pure laziness

piebird79

My toddler is in a phase where she's insisting on walking everywhere, but takes little bitty toddler steps and randomly tries to jerk her hand out of mine to run off. In busy parking lots, I'd rather not have to worry about her running off while we snail our way across the great expanse of blacktop, so I park closer. I have enough to worry about otherwise, so whatever makes my life easier for that moment, I take it.

This, except I also have a 6 year old and a 10 month old in tow along with the impudent 3 year old.

NU2U

I guess it would bother you..if you were following them around for 20 minutes in search of the same spot..............and they got there first.

When all you have to do in the first place is choose a spot further away, and save yourself 19 minutes.

:-/

jarrettd

I get torqued over people parking in the fire lane in front of the grocery store here. They'll even block the sidewalk ramp at the entrance!

Sorry, but just because you are "really in a hurry and only running right in to grab a few things" is no justification for your sense of self-importance. If the disabled little old ladies from the senior center can cross 20 feet of pavement in their walkers, the young and healthy, albeit very busy, most assuredly can!

terrigrace

Hahaha! I can agree and disagree. I have a toddler and sometimes I'll wait for a spot. Not near the door, but near the cart carousel. It's just easier to unload and not have to walk miles to put the cart away. I can unload groceries and little one at the same time. My pet peeve is lazy people who pull into oncoming traffic to GET THEIR MAIL FROM THE DRIVERS WINDOW OF THEIR CAR! 5 mile long driveway, ok I can understand. But in the middle of town when you live 10 feet from the road? C'mon!!!

impyimpyaj

I guess it would bother you..if you were following them around for 20 minutes in search of the same spot..............and they got there first.

When all you have to do in the first place is choose a spot further away, and save yourself 19 minutes.

:-/

Yes.

wendyjo3

UGH! Yes! Most annoying thing ever! I hate when people do this, it makes me want to flip them off. Lol

calenasue95

I park in the handicap because of my lung disease and the walking makes me SOB< BUT mostly because Im LAZY! Am going to start parking further back and letting the seniors have my spot!

matthew67899

This doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as the people who pull away and leave their shopping cart right smack dab in the middle of a parking spot instead of walking 30 feet (most of the time) to put it in one of those cart racks. THAT is the absolute epitome of lazy in my opinion.

rextcat

lol ill "lerk" around the parking lot but im looking for the open spot right next to the stalls for shopping buggies...:bigsmile: cuz i have 2 small kids and am totaly lazy about puting the buggie back

susannamarie

It's not any better with the handicapped parking spots! The issue with them isn't that people are waiting for them.... it's that they're ALWAYS full. I don't need it because it's close to the door.... I need it because I have to have the striped off area next to it (which, btw, people park in anyway) to let the ramp down on my van. Or, if I'm driving my car, I have to have room to open my car door all the way so that I can unload/load my wheelchair. Sometimes I will just end up going to the far end of the lot and take up two spaces.

My mother has a handicapped sticker, although she only uses it when it's icy (among other issues, she has a fractured spine that they can't really fix, and falling could be extremely damaging). At many of the stores, unless it's early in the morning the handicapped spots are already full with someone who doesn't have any tag at all, but just wants the closest spot. That's pretty upsetting.

jenslife82

I'm with you! We just moved to TX and there's ALWAYS a horrible bottleneck from people waiting to get closer spots. They'll wait and block a whole lane of traffic when the person is just starting to put $300 worth of groceries into their trunks.

I can't believe that EVERYONE who does it down here (and it seems like it's half the population) has a valid reason for needing to be five spots closer to the entrance.

I live in Texas too, is this a Texas thing?! It's literally a twenty minute ordeal parking, and I have two small children, so it totally sucks!

I grew up in Texas...I'm pretty sure it's a Texas thing.

You know what they say. Everything's bigger in Texas. Including the fight for parking spots.

I live in Maine.. Walmart needlessly has a giant 4 lots.. Truckers go there to sleep even.. And the front of the lot is always full of people waiting to park. I'm usually parked and in the door by the time the spot opens up and traffic can move again. Also I think we're famous here for parking like jerks and taking up 2 spots.. Lol

Pandorian

Hmmm I tend to park far from the door so I can usually get back to my car without a lot of people around but as often as not I'll come back from parking "solo" and be surrounded....

I like playing with the "space hawks" though.... oooh you're waiting for that perfect spot... excuse me while I walk up to this car 5 spots down in the aisle while digging out my keys.... ok you saw me going to it.. you're signalling to take the spot I'm not even in the car and... walk out the other side of the dual-row of cars and walk further down that aisle to my car out in the middle of no-where :P

siobhano_

It bugs me when people drive to the gym!! If you're going to work out, please cycle or walk or run or jog or SOMETHING!
I overheard one girl in my biology class, who is incredibly fit and active and works out multiple times a week at the gym as well as running daily saying "Oh I can't come to the gym tonight, Mum has the car and she can't drop me off." This girl lives about a 15 minute bike ride away from the gym. So lazy, irks me.

