Space hogs

The Way I See It


 

 

I ’m going to rant just a bit this week. I attended a meeting out of town on Monday and when I left the restaurant, I noticed that a car had parked close by mine. When I say close, I mean like 7-8 inches from mine. Why do people not think about this at all? The car next to it was over his stripe by 3-4 inches so, I guess he started the whole space problem.

So … even if I was able to squeeze my abundant body through the opening, I would still be factoring in the width of the car door. Not happening. The car on the passenger side was tight but I was able to get in. My first thought was to back up the car slowly and just turn it off. Nope. One must depress the brake to move the car into gear. I dismissed crawling over the console, there just wasn’t much room and thought it was impossible.

I went back into the restaurant and sat near the window patiently watching my car. The host and waitress asked me if I needed anything and I explained my situation. A diner offered his take on rude drivers and said that I was calm about the situation. I told him that I guess I could open my gate and sit and wait for the culprit – and then offer suggestions on being a bit more considerate when parking. He replied “Oh….don’t do that. People can be crazy!” And he is right. What would it help? So I waited another 15 minutes. It was next to a hotel with a loud pool party and I then thought I could be here a long time.

I’m sharing the situation with my friend Judy via text and she said to try and scoot/lay back the seats and see if I could get in. Thankfully the car on that side had left. So I scooted in. I get my derriére in, pivot … swing my leg … and then my foot gets stuck on the steering wheel. Not so sure how THAT happened, but it did. I pulled up that leg and managed to bend and get in. Success!

Did I think about leaving a note? I sure did. Did I actually do it? I did not.

The way I see it, leaving the note would have only made me feel better and I was only slightly inconvenienced. But, please, drivers – try to park within the stripes. Don’t box in other cars where they can’t escape. Though I’m a large gal, I’m still pretty limber. I would have hated to call 911 to untangle me from the steering wheel – IF my phone would have been reachable.

SUE BROWN is a columnist of the Pleasanton Express. Contact her at psuebrown@gmail.com.

One response to “Space hogs”

  1. Manuel says:

    I have had this happen a couple times and I drive and older truck so it is possible to climb in and over console. But the best part is once I get into drivers seat, being that I drive an older truck and don’t mind door dings, it gives me great pleasure to leave a couple nice door dings on the vehicle that caused the problem, even more if they are the nicer newer kind. It just makes me feel good as I drive away. That’s the way I see it……

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