Take Off the Special Hat
Last weekend I was parking on the street in our downtown area. This particular intersection has certain parking spots that become police parking at night. This is because we try to keep a visible presence near the bars and the designated spots keep us from having to park in a lane of traffic.
These spots have signs and arrows that mark the areas as a tow-away zone after 9 PM. If anyone simply takes the time to read the big red and white sign with a tow truck symbol, they will understand that it is a bad place to park. Of course people never read the signs. Or they do read the signs but decide to go ahead a cop if they can park them anyway.
I can never understand this. If it says no parking, why would you go up to a cop and ask if it was okay to park there? Of course it isn't okay.
Well that night I was backing up into an open spot in this tow-away zone when a woman came up to my window. She started waving at me as I was backing up. I held up my hand to indicate that she needed to wait a minute. Once I parked safely I got out and asked if I could help her.
She pointed at the parking spot in front of me and asked if she could park there. While she asked me this she was standing directly under the big "Police Parking Only - Tow Away Zone" sign. I told her that it was currently reserved for police parking and she could not park there. I didn't say it rudely or with sarcasm. I simply stated the information.
She then asked if she would get a ticket if she parked there. *sigh* I replied that she would get a ticket and her car would be towed.
She looked irritated and started to walk to her car. She abruptly turned around and demanded my name. I asked what the problem was and she said she thought I should treat people a little better. I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. Believe me, I can be rude to people and I was in no way rude to her.
As I looked at her, I noticed her designer shoes and Louie Vuitton purse. I looked over at her car and saw it was high end Mercedes. That is when I understood. This chick had some cash and resented being told that she couldn't do something.
She told me that she intended to call the mayor and let him know how rude the police were in this town. I laughed and told her that I was sorry I didn't answer her question correctly. I told that the next time I got a stupid question, I will just politely tell the person to read the big obvious sign that is above their important head.
Her face got red and she jumped in her car and sped off. I suppose I will hear about this one but screw em. I hate people who think they need to have their asses kissed.
11 bits of radio chatter:
If you want to piss them off more hand them a business card and say" here is my card so you will beable to spell my name correctly" That really makes them red fuming....
When I've had people ask my name in order to complain about me, I make sure to spell it out for them slowly.
Spelling it out slowly works even better when your name is something simple .....
S..M..I..T..H
for example. My friend does that to rude people who demand her name. She's a prison officer.
Did a little piece on you. I really like your site:
http://theresaallore.com/2009/10/top-ten-crime-blogs/
Cheers
JL:
Man, is that representative of the "Special Kind of Stupid" or what?
Where's her SIGN?
Stay safe
For some reason, it's always an expensive car parked in front of my store's handicapped parking, too--without handicapped signs or licenses.
The rich are worth more money per hour, therefore, their time is more freaking valuable than ours. . . or so they say. No noblesse oblige anymore.
Ann:
My God.
I thought I was the last person to use "Noblesse Oblige" these days.
Thank you for keeping ENGLISH alive!
(and by all means, feel free to chase those improperly-parked from your store)
Stay safe.
Looks like she believed that high society stupid is more intelligent than ghetto stupid or trailer park stupid.
I really like hearing cops being smart-asses, when it's well deserved. My favorite from my neighborhood:
A couple of cops are parked in the alley behind my house and keeping their eyes on a large group of drug dealers standing on the sidewalk.
One of the drug dealers starts mouthing off to the police that they are harassing them. The officer simply replies that they have as much right to park in the public domain as these guys have to stand in the public domain.
The drug dealer pulls out his phone and snaps a picture of the cops. The police respond by pulling out their camera and taking his picture.
The drug dealer then says "I don't even know why you're here. Nobody in this neighborhood wants you here." The cop responds "That's funny, you sure wanted us here last month when you called us out to keep your girlfriend from beating you up."
The drug dealer's friends begin laughing at him. He turns to them and says "I only called them because I didn't want to get in trouble for hurting her." His friends laugh even louder, and the group begins to disperse.
The police drove away - their work for the day was done!
Morals follow you, laws remain attached to the jurisdiction. My opinion is that a person's moral decisions are their own business. I suppose if the department had officers sign a pledge ahead of time that they would observe "their" laws wherever they happened to be, then I would say the department has standing. But I'll bet such a contract would be shot down in court.
This scenario relates to an interesting question I once heard someone ask - and no one knew the answer. Suppose that I visit Amsterdam, and smoke some pot. Trace amounts may very likely still be in my system when I return to the states. Could this get me in trouble? It was legal when I smoked it.
Morals follow you. Laws remain attached to the jurisdiction. My opinion is that a person's moral decisions are their own business. I suppose that if the department had officers sign a pledge not to violate "their" laws wherever they happened to be, then they might have standing. But I expect such a contract would be shot down in court.
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