"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
08/27/2018 at 14:04 • Filed to: None
0
37|
"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
08/27/2018 at 14:04 • Filed to: None | 0
| 37 |
Gather ‘round, children! It’s time for another installment of Parking @ Work - A Rant.
Land of Reserved Spaces
The parking lot adjacent to my building has been closed for nearly a year for construction. Finally, it reopened today but not in the way I expected. It seems that The Powers That Be do not want the proletariat like me parking near them. Sure, some of the Higher Ups that I share the building with have their reserved spaces. But even those who
used to have spaces in this lot
, no longer do. They’re still across and down the street where they were moved at the beginning of construction. I guess they weren’t deemed important enough to get moved back? Because it wasn’t due to lack of space.
So what about those
remaining spaces? Open to anyone? Reserved for someone else
? NEITHER! They created SIX “30 Minute Parking Only” spaces, for a building that just doesn’t get that many visitors coming by car. Students walk here. Admissions is elsewhere. Why are there so many 30-minute spaces?
I guess I’ll just get used to this view of empty spaces, after I walk 5-10 minutes from the only lots that have spaces available when I get in around 9:00 am most days during the school year .
Oh y
es, that’s a Buick Rainier over there. Bask in its glory.
Two of the spaces (second pic, bottom left) have sign posts but no signs (yet). I’m sure they’ll find a way, though, to keep them from being used - “
Parking for Convicted Felons
Only
” or something.
At least at the moment, ONE of the guest parking spaces is utilized (Mitsubishi, above). UPDATE: I looked outside before hitting publish and the Mitsu is gone.
You know who WILL use these spaces? Students who are too lazy to walk to class, who will park there for hours on end knowing enforcement can’t really keep track of the “30 minute” rule in place. We
have
parking for commuter students. Lots of it. It’s never full. We don’t need to give them this loophole.
You know what? I’ll use these spaces when I arrive during a total downpour and would otherwise have to walk half a mile in the pouring rain. No one writes tickets in the pouring rain anyway. There we go, silver lining found!
Die-Trying
> functionoverfashion
08/27/2018 at 14:17 |
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park in them....... then every thirty minutes go to your car and move it into a different 30 minute space.......
farscythe - makin da cawfee!
> functionoverfashion
08/27/2018 at 14:17 |
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yep... sounds like a decision from above... kinda like at my work you have to reverse in to a parking spot (they actually enforce it too and slap yellow naughty notes on your windshield if they see you parked wrong)
for safety!
(you know its coz one of techs tried to accidentally run over a higher up whilst backing out of their spot and they had a hissy fit)
Ash78, voting early and often
> functionoverfashion
08/27/2018 at 14:19 |
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See also: Every restaurant and their “Curbside To Go” pickup.
I will not be a second class citizen when I come there to eat in your dining room. And the best part is the servers want tips, so are they really going to narc you out?
(Just don’t park next to a staffed door...I’m talking about
the ones that are rarely-if ever-used because they jumped on the curbside bandwagon a few years ago
)
PartyPooper2012
> Die-Trying
08/27/2018 at 14:23 |
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Everyone ready for a 4 hour meeting? Where is...
functionoverfashion
?
Oh, he moving his car. We will have to excuse himself 8 times during the meeting.
Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> functionoverfashion
08/27/2018 at 14:24 |
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Haha my school was crazy for parking. But it was also in Hoboken, a city with like 1000 street spots and 10000 cars or something stupid like that. The on campus parking was hilariously limited since the school was on top of a giant hill in a crowded urban area. There was a lower lot that was down by the Hudson river. Guess how many FEET of water a big storm fills that lot with though?? I was glad to have street parking living off campus and just walk/bike to campus easily. Although playing street sweeper roulette is quite the chore.
merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> farscythe - makin da cawfee!
08/27/2018 at 14:31 |
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Our company started that as well, but it’s the best way to park anyway. Easier to back in and pull out.
marshknute
> functionoverfashion
08/27/2018 at 14:32 |
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When I was a Sophomore in college, I applied for a parking pass at the freshman dorm across the street. I was told by the campus parking authority that they weren’t allowed to issue parking passes to people who didn’t live there...except it was a Freshman dorm...and Freshman weren’t allowed to have cars.
So there’s an entirely vacant parking garage on campus that’s nobody is allowed to park in. For serious.
Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
> functionoverfashion
08/27/2018 at 14:34 |
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This is a T post remover, it is great at creating legal parking spaces where there were none minutes before.
