Saving Parking Spaces

Yesterday on a very busy road, a woman got out of a car to stand in a coveted open parking space. She stood in it until the car she was riding in was able to turn around, come back, and snag the spot. I find this behavior to be UNACCEPTABLE under MOST circumstances.

You can't save a parking spot by standing in it or by putting something in it, like a cone or a chair. MAYBE, and only maybe, this might be okay if you're moving and need to be right out front, or some other emergency. But otherwise, street parking is first come, first serve, especially in hard-to-park areas. And by that I mean first CAR that comes, not first person to stand in the spot. A car ready to park deserves a spot more than a car that has not yet arrived. It's that simple.

I was at IKEA once and wanted to pull into one of the 5-minute loading spaces. There was one open. My roommate was standing on the curb with huge boxes. Some stupid woman was standing in the spot saving it for her husband. I tried to pull in and the woman yelled at me. I was like, my friend is RIGHT there, with boxes. Your husband is still pulling out of the freaking garage. TOO BAD. And what the hell? They are 5-minute spaces! At MOST she would have had to wait 5-minutes for a new space. By the time we were done arguing and she still wouldn't move, I could have pulled in, loaded our stuff, and left before her dumb husband ever showed up. Why on earth did this woman feel entitled to a spot for her future needs over someone who is immediately there and ready? I have no idea. That woman is many, many bad things that require expletives.

So if you see an open space and you can't quite get to it, sorry...it's crappy luck, but it's the way it goes. Barring exceptional circumstances, you have to move on and accept that the first car there gets the spot. You don't deserve it more just because you SEE it first (and how do you even know you saw it first??). And if you're the person physically standing there to save the space...don't expect any sympathy if someone tries to run you over. You assume that risk when you do such a jerkface thing.