I’ll be honest and I KNOW I’m going to be denounced as a heretic, and a heartless bitch, and gasp a MEANIE, so please don’t waste your time scolding me unless you’re willing to do it in a truly unique and interesting way.
Why do disabled people have special parking? Hear me out: they have fought and whined and complained for years about how they want to be treated just like “abled” people, but when it boils down to who gets the good parking spots, they want preferential treatment. People say “they’re in a wheelchair; they need better access”. There is no difference between the tarmac at the front of the lot and the tarmac at the back. And, since they’re SITTING DOWN, why SHOULDN’T they roll their way just as far as the rest of us who are bipedal?
What about disabled people who have trouble walking, you ask? “Why, oh why”, I query “is someone who has trouble walking going to a friggin Mall?!” If they can shuffle/wobble/limp/hop/crawl their way through 15 aisles of groceries or 5km of boutique shops, they can bloody well shuffle/wobble/limp/hop/crawl the extra 50 yards from a regular parking spot!
And yes, that goes for you preggies out there. Suck it up, ladies. If you’re willing to go through 4-48 hours of rock-your-world delivery pain to pinch out your kid, you can tolerate 3 minutes of waddling, I’m sure. Just think of how extra-martyred you can feel to your husband!
I want to know why OLD PEOPLE are getting handicapped stickers lately. wtf?! The next time I see some Blue Hair peeking blearily between the handles of her steering wheel trying to maneuver her Plymouth Landboat in a “special” parking spot, I’m going to pull her radiator plug while she’s in the shop. Save us all from that deadly danger: Fogie Driving.
Sharrongreen - In case you have missed it the first dozen times, it doesn’t matter whether or not you like it, IT IS A COURTESY THE BUSINESS DOES FOR ITS CUSTOMERS ON THEIR OWN PRIVATE PROPERTY.
Don’t like it? Find somewhere else to shop.
You obviously have never looked at handicapped parking stalls. They are wider to allow for more room for a wheelchairs or other assistance a disabled person may not need.
A lot of business now offer those battery operated riding carts. I am sure it is a struggle for some of these people just to walk the distance from a handicapped parking stall to one of these carts parked inside the door, let alone trying to make it across the entire parking lot.
I don’t usuall wish bad things on people, but if there is anyone who deserves to be disabled and in need of these services, I hope it be you. But then again, I am sure you won’t use them, right? You’ll just grit your teeth and deal with the pain. :rolleyes:
If I don’t like it, I’ll just park in the stork spot. I don’t need to shop somewhere else. I know the store is catering to the masses, especially with the hysterics about “family values” the last few elections. Sorry, but I don’t subsribe to the child worship that seems to be so prevalent in this society.
In the interest of being helpful, rather than simply telling you to fuck off, I’ll point out that there is a rather obvious difference between the tarmac at the front of the lot and that at the back: It’s closer to the fucking door. And when you’re in a wheelchair, or on crutches, or using a cane, it’s helpful to not have to cross as much parking lot, just in case some asshole decides to drive through it like a maniac. It’s a lot easier for a non-disabled person to get the hell out of the way of a car than it is for a disabled person. Believe me, having spent 3 months on crutches following ortho surgery, I know. (And no, I didn’t get a temporary disabled tag or anything of that nature. Most of the time, my wife dropped me at the curb and then parked. If that was not feasible, I walked the full distance.) DaveX: You can do whatever the hell you want on your own property, but on other people’s property, it’s considered polite to follow the rules. I, for one, cannot wait until you get your car towed, or booted, by a store owner.
Why not since Martin Luther have I seen someone take such a bold stance against social injustice. How dare they try to make life easier for people who might need it.
Guess what? You’re right, you’re going to be called an asshole, Asshole.
Did it ever occur to you, in your narrow little mind, that the real world doesn’t run according to your perceptions, but actually runs as it will, without having the slightest bit of consideration for how you think it is? In what way are you able to justify your callous view? Civilized people take the oportunity to help those who don’t have it as easy as themselves, or, at the very least, don’t criticise when someone else acts on a generous impulse.
Special-purpose parking is just that: A generous, civilized impulse, one that also happens to tie into good comercial sense, and into the property rights of the owner. For the business owner, There is the positive benefit of greater loyalty from their core market, for the customer there is the positive benefit of less stress, agrivation, and pain for patronizing a generous business.