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Die-Trying
> PartyPooper2012
08/27/2018 at 14:37 |
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get a very loud, and annoying alarm to go off, so that everyone else knows too..... “thats my cue, gotta go move my car again, will be RIGHT back, let me know if i miss anything important ”........
got a line of folks that you are helping?..... “hold on, my alarm just went off, and i gotta go move my car..... i’ll be walking past the vending machine if any of you guys in line want me to snag you something on my way back, hold that thought though”.........
this is almost the best thing ever, you just found an excuse to cut your productivity in LESS than half. ESPECIALLY if the truck doesnt want to start when you need to move it from one 30 min spot to the other...... “sorry it took a minute to get back, carb flooded when i went to start it..... had to circle the 30 minute lot twice to find another spot.......had to get help to push the truck into its spot ”.....
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farscythe - makin da cawfee!
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
08/27/2018 at 14:40 |
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depends on the shift at my place.. day shift its a nightmare.. narrow street narrow parking space lot of truck traffic.. quicker to just divebomb in forward like and worry about backing out at 5 when most of the truck traffic is gone
late and night shift its not a problem... but then theres also no traffic rendering it mostly pointless
dont matter to me... i cycle in... i guarantee im a bigger danger to anyone on foot than the parked cars... but i dont get policed yet :p
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PartyPooper2012
> Die-Trying
08/27/2018 at 14:57 |
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while I understand why there is a limited time parking spots available.... I do believe that law should be overlooked when other spots are wide open.
Wasting everyone’s time with that nonsense.
TysMagic
> functionoverfashion
08/27/2018 at 15:03 |
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I have two pieces for this:
one, when I was in school they actively booted people parked in the wrong place - it was fun to watch.
two, my wife is in property management and they’re ramping up to start towing/booting people who pay to park in the garage, but are parking in visitor spaces (the building regularly has a lot of visitors in and out). I am very excited about the stories to come.
facw
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
08/27/2018 at 15:54 |
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I really don’t get that sentiment at all. Backing up is harder than driving forward, so why would you want to back into a space between (potentially) two cars instead of backing up into an empty area.
There are some situations where it makes sense, but as a general practice, I really don’t get it.
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facw
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
08/27/2018 at 15:54 |
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.
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functionoverfashion
> TysMagic
08/27/2018 at 21:19 |
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Yes, oh I would be so happy if they did that. I think we’re on the side of keeping students happy at this point; we’re not rolling in a billion-dollar endowment. But that would be amazing.
When I worked at a marina we always joked about taking cars that were parked horribly and putting them up high in the boat rack building with our forklift - it could have easily handled it. It would have been hard to do with most vehicles, though, without damage.
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functionoverfashion
> farscythe - makin da cawfee!
08/27/2018 at 21:20 |
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What. One of our lots had a sign that said “head-in parking only” that maybe 1/3 of people followed - about like if it wasn’t there, actually. I never understood the origin or reasoning of that sign.
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functionoverfashion
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
08/27/2018 at 21:20 |
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I agree that it’s better, it’s just that most people don’t do it - and it’s weird to mandate it, I think.
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functionoverfashion
> Die-Trying
08/27/2018 at 21:22 |
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It’s right out my window, it would be easy to do that.
There are days where I use my car to get around the campus - it’s quite large, and I am often carrying heavy stuff with me - those days, I’ll for sure use those spaces for 30-ish minutes, at times.
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functionoverfashion
> Die-Trying
08/27/2018 at 21:23 |
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hahaha, hell if it’s flat level I could push the truck from one side to the other - some of those spaces are across from each other!
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functionoverfashion
> PartyPooper2012
08/27/2018 at 21:26 |
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Oh, yes. How about a building that the university shares with a bank? Of the 40-ish spaces in the whole lot, the bank must have 27. How many bank employees work there? Maybe... 5? Maybe. How many university employees are in the building? At least 15. It’s comical. I don’t know how that happened. Oh, and bank customers... right. There are never more than like, 3, everyone uses the drive-through because ‘murica.
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functionoverfashion
> Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
08/27/2018 at 21:28 |
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Hell, I could just wrap a chain around a sign and put my truck in reverse with the chain hooked to my bumper. Toss the sign into the bushes, park and walk away.
That’s how I picture it in my mind.
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functionoverfashion
> marshknute
08/27/2018 at 21:31 |
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I mean, I’d call BS but that sounds about right.
Where I went to college everyone was allowed to have a car, but most of us had to keep the car in a gigantic lot off-campus. What’s crazy is, they only plowed around the cars - you never had a “lot maintenance” event where all the cars had to be moved. This was in lake-effect snow area, upstate NY. So, by late March the parking spaces were like little snow-caves, it was pretty amazing. I helped SO many people get their cars out of spaces, because I had a clue. So many helpless people spent a lot of time stuck.
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functionoverfashion
> PartyPooper2012
08/27/2018 at 21:31 |
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It’s a bulletproof plan, really.
