Don't Be Like This Guy

This weekend I accidentally conducted an experiment so I’m going to share the results with you.

I had errands to run after work on Saturday that needed to be completed in a certain time frame between work and my son’s hockey game. This is just how most working parents make things happen so I’m sure a lot of you know how it is when you have two hours to fit in three hours of things to do.

I got to my first stop and when I went to park in front of the store, this asshole was parked completely illegally on the access aisle lines directly in front of the ramp. Mind you, most of the parking lot is empty but this guy apparently gives no fucks about anyone but himself so he chose the most convenient spot for him and decided everyone else can go fuck themselves.

I feel like I should apologize for my language here but also, I’m not. I was super pissed and this happens on a regular basis - especially around snow bird season in Arizona. This guy did’t even have a handicapped parking placard - not that it would’ve made it any more legal but it definitely made me more angry.

So now I have to park across the lot near the only other ramp diagonally across two spots so I can be sure to get in and out of my van. I make my way over to his car, casing the area for the suspect who is of course, no where to be found. I go back to my car, get into full ‘let me speak to the manager’ mode and call the NON EMERGENCY police line. I ask them to come and ticket this guy because I was already in a mood and while I waited, wrote him a nice note to let him know how I felt. Luckily, for him, I wrote it on a piece of paper and not across the side of his car.

I go back across the lot to the available ramp, go up on the sidewalk, and back to where the car is parked directly in front of where I need to be. Again, I stake it out and he is no where to be found. I grab what I need and leave the store ten minutes later. He is still there. HATE HIM.

I went back to my car which is now also parked completely illegally to allow ME access and ring up the police again before I leave. They still have no one to come to the scene. I get it, they have more important things to do. So do I but on a totally different level - understood. I waited a total of thirty minutes from my original call and then had to leave - remember, I was on the clock too.

When I did arrive home, I posted a picture of the car with the license plate blacked out as a PSA on two of my local pages. On one, I didn’t write that I was in a wheelchair and on the other, I did. This is where it got interesting….

On the post without me stating I was disabled, I got RIPPED APART. I was called ‘Karen’ repeatedly. There were memes on memes on memes about being whiney. People did come to my rescue as well but as things do on facebook, it escalated quickly. People got so vicious that the post was taken down in less than twenty minutes.

Hours later, the second post was approved and posted in the other group. The majority came to my rescue! They took my side. They were ready to form a lynch mob to find this guy (who was named as the owner of the business next door to where I was going). I mean, there were a small handful that also said I shouldn’t have called the police or “inconvenienced” this person with a ticket, but the people spoke up!

What I realized as an after thought, and the accidental experiment, was the extremely different reactions to the same situation based on who ‘I’ was.

It shouldn’t have mattered.

They guy was 100% completely in the wrong regardless of who was reporting him. Did people feel bad for me? Did they empathize more because some realized how inconvenient it was for me? I was like, ‘what the hell’. The internet is a crazy place and I found it fascinating how opposite the reactions were to the same exact situation from different perspectives.

Interesting stuff….

Also, I don’t normally go around reporting people and calling police in on a situation unless I feel it is absolutely necessary. This was beyond inconsiderate and competely unnecessary and handicapped parking is a HUGE ISSUE that really pisses me off more often than it really should. (If you couldn’t tell) 😂

#jerkface #experiment #parking #stop #justdont