# What's with "Two cars meeting in an empty parking lot" thing I see occassionally? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102 "2019-06-06T01:07:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/21 "2019-06-06T06:42:44Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Earthworms are [simultaneous hermaphrodites](https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/earthworm3.htm). > > When you see two cop cars facing opposite directions in a parking lot that is _not_ two cops shooting the shit; they’re making new cop cars. 😃 [Thanks for the earworm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPu4ZA-0Fj0)… (my parents had the Nina & Frederik e-play, I have it now). ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/22 "2019-06-06T12:26:13Z")
Of course drug dealers might be really stupid, but bringing a pair of objects that can identify both participants in an illegal act from hundreds of feet away would make the cops job fairly easy. Spies do it in movies. I doubt they do it often in real life, for the same reason. Two people who don’t share a private place, but are both interested in a private conversation, and are not worried about being identified is what it indicates. That’s a fairly common set of folks in an industrialized nation. Tris ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/23 "2019-06-06T12:31:53Z")
I’ve met people in parking lots like that when we are going to carpool. We meet at a convenient location where we can leave one car, chat briefly about logistics, then move gear, park one car, and get into the other. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/24 "2019-06-06T12:33:47Z")
In rural areas it’s not uncommon for people, when meeting someone they know coming the opposite direction, to just stop in the road and have a chat. For me, two people chatting in a parking lot is a thousand times less weird. At least they are not in the roadway. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/25 "2019-06-06T12:42:05Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > It’s how I got my dog from the breeder; we met in a town halfway between our cities. Hah! I recently did some dog sitting for my daughter while she was on vacation. When they returned, I met her in a parking lot midway between our homes, so we each only had to drive an hour. She specified meeting at the Best Buy parking lot. Turns out the store is closed, so we were the only two cars around. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I’ve had the odd chat in a parking lot like that. I don’t immediately go to drug deal in the local Wal-Mart. Seems a drug dealer would be smarter than that. But who knows? They’re not real smart or they wouldn’t be dealing drugs. I’ve always known my dealer well enough to meet at his (they’ve all been guys) home. Meeting in a parking lot or a bar would be too cliché. And I’m not sure why you’d assume a dealer would be stupid; it’s the stupid ones who get caught. The people I know who supplement their income selling weed to doctors and lawyers are intelligent people who have never been in trouble with the law. ---
**Author:** ![Helmut\_Doork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e8c25b/32.png) [@Helmut\_Doork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helmut_Doork)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/26 "2019-06-06T12:50:16Z")
drug deal in an empty parking lot to me would draw more attention than drug deal in full parking lot. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/27 "2019-06-06T15:58:32Z")
I see that from time to time. Once I noticed more carefully what was being exchanged, and it was boxes of Amazon Prime stuff being transferred from one trunk to another. Delivery subcontracting I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/28 "2019-06-06T16:01:11Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’ve met people in parking lots like that when we are going to carpool. We meet at a convenient location where we can leave one car, chat briefly about logistics, then move gear, park one car, and get into the other. Or divorced parents handing off kids for week on/week off. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/29 "2019-06-07T00:52:20Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > In rural areas it’s not uncommon for people, when meeting someone they know coming the opposite direction, to just stop in the road and have a chat. > > For me, two people chatting in a parking lot is a thousand times less weird. At least they are not in the roadway. Right? I only _wish_ they’d have the consideration of others enough to pull off into parking lots for their stupid chats. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/30 "2019-06-07T02:52:12Z")
If _I_ were a drug dealer, I’d do what I’ve seen before - meet somewhere reasonably crowded where meetups are normal. Denny’s or Taco Bell or something. It’s too conspicuous out in the middle of a parking lot like that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/31 "2019-06-07T03:05:59Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Interesting, because the only times I’ve seen this they’ve been cop cars! Yep, police do that all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102/32 "2019-06-07T04:40:55Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Interesting, because the only times I’ve seen this they’ve been cop cars! Me, too! Someone referred to it as COPULATING. And every time I see two police cars lined up like that, chatting, I giggle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-two-cars-meeting-in-an-empty-parking-lot-thing-i-see-occassionally/835102.md?page=1)