WTF is the problem people have, that they must be so damn self-centered and spoiled? Whaaa! I didn’t get to be first! I had to park further away than someone else! Whaaa! It’s all about “me”, isn’t it? Me, ME, MEMEMEME! Why are people acting like spoiled, selfish brats, simply because there’s a closer parking space, for God’s sake? BIG FUCKING DEAL! Suckitup yourself, you self-centered twit! Take the few extra steps, and then you can play the martyr when you get home! [sub]Oh, wait… Then you’d come off looking like a baby. Can’t have that, now can we?[/sub]
DaveX, I hope I never have to meet you face-to-face. That way I won’t have to restrain my impulse to spit in your eye.
Guess what, you feculent misanthrope? The world is full of parents. You have some yourself, if you’ll bother to check. Parents care for their children, you know that, don’t you? I imagine your parents even cared for you, although in your case, if I’m wrong, I’m not surprised. So sorry you resent other people caring for children, expectant mothers, and so on, but guess what? You’re not the center of the universe. Deal with it.
I think some people posting in the thread should consider a few things:
“Hyperbole.” Look it up.
It’s the Pit. We are here to complain about things. Yes, “mother with child” parking is a courtesy in most places (in some places it IS enacted by bylaw, so do not assume your local rules are the same everywhere) and it should not be banned by the Geneva Conventions. You can still bitch about it, and if you can be a little amusing doing it, that’s cool.
If you can’t take some over-the-top bitching in the Pit perhaps you should not read Pit messages. There are some very nice, gentle children’s sites you can link to that do not have people ranting about things. Or you could play with a puppy or watch Teletubbies.
You guys, um, DO realize that Vinnie, Sharron et al. were not being entirely serious, right? That they were exaggerating for comic effect? Go back to point 1, and while you’re reading it, take the fishhooks out of your mouths, because you look really stupid.
My goodness, what a lot of teary, righteous, breastbeaters we have here!
Diane: “Find someplace else to shop”. No can do, chicky, when its the LAW to have handicapped spots and the BY LAW to have mommy with baby spots. They’re everywhere and apparently I, as an able bodied as-yet-non-pregnant citizen of my fine city, have no recourse but to complain. Btw, I had the “common courtesy” (China Guy, you watching?) of not using profanity. I’m sure you can stretch yourself to do the same, hon. Ditto for you, Kumquat.
Pldennison: Thank you for pointing out the obvious. Will the sun rise in the East tomorrow, too?
Tranquilis: Um, I never said I’d be called an a**hole; that was your own fertile vocabulary that came up with that one. Thank you for establishing what level of “civilization” you subscribe to. Your post I have the biggest problem with. As we’ve established, its NOT a commercial decision to have specialty parking spots, but a political one. I’m sure businesses would much rather cater to the 95% of their customers who are not disabled/pregnant. And as I am not part of the minority who whined and groused to my government for special treatment, I think its curious that you find ME self-centered. After all, I’m not asking for a reserved spot; I just want to have a fair shot with everyone else. I’ll give you an “A” for the use of “feculant” though.
RickJay: Thank you for pointing out to the teeming (and voraciously unamused) masses that there is such a thing as Comedic Exaggeration.
I’ll give Tranquillis the “misanthrope” part, I fully admit I have misanthropic tendencies. My world view differs from yours, thats all.
However, feculent? lazy? wishing for damage to my person or property. Sheesh… all I’m saying is that pregnant women and families with children can park in the same spots everyone else does. If I have a temporary physical condition which inhibits my mobility, I don’t get a special parking spot. I never claimed I wanted the spot for “me, me, me, it’s all about me” (talk about missing the point), I just think it should be on a first come, first serve basis as it always has.
It probably doesn’t affect me anyway, since I’m one of those people who takes the first spot available regardless of its proximity to the store. If anything I’m guilty of responding ardently to a statment that I view as extemely insolent. Namely, “If you don’t like it, leave” (paraphrase). Ahhh, the rallying cry of the majority, the real life equivalent of the playground taunt “my dad can beat up your dad.”
And before we judge, how many of you have cut someone off to take a parking spot. What did you know about their physical condition? Did you feel more entitled to that spot? Talk about incosiderate…
(this is not aimed at anyone, just hypothetical)
Maybe I am mistaken, but isn’t “comic effect” supposed to be funny, amusing, or at least mildly entertaining? The lame shit posted by Sharrongreen was not funny, amusing, nor mildly entertaining, just a blatant display of moronic rambling by someone who was about three steps behind the conversation.
