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Friday, May 17, 2013

Everyone has triggers which set them off in a bad way.  But sometimes a trigger can be for a good reason, as are mine, and I just cannot let these things slide from my conscience without doing something about it.  I am talking about people who have no courtesy when it comes to their vehicles.  Guess what?  I have examples in picture form.

The above picture is a shopping cart outside of Publix.  This is nowhere near the collection point, whether you pick the rows in the lobby of the store or the corrals in the parking lot.  People leave their shopping carts all over the parking lot, hopped up on the curb, or on the sidewalk, like the picture on top of this paragraph.  Now, one day I will get shot or stabbed for how I handle these fantastic people.  I walked out of this same Publix a few months ago to see a woman unloading her shopping cart into her trunk while talking on her cell phone.  She then left the cart in-between her car and the one next to it (still on the phone).  After seeing this, I walked over there and grabbed the shopping cart, which she saw me do.  I waited for her to start her car before pushing it right behind her rear bumper and walking away.  She jumped out of the car, and yelled all manner of a profanity-laden rant at me in something that was English, but also some sort of hood-rat vernacular I could not process.  She then walked her shopping cart (still on the phone) to the corral and drove away.  
I have done this multiple times, but her's was the most dramatic, by far.

 Here we are at Kroger.  I am walking across the safety lane.  A safety lane is a no-stopping zone and this one is also a fire lane since it is in front of the store.  This scenario has two problems:
1).  RedBox
2). Lazy People.
I truly believe that if a store is going to have a RedBox or Netflix machine, they should not put it so close to the fire lane.  The fire lane does serve a purpose, and it is not movie rental curb service.  The guy in the Expedition in that picture actually stepped out to use the RedBox machine after his wife could not figure out how to use it.  I should not have to drive around you and you should not be in parked the fire lane.  Period.  It is a safety issue.

The other issue here is concerning the people who drop off everyone in the car at the front door of big-box retailers.  Go to Target, Wal-Mart (aka the antichrist), Best Buy, the mall, anywhere and you will see some dad park in the safety lane or fire lane to let out not only his wife, but their four kids who are all strapped into car seats, the grandparents, and unload/assemble two strollers (with the hazard lights flashing).  I am not a big fan of running over your children when I have to go out of my way to pass your minivan in a no-stopping zone, so take it to the parking lot because my decision to not have children does not mean I should have to tolerate what you do with yours.

I said all of the latter jokingly, but I seriously do not want to run over your children...

Disclaimer:  Dropping someone off in a no stopping zone is fine with me under the following conditions:
1).  You are dropping off ONE person.
2).  That person has their seatbelt off and door ready to open the moment you stop.
3).  Your entire stop-off/drop-off lasts less than five seconds.

Not this lady:
She stopped in the fire lane to pick up Chinese food and made three fatal mistakes: 
1).  Parking in the fire lane.
2).  Parking opposite the flow of traffic.
3).  Yelled at the cop when he lit her up and confronted her.
I am not sure what happened when all was said and done, but she had a bag full of Chinese food sitting on the sidewalk and the cop who was talking to her had to call another cop because she was screaming her head off about "I went in for a few seconds!".  A few seconds, an hour, it does not matter because you are still wrong and probably making your situation worse by trying to justify it.  Congratulations, idiot.

This is how you park a car:

Between the lines, in a proper parking space, not bothering nor inconveniencing anyone else.  I am not bitter about any of this, and my intention was to be a little comical in my approach, but I think we sometimes forget that common courtesy also applies to what we do with our cars.
Be courteous in parking lots and stop driving like an ass...

Grace and Peace,
   -Drew


The lyrics in the title of this blog are from this song:



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