So the other night I had to go to the grocery store. It was after 10 pm. The parking lot is huge, at least 8 rows of parking lanes are perpendicular with the storefront. Each row has 30 parking spaces from left and 30 from the right. The first two stalls from both left and right in every lane closest to the store are reserved for people with disabilities. There were only 6 cars in the whole lot, plus a truck with a trailer taking up two stalls because of the length of it.
Now I do not mind walking so I parked at least 15 spots away from the front of the row. No cars in the vicinity, the 6 others are parked much closer to the store.
After 5 minutes I was done with my shopping and was heading back to my car. 2 new cars pulled into the lot while I was away.
One parked right next to me on the driver side, (close enough to make me struggle to get in the car), the other one pulled right in front of me from the next row.
Now I was wondering what these people were thinking?
If they were lazy they would have parked much closer to the store. If they would not mind walking they had another 7 rows of parking spots to choose from.
So I came to the conclusion that they must have been ignorant jerks to pull a stunt like that.
What do you think? I really like to know.
Thanks!
I dunno but if you ever hunted ducks, they land where the decoys are. People seem to park where other cars are, maybe for social reasons or safety reasons. They may be insecure and think there is a reason why no one is parking in the open areas or they don’t want to be alone walking late at night.
Recently I parked in a large parking lot with lots of empty spaces. Since the handicap spots were all occupied, I parked well away from everyone, with plenty of open spaces on both sides of me. And, yet, some fat little Spanish lady with a cell phone glued to her ear parked right next to my car and proceeded to hit the side of it with her door.
Some people are just A&&%$#@S. They just are. There’s no way around it.
I really need some grant money to just study the psychology of how people choose parking spots and the method they choose to get there. Some people just don’t think about it and pull in wherever, others drive across the lanes to get to a spot that they think is a better one. Some people are just jerks,then you get the guy who parks his Porsche 356B (A very shiny regular driver)in a carefully chosen spot but without taking up more than one as i’ve seen other exotic and classic car drivers do.
This has happened to me too. I patch it up god’s way of treating my OCD concerns about car dents 
Now, on a different note, a few months ago I was trying to teach my teenager how to drive, so we were driving in a parking lot. I was making her pull in & out of parking spots as practice. Now that area of the lot got busy, so we took off to the other end that was completely empty san one car. So I asked her to park next to that one car. Being a new driver, she got real close to the other car, but did not hit it. The problem was, that I suddenly noticed the driver was sitting in the car (it was dark and the car was tinted) and looked pretty freaked out.
I’ve often thought that some businesses need a goon on staff to inflict some damage on a certain percentage of the population. It’s not just in the parking lot; look how inconsiderate and/or non-thinking people can be while they’re walking around a grocery, department store, etc.
They carry those same inconsiderate, non-thinking traits right on out to their cars.
I don’t know if it’s the type of clientele or the sheer volume but Wal Mart seems to be the epicenter for doofuses, both inside the store and out in the parking lot.
My wife and I came out of the local Cineplex a couple of years ago and found that we couldn’t get in our truck. There was a car parked on either side of us with no room to open the doors. I called my brother and we dragged both vehicles to the middle of the parking lot and left them there. I hope there was no damage to the cars but if there was…well, both drivers deserved it. They had to know that they were blocking us in. The driver on the right side of us had to exit through the passenger door to get out of their vehicle. I’m an easy going guy until something like this happens.
I hope there was no damage to the cars but if there was....well, both drivers deserved it.
That happened to me at work parking lot many years ago. I couldn’t get in my truck…so I went to security and explained the situation. They tried contacting the person - but it turned out this person had left on a business trip and wouldn’t be back for a few days. To which point their only option was to TOW the vehicle. She was NOT pleased when she returned and had a $200 tow bill.
Many people are just plain RUDE. They don’t care if it causes you a problem. The other thing around here in NH…is the people who REFUSE to return their shopping carts. Many will just leave it right in the middle of the isle. I had one older woman parking next to me…she put her groceries in her trunk then just left her cart directly behind my truck. I was walking down the isle and watched her do it. The cart return stall was literally on the other side of her car…she’d have to walk an extra 10’.
People often leave their shopping carts in the handicap spaces. I see it all the time. They’ll roll them into the middle of a handicap space and leave it there. The international handicap symbol must look to them like a shopping cart.
In the Midwest, most people put their carts in the storage place. In McAllen, most abandon them where they happen to be. I assume it’s local culture.
I live in east central Indiana and I have observed that most people put the carts in the storage location. After I have made my purchases, wheeled the cart out to my car and loaded everything in, I have had people going into the store ask if they could take my cart. Although they push the cart a few extra steps, it saves me the trouble of pushing the cart to the storage place.
i liv in a small, but growing, town. everyone still pretty much knows everyone else, who has been in town for a while.
if you left the cart out in the local food lion, and it hit someone s car, the whole town would hear about it.
i didn t grow up here, but my family did. when i was teenager, all the kids derided and made fun of the small town, because everyone knew everyone s business. now that i m an adult, it seems more like a benefit.
I often sit it the car with the boy napping while mom goes in shopping. I actually caught someone leaving their cart directly behind my van. Hopped out and put it directly behind their car while they were trying to pull out and then got back into my van. The resultant look of astonishment was priceless and sad actually.
Good manners and consideration of others has almost disappeared. I was raised to obey laws, regulations and rules (especially the “golden” one). Sadly I suspect shopping carts blocking handicap spaces are placed there intentionally by idiots who actually believe they are superior to everyone else and should have those parking spaces close to the store’s entrance. I’m sorry. Those spaces are for the physically challenged. Not for the mentally challenged!
The lack of parking lot common sense, safety, and basic manners are one of my driving related pet peeves. Expect additional comments.
Many retail businesses require their employees to park away from the store so the spaces up front are available for customers. People who know this will sometimes park near or next to the employee cars because it affords them some protection and there is less chance of the car being moved while they are in the store.
That is one form of defensive parking. Another is to park diagonally across two spaces further out.
There are two lanes turning left and there are 15 cars in the left-most lane but only 3 cars in the right-most lane. Yet, almost every new arrival pulls into the left lane, even though they will sit through another light cycle.
I pulled into a crowded in n out parking lot after a five hour drive from San Diego with a few more left to San Francisco. There was only one space left, not all of it because a truck was parked over the line. I had to back in close to the truck to open my door. As there was no place to eat, I figure I would eat in my car and relax a little. That’s when this senile grandma came out and complained how close my car was to her truck and she couldn’t get in from the passenger side. When I told her that she was the one out of line, literally, that didn’t get into her thick skull. Finally, her husband came out, without saying a word to me, backed up the truck for her to get in and they left. I wonder why truck owners always feel the need to push around other car owners
As for the two left turn lanes, there’s one in particular here that the locals know…the right lane ENDS around the corner in short order !
So if you’re headed anywhere past that you may as well already be in the left lane.
Then there’s one place that could sure use two right turn lanes ( I’ve seen it done in San Francisco but not often ) so the last second lane crunch is pretty stupid when all these same locals know that !
Parking far away from the store where nobody else is parking to avoid tight squeezes getting into and out of the car, and paint dings, only to find someone – often a big pickup truck or van – parked right next to me when I return to the car, I have that happen to me all the time. It’s puzzling to me too. I think it is just that folks drive into the parking lot, see a car parked, and decide – in spite of the fact there are dozens of places closer to the store to park – that must be a good place to park. I don’t think it is done to annoy us in other words. I think the drivers are thinking subconsciously – “That must be a good place to park, otherwise, why would that car be parked there?”. In other words, it’s an example of people being mindlessly conformist.