Drastic Measures

Last night, in a minor fit of 1:30am rage, I left four notes under the windshield wipers of the four cars which are currently parking in my parking spots. Okay, yes. I have four parking spots. This in itself is obviously on the excessive side, but they came with the apartment and are definitely indicative of other, more systemic, issues. One of the funny things is that my four spots are spread out over two levels of parking garage so that not even I knew where they all were. From the beginning, I knew that one of my spots [the one that I pass everyday when I leave through the back entrance] had been invaded by another resident. I later realised that the second spot had also been invaded. And then last night, in the hunt for my final two spots, I discovered that they too had been invaded, leaving me with no spot at all. It was the last straw!

Now, I realise that I don't actually have a car with which to fill the spot. But this is not the point. I could have visitors with cars. I could have had delivery of my to-be-purchased car. Etc. The least that a car squatter could do is check with me to see if it would be okay to use my spot. The spots are all very clearly marked, so this is not the issue. So the question then becomes, why do people who already have four parking spots need to invade mine? Well ... it could be because they have more than four cars or it could be because their cars/SUVs are too big for their regular parking spots and thus need to spill over into other spots. Well, no more! It was time to take action.

So late last night, I finally got up the nerve to leave notes on the offending cars. Then this morning, I started wondering when/if the phone would start to ring. The first person called towards the end of the morning and was very apologetic. She explained that she had asked the administration for a different parking spot since their spots, all located on the upper level, were only accessible by a short flight of stairs which her elderly mother had difficulty navigating. In response, the administration generously gave away my spot with nary a word to me. Since the woman i) made the effort to call; ii) was apologetic; and iii) had a real reason to have a parking spot on the lower level which is accessible directly by elevator, I saw no reason to take the spot away from her. I am not that bad, I just want my neighbours to do the right thing and ask before taking. Now, I wonder what kind of stories, if any, the rest of them will have. The note was decidely firm, but not nasty. Hopefully I haven't caused any diplomatic incidences!