There are three exceptions to this rule, and #1 plus at least one of the last two must be present, lest you be a jerk:
1. You park in the back of the lot where nobody else parks anyway (universal, no exceptions!)
2. Your car costs more than the average house
3. Your car is bigger than the average house
Perfect illustration of all three exceptions in one picture:
That's a Rolls Royce Phantom Long Wheel Base. It has a base price of $450,000, but this one has some options, as evidenced by the chrome RR wheels. It is 78.3 inches wide. The average parking spot in a metro area is about 90 inches, leaving only 5 inches or so on each side of the spot with this vast beauty squeezed in. As you'll note, this (genuinely important rather than self-important) driver courteously parked all the way against the landscaping between the road and the lot, well away from the mall entrance. Because if there's one thing this champion of commerce has learned over the years, there's a big difference between being rich and being entitled. If this were a Camaro in the middle of the lot, the opposite would be true.
On to more parking etiquette, if you see a car (say, a silver VW GTI) single-space parked WAY out in the middle of nowhere, and there are TONS of spots in the general vicinity, you should not park your green Saturn right up to the rear bumper every day. It's just not polite.
People that take up multiple spaces really grind my gears. Like, I never, EVER agree with messing with a man's car. An H2 that I saw at Wal-Mart that parked in the midde of a lane so that it was taking up FOUR spaces deserves every scratch that got keyed into it, however.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I would never damage someone else's property, but I also would have no sympathy if someone behaved that way and it pissed off the wrong person, resulting in keying or other minor vandalism. No one that shops at Target is so special and important that they get to decide their convenience is a higher priority than mine or anyone else's. I happen to be pretty special and important, myself, but I don't go flaunting it in the Target parking lot. I guarantee that these are the same people who cut in line at the mall and "forget" to pick up their dog's poop at the park.
ReplyDeleteHowever, regarding the 3 exceptions, I don't think it really matters what kind of car you drive as long as you're not inconveniencing anyone else. If you want to park your 1994 Cavalier with a smashed up bumper, peeling tint and Tweety Bird air freshener across 3 spots in the far corner of the lot where no one else is parking, go for it. Douchey and kind of silly, yes, but not even a little rude.