# "You know, that's handicapped parking spot!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 13, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328 "2011-06-13T17:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/141 "2011-06-14T01:45:11Z")
I don’t see how it’s spurious to call you a dick when you deliberately take up a handicapped parking spot when there’s a non-handicapped spot a few metres away, then you piss and moan because somebody called you on it. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/142 "2011-06-14T01:46:22Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > See, this is why I think you’re a douchebag. You committed a parking violation. You know it. The lady called you on it. It’s not the crime of the century, and non douchebags would have dropped it right there. > > But not you. You drove home in righteous indignation about just how much of a bitch this lady was for calling you on it. So much so that you just had to tell a bunch of strangers about the incident , and are then surprised that a thread with an OP saying “This bitch frowned at me for committing a minor crime” isn’t hugs and kisses. That’s fucking ridiculous. You are an entitled douchebag. Hell buddy, it ain’t her fault, so why start a pit thread about it if you are not the entitled asshole I think you are? Does her “tsk tsking” you wound your ego? > > An no, I couldn’t care less about how fucking heavy your amps are. Buy a goddamn handtruck, I’m sure the setup location isn’t right next to the door anyway. 1. No, I did not commit a crime. 2. I am not surprised that it’s not hugs and kisses. I am surprised at how vehemently and quickly I was turned into a monster. 3. Again with the “entitled.” I do not think any of you know what that word means. For the third time I’ll clarify that I am not arguing for a “right” to park in the handicapped spot. Any attempt on my part to do so was rash and reactionary and not a clear reflection of my opinions. What I do think is that it is possible to do so on occasion, if one judges circumstances correctly, in a way that does no harm to anyone, and can in fact be a boon to oneself. I also think it’s very clear that in this circumstance the above was true in my case. And I also think that the random passerby walking to her car stating the obvious was a little rude. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/143 "2011-06-14T01:48:12Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > YOU DON’T KNOW THAT. By your own admission, you were not with your car at all times, so you have no idea what was going on in the lot while you were gone. Add that to the fact that you proudly proclaim that you get away with this all the time, and the odds are that you have prevented some handicapped people from shopping where you are, or caused them pain/discomfort/whatever in order to get to where they were going. Yes I do know that, so shut your trap, you mouthbreathing yokel. I’m fucking sick and tired of people telling me that I am lying about the situation, so they can feel more secure in their indignation and certitude that I committed a heinous act. Why are we arguing about the details of this. I can tell you that I was within earshot of my vehicle the whole time, and within eyesight of it for all but 60 seconds or so tops at a time. If you want to argue that some dude pulled into the corner I was in, saw that that one handicapped parking spot out of of three was full, therefore decided to not park there and turned around, forlorn, from the music building, all without me being aware of it, be my fucking guest, but you sound like a moron. We can all make up scenarios in which I could have actually inconvenienced someone. This was not one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/144 "2011-06-14T01:51:04Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > I’m not so sure that solves the problem, there. As you point out, these are still imagined motivations. Even that explanation has problems with it; you’re assuming the assumptions are spurious, and not simply incorrect, which is the same issue. This is getting a little meta here. Let’s say that my tolerance and respect for someone pointing out the rules is higher than it is for people slinging profanity. It’s true I can never truly know why another person does anything (does any person even know why he or she does a thing?), but I know that there are respectful ways to handle a conversation and disrespectful ways to do so. I think that I have handled my self respectably (with regards to the people I’ve interacted with), and I think that many others have not. Feel free to disagree, or to find that somehow hypocritical. I suppose I find this a little amusing. One thread about one behavior and I am the biggest asshole around. I’m not advocating it, but I can see why trolls get such a kick out of being trolls. It’s funny to think about all of the friends and colleagues I have, and the general regard in which most people who know me hold me, and yet with one short description of one small and basically insignificant action (or, if you like, a number of small and so-slightly more significant actions) I can get people ranting wildly inaccurately about my supposed personality and my lack of worth as a human being. Brilliant. If people are always this eager to act out, then the trolls have already won. ---
**Author:** ![randomface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@randomface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomface)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/145 "2011-06-14T01:54:43Z")
Why would you have come here and posted about this? What response did you expect? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/146 "2011-06-14T01:58:06Z")
At first I was like, dude, parking in the handicapped spot is kind of a dick move. Then I found out there were a couple of other open handicapped spots and thought, oh, OK. That’s not so bad. Then I found out there were lots of available non-handicapped spots like 10 feet away and went back to thinking this was totally a dick move. Who the hell parks in the handicapped spot when there’s a regular spot _right there_? Also, this thread has gone on entirely too long and I am now out of popcorn. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/147 "2011-06-14T01:59:53Z")