JCDF

I had a friend who is now dead. She had cancer, but looked fine. But she'd get exhausted walking very far, so she would wait for a good spot. One time someone got mad at her and told her off for doing what you are griping about. It made her feel terrible, and she went home.

Yeah, some of those people are just being picky, trying to get a close spot. But please consider that some really need a closer spot.

Does it bother you because you want the closer spot?

We here at MFP are largely exercising, so I usually park further out than I need to so my husband will have to walk the parking lot. I use a mobility scooter, but am getting stronger. He has diabetes and a heart condition, so I want him to walk every chance he gets. But right after his heart attacks, both times it was harder for him and I'd look for closer spots the times we had to go out for something and park in a lot.

Anyway, park further out yourself and walk, if you can. It's good for you!

hkulbacki

I park closer to the end of the parking lot because...

I get more steps in.
I don't have the stress of hunting for a space.

And...

Mostly because it is easier to find my car when I come out. There are less cars around it.

Same here, I can pretty much guarantee I get the same spot each time and don't have to remember where I parked LOL

blazergrad

It's not any better with the handicapped parking spots! The issue with them isn't that people are waiting for them.... it's that they're ALWAYS full. I don't need it because it's close to the door.... I need it because I have to have the striped off area next to it (which, btw, people park in anyway) to let the ramp down on my van. Or, if I'm driving my car, I have to have room to open my car door all the way so that I can unload/load my wheelchair. Sometimes I will just end up going to the far end of the lot and take up two spaces.

Wow. That makes me feel terrible. I'm sorry. Move to Texas, there's plenty of handicapped parking here!

Ha, thanks! :flowerforyou: But after 21 years of dealing with it, I've seen it all and I'm pretty much used to it.

impyimpyaj

I'm just still wondering why any of this matters in the grand scheme of things. Does that 30 seconds you waited behind someone in the parking lot really ruin your whole day? Because if so, you need to take something out of your schedule. Does it really harm you in any way if someone wants or needs to drive to the gym instead of biking? Maybe they have a lot of crap in their gym bag and don't want to carry it. Or maybe they don't like walking alone at night. Or maybe they just like to drive their car. Why do you care?

Pet peeves are just an excuse to be mad about something that doesnt' actually affect you in the slightest. Take deep breaths and enjoy the moment. You'll be happier that way.

blazergrad

..... At many of the stores, unless it's early in the morning the handicapped spots are already full with someone who doesn't have any tag at all, but just wants the closest spot. That's pretty upsetting.

It happens A LOT here. I recall one time in particular we went to the local Blockbuster (before they closed all of their stores) and the handicap spots were full, so I just parked in a regular spot and waited in the vehicle while my wife went in. As I was sitting there, I witnessed a Blockbuster employee come out and get into one of the cars parked in one of the handicap spots. Mind you, the car had no placard or no handicap tag. The employee just got something out of the car and then went back inside. I called the local police who came and promptly had the employee move their vehicle. Never saw her parked in that spot again.

katiebythebay

I used to be one of the people who complained about people in the parking lot too, doing silly things.

Then I talked to some people. One co-worker told me about her husband who suffers from severe chronic pain (can't remember the specific name, this was years ago) that shoots up his back and down his leg. Another friend told me about her mother who can't walk real well but won't see a physician to get one of those handicap stickers (very strong, willful woman who doesn't believe she needs the special treatment. Prideful I suppose.)

And there were other people over the years with similar stories... you get the picture.

My thoughts now are... you never know about a person (or their plight) unless you either know them personally or have walked in their shoes. Just because they seem perfectly alright, doesn't mean they are.

I feel stupid after all these years, thinking terrible things and getting worked up about situations I thought I knew about, but didn't. Yes, of course, there are those lazy people with whom the original poster was probably speaking of and they're sprinkled all over the place, doing their silly things but a person never really knows.

Just my two cents.

~katie



PS... I still think it's funny, when I see people carrying gym bags to go workout but park as close to the gym as possible, but again, you never know their story either.

:flowerforyou:

ArtemisMoon

I started getting irked when I was attending the community college here. I would notice that the biggest parking space vultures were normally young, slim, healthy-looking guys being completely careless of the trouble it was causing anyone else. I usually parked way out as a matter of course unless I was on a tighter schedule that day and needed to get to class and back in less time (I left work to go to class, then had to be back at work after, and parking far out could add 10 or 15 minutes). I think the most frustrating part was when I had minor surgery. I could walk, but was so easily exhausted that I couldn't even attend class because I couldn't get a parking spot close enough that I could have a reasonable walk. There was also a time I had a severely sprained ankle on the same campus. I try to make it a point of NOT hogging the close spaces because I know what it is like to be a person who needs one and can't get one. It is just frustrating because you know it probably isn't helping anyone out that actually needs it. :grumble:

I now attend University where everyone takes what they can get and is happy to get it, LOL...parking for only about a 4th of the students. So my complaint there is about how many people have cars on campus that don't need them! (Again, commuting from work so I can't help it, but the ones that live on campus...) So it is always something!