Inadvertantly dense, nice. It’s pretty clear that the only reason you’re pissed off is that you think you’re so special that you deserve your own Holy Aura of Empty Space around your vehicle, despite the fact that the lot is open to anyone patronizing the business. As you are entitled to park in the far end of the lot, so, too, is anyone else. Thus, my earlier suggestion that you get over yourself.
No one is saying they “deserve” the empty space, they’re just saying that they take advantage of it when it’s available. What’s it to you that some car is parked legally in a space that’s 20 yards further away than anyone else? How does that harm you, that you feel you have to teach them a lesson somehow by parking next to them? If someone is sitting reading a book away from other people, do you feel obligated to take the chair right next to them, just to piss them off?
1.) Having someone park a car next to yours in such a way as to not damage it or cause you the least bit of inconvenience is not remotely comparable to having someone sit next to you, which by its very nature can be distracting, when you’re trying to read.
2.) If they were in a public area, the person reading would not be able to object, because it’s a public fucking area.
Also, I love that you assume that I engage in this type of parking behavior. I don’t even drive.
Now that would be really distracting.
Anybody who’s enough of a nerd to want to do nothing but read in a public fucking area deserves what’s coming to 'em.
To me it is comparable, since in both cases you would be doing something to intentionally irritate someone else for no good reason.
That’s true, and you can’t really do anything about it in a parking lot either, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.
I’m sorry I made an incorrect assumption.
That almost deserves a question on its own (the table thing). I’ve seen this in popular media my whole life, but for the life of me, I don’t understand it; condensation doesn’t get through varnish/poly/whatever, and so I’ve never, ever seen this problem occur.
As for the dings, it’s a car. Of course I want my car to be presentable. A ding isn’t even noticable more than 3 meters away, unless your car has just been waxed and you catch it in the right light. The difference between a car and a table is that the table is a piece of furniture in an environment that you’re reasonably sure is protected; a car circulates on the public roads with all kinds of minor dangers. The reason that they’re made out of sheet metal and ecoated and painted is because minor stuff is expected to happen to them. Lease companies – those purveyors of evil – expect and accept dings. It’s part of being on the road. Otherwise, outer skins could be made out of cardboard. Rust? Fix it because the protection is wearing off. Collision damage? Looks like crap and could be unsafe. An almost impossible to notice ding? Get over it.
As for parking next to a car that’s already at the periphery of a parking lot: I don’t do it, because, again, it’s just a car. But if I were irrationally protective of my car, I’d want to park it next to the guy that’s protecting his car. Obviously, the guy that got there first would be understanding of my situation, and would take pains to avoid destroying my vehicle just as I’d’ve taken pains to avoid disfiguring his vehicle. Stronger in groups. If we all parked separately at parking lot peripheries, then we’d just start attracting vindictive loons.
(Note: The “you” here is the generic “you.”)
When you park at the far end of a lot, you are attempting to avoid damage to your vehicle. If another person parks next to you, but does not damage your car and does not impede the ability of you or your passengers to enter or exit your vehicle, it is exactly the same as if no one has parked next to you. There is nothing to get mad about.
When you sit away from others to read in a public area, you are attempting to avoid distraction and/or interaction with others. If another person sits next to you, even if they do not initiate conversation, they can still be distracting, simply by virtue of being alive (moving, breathing, etc.).
See why I think there’s a difference?
Yes, I can see your point, but I don’t think you’re taking into account the irritation factor for the driver that has taken the trouble to park a half mile away from everyone so they don’t have to worry. Maybe it seems unnecessary to you, but to me it makes me more comfortable about leaving my car in the parking lot. I just don’t understand why someone would go to that much trouble to destroy someone’s peace of mind, for no good reason.
But if you can see that there’s no damage to your car, why do you **care **whether the other person parked next to you or closer to the store? It should only bother you if (a) they’ve inconvenienced you in some way or (b) you think you have some special entitlement to a vehicle-free zone around your car.
If you’re concerned about your car, you might check to see whether the car that parked right next to you dinged your car. So (a).
There’s no way of knowing that anyone didn’t park next to them while they were in the store, regardless of whether there’s someone there when they return. So why would they check when there’s someone parked next to them, but not check if the spot is empty when they see it? If they’re truly that paranoid about someone dinging their car, they should be checking it every time regardless.
Because they know someone is parked next to them in the first case, and they assume that no one was parked there in the second.
You own a truck AND a boat? Shame on you for having fun! Don’t you know having fun with vehicles is WRONG? Vehicles are ONLY for getting to work or school - and then only if its too far to bicycle. You’re not supposed to LIKE them!
Ah, but a normal person wouldn’t assume that just because there was a vehicle parked next to them that the vehicle dinged them. And a normal person wouldn’t park way out in BFE and then get mad when another person parked in a normal way next to them. So, clearly, we’re dealing with people who are vary paranoid about any damage to their vehicles.
I wouldn’t say I get mad, it’s more like a WTF? I’m surrounded by 40 empty spaces, and you choose the one next to me? I think it is just because people get a kick out of seeing their huge SUV next to my Mini.
A normal person could wonder if the vehicle next to them dinged their car
Yeah, so?
Wow, that would piss me off too. I’ve only seen people infringing a parking space because they either did a bad job of parking and were too lazy to straighten up (yeah, I’ve done that), or they parked next to someone else who was infringing on their parking space (I’ve done that too). You’d have to be a real arsehole to deliberately park across two spots just to save scrapes on your car.
This happens to me every single time. And I mean, every single time. When it doesn’t happen, I take note because it’s the exception and not the rule. I generally park a huge distance from the door with as many parking spaces on either side of me that I can find.
I often do this at the post office, and whenever I get back generally 10 minutes later, there’s a car parked right next to mine. I honestly don’t get it. Are there really that many people that just want to be jerks that park next to me just to thwart me? I doubt it. I’ve watched the people come back to their cars and glare at them and they vary from college-aged girls to scruffy old men and lots of housewives that look like they have no clue.
And yes, my doors have tons of dings despite the fact that I park away from everything. But the dings have happened regardless of whether I’m parked quite a ways away or right next to the building.
I also think it’s a regional thing because this never happened to me when I lived somewhere else.