The OP isn’t a _monster_ – merely a douchebag. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/148 "2011-06-14T02:01:11Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > And I also think that the random passerby walking to her car stating the obvious was a little rude. I think she was giving you the benefit of the doubt. She saw somebody in blatant violation of rules set up to assist a disadvantaged group of society, and rather than assuming they were doing it because they were self centered, she presumed they simply had not noticed and were acting in error. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/149 "2011-06-14T02:01:28Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I’ll say it another time (though likely not the last). I harmed/inconvenienced NOT A SINGLE PERSON with my actions as described in the OP. I put no one at risk. How that translates into what you just said is beyond me. You broke the law and you gloat about it. Or to put it another way, true character is defined as doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/150 "2011-06-14T02:08:42Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I’ll say it another time (though likely not the last). I harmed/inconvenienced NOT A SINGLE PERSON with my actions as described in the OP. You can say it as often as you like, bit it isn’t true. Even if nobody entitled to that spot needed it while you were in there, you contributed to the disrespect shown to a very valuable law. And thereby made it more likely others in the future would do the same. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/151 "2011-06-14T02:12:03Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The OP isn’t a _monster_ – merely a douchebag. Exactly. > [@Duckster](#): > > You broke the law and you gloat about it. > > Or to put it another way, true character is defined as doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. Good point. Our society is full of people who do whatever they can get away with, instead of making any effort to do the right thing, and just grabbing for themselves instead of making any small effort to help someone else. I don’t think the OP is a monster; I think he’s absolutely, perfectly _typical,_ and that’s a friggin’ low standard. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/152 "2011-06-14T02:12:07Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Look, it’s no skin off my back if you choose to call me names. You sound like a total idiot, though, declaring me a) lazy (if you want to carry 70lb+, awkwardly shaped and somewhat fragile boxes in and out of buildings, up and down stairs, and not take advantage of every foot of reprieve you can, be my guest, but watch your back or you’ll end up needing a handicapped space), and b) a bad person. Oooooh! That guy did something I don’t like, he must be a BAD PERSON!!! You’re right, there are some things you just shouldn’t do. It’s nice to know that now I can just be bad, because I am a BAD PERSON, so people should stop expecting me to be nice from now on. Fuckers. You know that whole “don’t be a jerk” rule we have on here? It’s good practice for real life, too. I’m an EMT. I’ve had to make a run to a parking lot where an elderly woman was beaten severely. The reason, she says, is because she told someone parked in a handicapped space that she needed it for her husband’s wheelchair, and the normal spaces didn’t have enough room. The young men who got out of their car, and beat the almighty fuck out of her, had no physical handicaps, and no tags or placards, either. I make a habit of telling people that they’re parked in handicapped spots (or those little areas beside them that are striped, and no parking allowed). I’ve been known to call the police (either in my ambulance, or from my cell if I’m off duty) to ticket and/or tow fuckers who do that. Not that you care, but you don’t have my sympathy, either. Asshat. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/153 "2011-06-14T02:22:22Z")
> [@randomface](#): > > Why would you have come here and posted about this? What response did you expect? Yes, clearly a poor choice on my part. I figured it would be a short little thread bitching about people who like to point out to other people that “you’re not supposed to do that, you know!” like it makes them feel better to tell other people how to behave. While I imagined there would be some degree of argument about the OP, clearly I didn’t foresee that my behavior would be seen as quite the dastardly deed it apparently was. I wonder how anyone here has any friends, if parking in a handicapped spot engenders such hatred. I have friends who have stolen, lied, cheated, and done all sorts of things of questionable morals at one time or another that I would consider in an entirely different category as my transgression, and I would bet money that so does every person who’s posted in this thread, and that none of them leveled the sort of language at those people that they did me. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/154 "2011-06-14T02:28:53Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > …2. I am not surprised that it’s not hugs and kisses. I am surprised at how vehemently and quickly I was turned into a monster > … Aaaand, there goes that last spark of innocence. Our Doper Baby is all grown up and wise now. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/155 "2011-06-14T02:32:35Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Yes, clearly a poor choice on my part. I figured it would be a short little thread bitching about people who like to point out to other people that “you’re not supposed to do that, you know!” like it makes them feel better to tell other people how to behave. While I imagined there would be some degree of argument about the OP, clearly I didn’t foresee that my behavior would be seen as quite the dastardly deed it apparently was. > > I wonder how anyone here has any friends, if parking in a handicapped spot engenders such hatred. I have friends who have stolen, lied, cheated, and done all sorts of things of questionable morals at one time or another that I would consider in an entirely different category as my transgression, and I would bet money that so does every person who’s posted in this thread, and that none of them leveled the sort of language at those people that they did me. I think the crime you perpetrated, far worse then the actual act of taking up a handicap space, was being a entitled asshole about it while calling someone else a self-righteous bitch. Someone in your op’s a self righteous bitch and it isn’t that lady. ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/156 "2011-06-14T02:34:03Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > The other convenient thing about the handicapped spot is that since nothing was parked nearby, I could navigate the piano keyboard into the back seat of my car, which really needs some good clearance on the driver’s side of the vehicle. Oh, a piano keyboard. Why didn’t you say so? That changes everything. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/157 "2011-06-14T02:35:10Z")
At least in my case, I’m envisioning the challenges my older family members and friends with handicaps face. Though he doesn’t have a handicapped tag or placard, my dad’s recent knee replacement makes stepping onto curbs and walking steps painful. I watch him wince in pain when ramps are not available. Clothing stores are usually so tightly packed that shoppers in wheelchairs are unable to maneuver and shop as easily as able-bodied people who can turn, twist, and squeeze into tight places. Grocery shoppers in chairs cannot easily reach anything above 4 feet. Opening heavy restaurant doors equipped with self-closing mechanisms while in a chair requires a feat of strength and a wide space to yank the door, wheel backwards, and haul body and chair forward while preventing the heavy door from closing on the chair. I can keep adding examples, but my point is: why even risk making a someone’s already challenging life harder when you \*are \*able to walk a few more feet while carrying heavy, cumbersome objects? Man-made environments are primarily designed for the able-bodied with only a few concessions available for those with physical limitations. Leave those concessions free and clear for those who might need them. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/158 "2011-06-14T02:39:36Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > You know that whole “don’t be a jerk” rule we have on here? It’s good practice for real life, too. > > I’m an EMT. I’ve had to make a run to a parking lot where an elderly woman was beaten severely. The reason, she says, is because she told someone parked in a handicapped space that she needed it for her husband’s wheelchair, and the normal spaces didn’t have enough room. The young men who got out of their car, and beat the almighty fuck out of her, had no physical handicaps, and no tags or placards, either. Jesus christ! What the fuck is the point of this story? Yes, I too would beat up an old handicapped person. I’d kick her twice if she had AIDS or was transgendered, too. I guess if the young men who beat her up had a handicapped tag in their car, then this story wouldn’t have been relevant, because they wouldn’t have been like me? Get a grip. > [@Superdude](#): > > I make a habit of telling people that they’re parked in handicapped spots (or those little areas beside them that are striped, and no parking allowed). I’ve been known to call the police (either in my ambulance, or from my cell if I’m off duty) to ticket and/or tow fuckers who do that. Good for you. > [@Superdude](#): > > Not that you care, but you don’t have my sympathy, either. Asshat. No, I don’t care. I don’t know you (though in the back of my mind I think I recollect that you and I have some similar musical interests, or something like that), and you have failed to do or say anything that would make me care about your opinion one way or the other. Let’s see . . . . . . extreme story about EVIL people that shares features with the OP in that they both involved people? Check. . . . statement about how the poster never does the horrible things the OP did, and gleefully aids in stopping those hateful people who do so? Check. . . . statement calling the OP a nasty name? Check. You’re right I don’t care. You barely managed to cobble together a post with anything close to relevance. All I can tell from it is that you think I’m an ass, and you think I want to kick old ladies, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/159 "2011-06-14T02:40:33Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > There’s only two kinds of people who park in handicapped zones. > > The disabled and assholes. ^^^ This. Any time I have had to load in or out for work, parking in the fucking street in front of the building was where I did it. Never a handicap spot. If the cops won’t molest you for handicap, they won’t molest you for street, either. Only assholes block or occupy handicap spots. And I frequently use those, because I’m my mother’s driver. But only if she’s with me, and only if she’s actually going in. If I’m going in for her and she’s staying in the car, it’s regular spot, and probably far away. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328/160 "2011-06-14T02:51:42Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > The problem there is that there are no back-of-building delivery areas, no on-street unloading zones and the nearest parking for a large truck is miles away. > > Cars and small delivery vans/pickups don’t always get the same leeway. My Dodge Omni (a very tiny econobox that they stopped making after '90), and the company small pickups and minivans always did. I never used, or needed, a handicap space. There was always somewhere else to unload. The OP has no excuse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-thats-handicapped-parking-spot/585328.md?page=9)