Oh, and I so very much appreciate you explaining the Pit. All this time I had assumed it was a forum used to discuss delicious chicken marinade and debate the merits of mesquite wood chips. Wow, don’t I feel like a big dummy.
Not sure what you’re looking for Junior, but the Pit isn’t limited to idiotic, over-the-top rants. Maybe YOU need to turn off Teletubbies and observe how the Pit works (you obviously don’t have a high entertainment standard if you think Sharrongreen’s post was amusing). It’s not a big lovefest where the OP bitches up a storm and the rest of us come in offering big gooey hugs. If I think a post is asinine, I’m going to say it, just as Phil, Tranquilis, Gary Kumquat, and the others have done. Don’t like it? Tough shit. I don’t see the words “Pit Master” under your name so get off your throne, you don’t run this joint.
Screw our fish hooks, you look stupid enough without props.
Oh, and if you can’t handle the backlash that comes from these rants, maybe YOU need to go play with puppies. Be careful though, sometimes their little teeth pinch and we certainly don’t want to hear you whine and stuff.
On second thought, you will be safer watching Teletubbies although I hear they can cause nightmares so be careful, Snookums.
All that cerebral energy and not a single reference to the topic. Congratulations, Diane.
My friend just pointed out that handicapped people DO need bigger spaces for their wheel ramps. Understandable. They should help themselves to any parking spot which is least obstructed by other cars… but wait? Doesn’t that describe most of the spots farthest from the door?
Law or not, would it be too much to ask you lazy asses to walk a few more feet to the wheelchair bound man has enough room to get from his van into the chair? Would it be too much to ask that you burn a drop of that fat off your ass by taking 20 more steps so the pregnant woman whose feet are swelling out of her shoes won’t have to?
I’m with Phil, do what the hell you want but I sure hope I’m there to laugh at your car being towed or the boot being clamped.
Oh, tell me when the humor and amusement part begins. I must have missing it.
Well, sure enough, that was my addition. I think it fits, so I’ll leave it there. Now, as far as the courtesy parking being law: Where is it law? Yes, the handicapped spaces are law, but the rest? Not around here, nor anywhere I’ve ever been (and I’ve been around quite a bit), so maybe you’ll be so kind as to 'establish" the legal requirement a bit more clearly? I know that around where I currently live, there are three main grocery store chains, and only one of them has the courtesy parking. Guess which one I frequent? That’s right… The more generous one! I’ve certainly no need of the spots myself, but I appreciate their presence none-the-less. That’s the level of civilazaion I subscibe to. The one where you restrain your impulses (even if it would be more satisfying to not do so), look out for people who have it tougher than you (even if only a little bit tougher), reward courteous business, and call assholes “assholes”.
Well, I was one of the folks who said you can shop elsewhere if you don’t like the rules, so let me respond. And let me add that I was referring to shopping centers that provide stork parking voluntarily.
It’s not insolent, it’s what we call a market economy. See, there’s this shopping mall (we’ll call them the “Seller”) and there are potential customers (“Buyers”). Both “buyers” and “sellers” are free to set terms of the potential exchange (within certain legal limits).
So, for instance, the “seller” can say “if you wish to shop here, you might have to walk a little further because I am reserving spots for pregnant folks” or he can say “if you want a Diet Pepsi, it’ll cost you $1,000,000.” If these terms are unsatisfactory to the buyer, the potential “buyer” need not enter into the exchange or even come to the “seller” to begin bargaining for the exchange.
I think that about covers my end. I’m interested in seeing you explain how terms of an excahge are analogous to “my dad can beat up your dad”.
[quote] Originally posted by jarbabyj:
My sister broke her leg and had a hip to ankle cast for six months. She had a temporary ‘handicapped’ tag that allowed her to park in the spot. [/qoute]
Good for her, it is certainly deserved in that scenario. When I was writing the post, I was thinking more a long the lines of a broken ankle or other painful but minor inconvenience. Personally (this applies to me only, so settle down), I don’t think I’d get a temporary handicap spot unless I was in a wheelchair. I’ve been on crutches several times, and I’m quite use to it at this point.
I should have been more clear in my example, but I suppose I was distracted by all the insipid bleating in this thread.