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functionoverfashion
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/27/2018 at 21:37 |
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Oh man, city parking just does not begin to enter my reality. Paying... money... for a parking space... huh? I mean, I gripe about my parking at work, but it’s really just because there are so many little parking lots all over the place. There’s literally a giant field - it’s gravel and grass, with a community garden on one end - that we could park in if we had to. Students park out there who don’t have on-campus passes (that’s most of them). I live on 5 acres at the end of a dead-end road. You could park 12 cars in my driveway before it would start to be really annoying for anyone. Four is the default!
But I digress.
Speaking of floods in student parking lots. This happened a few years back:
It was spring time and there were several consecutive warm days. I remember thinking, “boy if it rains, the river’s gonna flood” and sure enough, it happened on a Saturday night. Students were all out drinking and didn’t notice or didn’t get the messages until the next morning - the lot was already 3' deep and rising by 9:00am.
You can bet that now, there are countless text warnings about inclement weather, all because of this.
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Die-Trying
> functionoverfashion
08/27/2018 at 21:39 |
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just remember to let the engine warm up before you go to move it, you dont want to put any undue stress on the internals, and you have to “circle the lot” in order to find a “ good spot” either under a light post, or under a tree, or real close to the door, or within view of your window .
and now you got an excuse to bum change off of everyone next to you at work. “gotta go move the truck, and i am going past the candy/soda machine, you got a quarter i can have/borrow?”
productivity should DEFINITELY drop like a rock...... at LEAST less than half ...... all because they couldnt be bothered to let you have your own spot/ park in A spot next to the building you work in........
i believe in you to make this GOOD......
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functionoverfashion
> Ash78, voting early and often
08/27/2018 at 21:41 |
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What is this Curbside To Go pickup you speak of? I mean, it sounds self-explanatory, but why do you need special parking spaces? So people who are too lazy to cook for themselves can also avoid walking tens of feet?
But really, I haven’t heard of this because I don’t have any chain restaurants near me. I think it’s been 15 years since I went to an Applebee’s, for example. The nearest one is at least 35 minutes away on the highway no less. That’s neither good nor bad, it just is.
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farscythe - makin da cawfee!
> functionoverfashion
08/28/2018 at 00:30 |
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pretty sure the origin at my work is somebody management level or up getting their panties in a twist coz these goddamn rude techs dont look where they’re going
cant speak for any other signs
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functionoverfashion
> farscythe - makin da cawfee!
08/28/2018 at 09:06 |
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somebody management level or up getting their panties in a twist
90% of corporate decisions
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Ash78, voting early and often
> functionoverfashion
08/28/2018 at 09:08 |
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Basically every “fast casual” place started doing it over the past few years, and a lot of one-off local places have followed suit, at least to appear that they’re keeping up with the trends.
It’s pretty silly. Hardly anyone ever uses it. The one time I used it, it was such a hassle and confusion, I might as well have just walked in and grabbed my order in person. Most of the chains even have separate doors for it, so they’ve definitely invested a lot in trying to compete with drive-thru restaurants.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> functionoverfashion
08/28/2018 at 13:11 |
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Our company did it after numerous vehicle backing into things and people happened.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> facw
08/28/2018 at 13:15 |
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When you back into a space one benefit is typically the space is unoccupied so you don’t risk backing over or into something. Whereas when you pull in and back out, you don’t always see what’s behind you or moving toward you.
Also it is easier to manuver your vehicle into the space if you are backing in. You can steer the Front around as needed to get into the spot squarely. I can back into a spot tighter than a person can pull into. It’s basically a geometry problem.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> functionoverfashion
08/28/2018 at 13:17 |
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Typically that is so the municipality can read license plates and such. Or if the spaces are angled, you really can’t back in properly, or safely.
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facw
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
08/28/2018 at 13:20 |
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On the second point, that is true, but you normally don’t need that maneuverability anyway since you can actually see what you are doing well.
On the first point, this really should not be an issue in a parking lot. If there’s a car behind you backing out you’ll see it, and if there’s a car driving along they’ll see you with plenty of time to react. Parking facing out definitely does make sense for perpendicular parking along streets, where you’d be backing out into much faster moving traffic.
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facw
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
08/28/2018 at 13:20 |
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On the second point, that is true, but you normally don’t need that maneuverability anyway since you can actually see what you are doing well.
On the first point, this really should not be an issue in a parking lot. If there’s a car behind you backing out you’ll see it, and if there’s a car driving along they’ll see you with plenty of time to react. Parking facing out definitely does make sense for perpendicular parking along streets, where you’d be backing out into much faster moving traffic.
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functionoverfashion
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
08/28/2018 at 14:11 |
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Good points, but this is an employee lot, perpendicular spaces. The sign was taken down sometime last year, so who knows?
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functionoverfashion
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
08/28/2018 at 14:12 |
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Do people actually follow the rule now? If so, I’m impressed.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> functionoverfashion
08/28/2018 at 20:37 |
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For the most part.