Parking Lot Gestapo

Norm and I were out doing errands today when he decides we need to visit a photography store one of his video buddies told him about so we can look for some special light kit he is trying to find. It’s in an old part of Phoenix and the building we drive up to has a very small parking lot with no handicap parking. Luckily there is a parking space available near the front of the store and so Norm pulls in at an angle so I can exit the van via the ramp on the passenger side. The space is a rather wide one and so we are not taking up two parking spaces like we normally do when handicap parking is not available.

We’re in the store for about 15 or 20 minutes and there are more than a dozen people in the store. Norm is talking to one of the sales personnel when a woman walks near him and says, “Is that your dark blue minivan out front?” Norm replies, “Yes it is.” Then the woman says, “Did you notice how you parked crooked?” Norm impatiently answers, “Yes, I did that on purpose.” She then says rather incredulously, “Well is not very nice for everyone else.” At this point the woman has not seen me — or at least I don’t think she did — because Norm is standing in front of me and I cannot see her. He quickly responds, “I had to park that way because my wife uses a wheelchair and…” at which point she walks off with a disgusted huff.

I look at Norm and he looks at me and we just shake our heads. At that point we are ready to leave the store and we go out to our van and get in. As we are pulling out of the parking space the lady walks out of the store and goes to her car which is two or three spaces a way from us. Norm acts like he wants to run her over — but I beg him not to do so as it will only increase our insurance rates. We pull out of the parking lot and are waiting for the light to turn when her car passes us and goes the other way. We notice she has a Kerry bumper sticker and we both laugh. The way we had parked our van was not impeding anyone else’s use of the parking lot so I think she got upset about the way we parked because we have a Bush bumper sticker on our van. Either that or people who support Kerry think they have to tell everyone else how to park.