I am going to completely disagree with Astro and December.
I’m in agreement with CanvasShoes, I take the first spot I see. People who wait for people to walk out of the store, get in their car, and leave, all the while blocking the aisle, just to save ten feet of walking, get hit with my hood mounted hellfire missles.
People who smirk, for whatever reason, get hit with the gattling gun.
If it were my car I would file a police report. If it were my relative I would report them to the proper authorities, anonymously if i deemed it necessary. I really don’t see any ethical alternative.
Qadgop the Mercotan said:
I betcha that it happened a while ago, and this is what really happened:
I think that someone in his 70’s weighing 300 lbs. and probably having a type “A” personality has a rage problem that is statistically self-correcting. i.e. I’m suprised he made it to his 70s.
The vandalized car owner got what he deserved. It’s not about turning into a road-rage monster behind the wheel as some have asserted. It’s about violating the social contract as B&I posted.
I’m glad the old guy did it. I’m glad he boasted about it. I’m glad the smirking moron will have to pay dearly at the repair shop or on his insurance and maybe lose a day’s work in the process. Wonder if he’ll be smirking then, the idiot.
I’ve seen a guy like that…walmart parking lot…REAL red complexion, too. Must have a heart like a donkey engine. When the stroke finally hits, they’ll have to beat his heart to death with a wooden mallet to free him of this mortal coil.
Let him have the space. See what’s in store for him?
There are always so many considerations involved in this sort of issue, things that we, hearing this filtered through many sources, can’t really make a definite evaluation on. For instance, this particular relative has great disdain for the concept of the turn signal. Was he using his this time, or just sitting there with his intentions unclear? WHERE was he waiting? How near the spot was he? And as for the smirk - was it really a smirk? And was it actually inspired by the taking of the parking space? It could have been an, “Oops, I stole your spot, my mistake” sort of rueful grin, misinterpreted at a distance. It could have been an “I mock your values, NRA member!” sort of smirk. It could have been a “Hello, strange old man who is giving me a look of DEATH, please don’t hurt me” sort of smile.
I just hope whatever makes him act like this isn’t hereditary.
It’s a parking space fercryinoutloud! We’re not talking about the last life jacket on a sinking ship or the last sliver of food when you’re lost in a blizzard. It’s a few square feet of asphalt.
A parking space…
BTW, he’s 6’ 2". 300+ pounds, really big-boned (I kid you not) and can still lift up the front end of a car without a jack if it’s really necessary. But he prefers not to.
Thanks for all the feedback. Basically I agree there’s too many variables to really come up with a specific strategy for response other than Don’t poke the bear, dad! (whatever happened to him, by the way?).
When all is said and done, I’m not going to do an intervention on him unless the behavior becomes a disruptive problem for family or a clear and present danger to himself or others. However I don’t think a violent response to a parking problem is ever justified.
And Elfbabe, heredity is not destiny, you know. Look what Grandpa Mercotan had to overcome, when you look at his siblings! Heck, just consider me as your paradigm of hope…
Is somebody channeling December?
Oh, hell.
Wow. I’ve got to say that I think the retribution is over the top.
If I lose a parking space I have to take about 2 minutes to find another space and maybe walk an extra 50 yards to the store.
If someone dents four doors of my car, it’ll cost several hundred dollars to get them repaired. That’s not justice.
And in some cases it might not be possible to determine whether the spot was stolen or not. The scenario in the OP just says that someone “strongly felt he was entitled to it.” They could have both pulled up to it at the same time.
You could help him remember that woman in Illinois(?) who beat her kid in the safety of the parking lot that was caught on tape and broadcast across the nation for days and days until she surrendered.
Surveillance camera’s are everywhere.
Paranoia can be a powerful ally.
Read carefully:
I did not say a parking space stealer should be jailed or killed! Just that The act is a violation.
Maybe we should bring back the stockade. Make them loose a day of work and have them, with wrists and neck secured, stand in their own neighborhood with a sign STOLE PARKING SPACE FROM OLD MAN. That would be good for lots of violations like driving slow in the left lane!
Pfft. This old man in the OP can lift the front end of a car. It’s not like some guy forced his car into the only close spot when some fragile, creaking codger with a walker desperately needed to get into a hospital or something, and outraged bystanders beat in the doors in vengeance. A guy that tough can walk an extra 50 feet, BFD.
Parking space stealing is “bad”, but in this case we don’t even know what set the guy in the OP off - maybe they’d been approaching it from equal distances away and he thought he should have been allowed to take it because he’s got a few decades on the “offender.”
OTOH, it does sound like it’s getting to be time to start thinking about a home. Or say “screw the will,” pack him off to Florida, and change your phone number.
Two days ago, someone stole a parking spot from me. I drove another fifteen yards and parked my car. Then I went into the store and went on with my life. Didn’t even remember it until I read this thread.
Strictly speaking, ‘stealing’ a parking space isn’t breaking the law, whereas vandalism is illegal. However, just because something’s illegal, doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to happen, as noted in the OP. I’d say, Walk Away, and start doing what CanvasShoes and I do. Exact your revenge by parking far away, walking quickly, keeping your heart a smidge healthier, and getting to the cash register first.
Steal the denter’s dentures, then turn yourself around, cause that’s what it’s all about, hey!
Seriously, what can you do? Go break his knees? Is this a typical situation? Nope. What you are saying is the old person drove around, found a space, came back to your car and beat it hard enough to leave dents, no one saw, but was bragging to the people who were putting their food in their car, which you heard, just doesn’t seem likely.
No, in a later post in the thread, he’s saying that his wife heard it from a relative of hers, who was the old guy mentioned in the OP. He’s wondering what you do if a relative of yours is some tough old guy who bashes car doors in for nothing more than a “stolen” parking space. Do you confront him about his being a jerk, or just shut up and avoid him?
And because I’m an idiot, I didn’t clarify that it wasn’t QtM’s car that got bashed in, but some other person’s.
Do you know how the doors were dented?
If he hit it with his own car there should have been paint flecks from his car which can be matched using a paint sample anaylsis, also he’ll have some paint samples from your wifes relatives car on his.
If he did it with a metal (or otherwise heavy and hard) object, the same thing applies, there should be paint flecks from your car on his crowbar.
If he kicked it you might be able to find a dent that would give an idea of the type of foot/shoe that did it, but that’s less likely as it would depend how many times the doors were kicked and the way the metal bent.
Whichever way, it requires you to be able to check his car, the contents, or his shoes.
