# Is this guy actually doing anything wrong (parking lot at work)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-guy-actually-doing-anything-wrong-parking-lot-at-work/488938>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 10, 2009, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-guy-actually-doing-anything-wrong-parking-lot-at-work/488938 "2009-03-10T11:27:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-guy-actually-doing-anything-wrong-parking-lot-at-work/488938/41 "2009-03-11T14:43:16Z")

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> [@Loach](#):
>
> Not in New Jersey. No such signs have to be posted. The property owner can tow off their property. Doesn’t happen very often in business parking lots. Most of the time the property owner is not in the building. Tenants of the building do not have the right to tow even if someone parks in the CEO’s spot. Most of the private tows I have dealt with are due to abandoned vehicles. Other than that it is rare. The tow truck driver wants to get paid. Few property owners will want to pay to fix a temporary annoyance. It is just not important enough the remove the car from the pregnant women only spot.

I should have made clear… I was referring specifically to having a car towed at the (car) owner’s expense, not the property owner’s. I assume that works the same way in NJ.

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**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-guy-actually-doing-anything-wrong-parking-lot-at-work/488938/42 "2009-03-11T14:48:02Z")

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Single lines are only markers. Double lines are the ones you can or can’t cross, depending on whether they’re both solid, or one or the other is dashed.

For example there’s a stretch of I-75 nearby that curves, and rather than a dashed, single white line, it becomes solid. It’s still perfectly legal to change lanes. The solid line only serves as an indicator that it’s not a good idea, kind of like the yellow speed advisory signs on very curvy surface roads.

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**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-guy-actually-doing-anything-wrong-parking-lot-at-work/488938/43 "2009-03-11T14:52:49Z")

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> [@minor7flat5](#):
>
> Before I entered the spot I couldn’t see him, as there are lots of big SUV-type vehicles parked in the other spots.

Does this mean that before you entered the spot he could not see you either?

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**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-guy-actually-doing-anything-wrong-parking-lot-at-work/488938/44 "2009-03-11T16:15:24Z")

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> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> Does this mean that before you entered the spot he could not see you either?

I’m pretty sure that the nose of my car was already visible to him before he crossed the line. By the time I was 2 feet in, he was several feet in “my” space.

No need to dwell on this point however. The moment of truth was when we sat facing each other, completely stopped, him clearly straddling two spots, while I was already part way in. He simply expected me to back out, and that was rude.

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**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-guy-actually-doing-anything-wrong-parking-lot-at-work/488938/45 "2009-03-11T17:05:03Z")

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In the future, I’d put my car in park and get out, walking toward the door. If he wants a pull-through spot that badly, he’ll pull out and find another place, and that’s when you sprint back to your car and pull all the way in.

Also, being in my thirties and fairly well insured, I am the type of guy who would push pretty close. Odds are that people this obsessive about parking spots are also obsessive about their car in general, and wouldn’t want paint scraped off the bumper.

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