prize twat.
Oh and by the way, your insinuation that I cannot criticize people with children or complain how they are incoveniencing others if I have none of my own is the same argument that a baseball fan is not allowed to criticize a baseball player since he never played the game. I’m not a politician either, so maybe I should have no say in my government either.
Quite a few stores have been designed as stripmalls with the Wegmans grocery store at one end and Chase-Pitkin (home improvement chain owned by Wegmans) at the other, with a myriad of shops in between. These were affectionately known as Mega-Wegs, as opposed to the “grocery store only” buildings.
How does having those parking spots reserved inconvenience you? Is it THAT much of a burden to walk an extra 20-30 feet (6-9 meters)? Are you infirmed in some way that you are unable to muster an extra 10 to 15 steps?
Please explain how you are inconvenienced by this. Otherwise on your next trip to the store, please purchase some cheese to go with your whine.
Hell… in my dad, we had to walk to the store! In the snow! Uphill! Both ways!
Slight hijack…
My MIL will spend 20-30 minutes circling in a parking lot, so she can get a space as close to the door as possible, because she doesn’t want to have to walk very far…which makes no sense when going to the mall. You’re just going to be walking around in the mall, aren’t you? Just park anywhere!
Anyway, back to the OP. Here in Baltimore, the ones I’ve seen (Metro at Perring Plaza) are combination Stork/Moms with Small Kids spots. I figured it was for moms with an infant and a toddler, so she wouldn’t have to drag two (or more) small kids across the lot. I think there are only four, though. Twelve seems a bit excessive.
I’ve only seen the Senior spaces at one store (York Road Giant just north of Gittings), but hey, that’s okay. Thirty more years and I’ll get to use them!
The place where I shopped when Syno Nym was an infant had “Parents With Infants” parking spots. I found them incredibly useful when it was snowing or raining.
My new complaint about parking spaces are those “compact” spaces. I was at a restaurant the other day that had 47 “compact” spots, 2 handicapped, and 14 regular spots. All the regular spots were taken so I was forced to park in a “compact” spot (I made sure it was way in the back row).
Why so many compact spots? That excludes all SUVs, minivans, station wagons, pick-up trucks and a reasonable percentage of 4-door cars (my husband’s 4 door is longer and wider than my SUV). Do that many people drive Honda Civics?
I used to work for a huge health club about ten years ago and it would crack us up to no end the extent people would go to get a spot closest to the door. Just so they can get inside and run around the track for an hour! I’m sure these are the same people who took the escalator up instead of stairs, so they could do their hour on the Stairmaster sooner. Good grief.
Which leads me to wonder if Graul’s has installed them. If ever there were a place that needed a whole lot of them…
[sub]I’ll just go sit in the corner and shudder to all the memories of working there that were just horribly brought back to the surface[/sub]
This cracks me up too. When I was pregnant, I used to shop at Venture (Target-type store). They had the stork spots and I would never use them because I thought it was so stupid. Why do you care how close your spot is when you’re going to walk all around the store?
…and have you ever noticed how many Oldmobiles & Buicks park in those spaces? I’ve never, ever seen, say, a Mazda Miata parked in those spaces. Always makes me chuckle…
Regarding the OP, though, have a little sympathy, willya? Yeah, 12 spaces is probably excessive, but I think they’re a good idea. (Let the record show that I walked to the hospital to give birth, so it’s not like I’m some lazy slob who’ll take any excuse to get out of walking 20 yards.) The last couple weeks are just not that comfortable, & especially in the summer, when it’s 90 degrees & 90 percent humidity & your back’s killing you & your ankles are swollen to twice their normal size, you just don’t want to be out any more than you absolutely have to.
Hee hee. I’ve only been to the Graul’s on Bellona .
Graul’s would need “BMW parking” and “Mercedes parking” and “Jaguar Parking” and “People Running in just for Caviar parking” and “People stopping in on their way home from the Country Club Parking.”
No, I don’t think this is a good analogy. If you were complaining about how the price of baseball players’ whirlpools were making your tickets more expensive, or how the season ticket holders get better parking than you, that’d be analogous.
Bitching about aspects of something that is being put on for your benefit (like a baseball game) or government (which is meant to serve you) is different than griping about other people’s personal choices (having kids and eating out with them) or the decision of retailers to offer special services to certain customers.
