Sometimes I just sit and shake my head. Sometimes I just can’t believe what I see and hear. Mostly, I am in disbelief of how some people behave and speak. The question I ask is, “Who raised these animals?” Then I feel bad for associating these people to animals because I believe animals behave far better than most people. My adorable dog certainly does!
So, I’m sitting in my car in a parking lot of a small shopping mall. Minding own my business waiting for a friend. I was 30 minutes early for our meet-up, which is the perfect amount of time for me to catch up on some reading. I’m parked near a Starbucks coffee shop, wondering if I should get a tea while I wait.
Suddenly, a very expensive luxury sports car drives quickly into the one and only reserved handicap parking spot directly in front of the café. I think to myself this person must be handicapped, in a rush to get a coffee and needs the reserved spot stat. I was wrong on both counts!
Not only did this middle-age man move well, he didn’t have a handicap notification card clearly displayed in his car window. Obviously, he did not need the reserved spot. I suppose he was desperate for a fast coffee and would occupy the reserved spot for only a minute or two. Wrong again! For as long as I waited for my friend, he was parked in the reserved parking spot drinking his coffee in the café.
This infuriated me!
When he finally got back into his car, he sat in the front seat looking at his phone, without a care in the world that maybe someone who was handicapped needed the reserved parking spot.
May I mention during the time he had his fancy-schmancy car parked in the handicapped reserved spot, a little blue car driven by an elderly woman, with a handicap identification card clearly displayed in her front window, was looking for a parking spot close to the café!
The older handicapped woman was circling around the parking lot trying to find a parking spot close to the front door of the café. She was looking for exactly the spot Mr. Fancy Schmancy Pants was using! This made me even angrier.
At the time, I was thinking of all the things I could do to help this situation. I could have walked into Starbucks and asked the entitled a**hole to move his car because he clearly didn’t have a handicap identification card which is needed to use the reserved spot. But, by doing that I would have drawn a lot of attention to myself and I don’t like that. This could have escalated into an argument and that video could go viral. Not for me.
I was going to write a note and leave it on his windshield telling him he should not be in a handicap spot and that a handicapped person needed it. Then I thought he knowingly used the spot and doesn’t give a sh*t about anyone else, so a note wouldn’t have made a difference.
Then I thought I should take a photo of his license plate and car in the parking spot and plaster it all over social media and shame him! Maybe even video record the whole event and post it. That seemed like a great idea at the time, but you never know what people will do once they have been exposed. I don’t want to worry.
I did try to help the older handicap woman in the blue car find a spot. She decided to use the drive-through instead. She never got out of her car, but she did get her coffee.
The whole event took place within 20-25 minutes and then I met up with my friend. I sort of felt I should have done something more useful at the time. I was simply watching the events unfold, questioning why an able-bodied person who has access to luxury would take something from someone less fortunate?
The word entitlement entered my mind. That man felt as though he was entitled to whatever he wanted and took it regardless of what other people needed. I loathe people like that. Selfish, inconsiderate, shameful, disrespectful and a detriment to society!
Today, the world is full of many people like this. People who want and take for themselves and give nothing back to the world. They take and take and take without any consideration for other people’s needs.
I know this was simply a selfish guy taking a reserved parking spot needed for someone less able than him. It’s not war. However, it is illegal and it really bothered me. This picture is much bigger than meets the eye.
As I stewed with this for days, I figured the best way for me to notify the world of people who act this way is with the power of my pen!
I hope the people who read this article will think about the reserved handicap parking spot as a “preserved” spot for only those who need it. Please… Leave these spaces for the people who really need them. Even if you are running in to pick up something fast, never use these spaces, they are not for you!
Help and respect those who really need more than you need. Give back to the world by giving up your spaces for others who need it. Think in terms of other people’s needs before yours. Make a difference in the world and give to those who need.
Teach your children to give and respect other people with greater needs.
GIVE MORE AND TAKE LESS!
I hope this article sensitizes people to realize how little it takes to make the world a better parking place.
By the way, I did take a photo of the selfish, disrespectful, inconsiderate FANCY SCHMANCY’S vanity license plate. I’m still stewing…
