A short rant - about handicapped parking spaces

[KitchenWitch]

I have a handicapped parking placard, for reasons I will not get into here at the moment.

Here are my rants, as far as the HC spots:

1. The handicapped parking spots are NOT cart corrals. Go fucking park your cart somewhere else.

2. The handicapped parking spots are not a walkway...do not walk in front of me when I am trying to park my car there.

3. People who use the handicapped parking spaces as "waiting" lanes, for their SOs who "just ran into the store for a minute". If your car is parked in the spot, and you do not have a placard or plates, you are parked there ILLEGALLY, and are likely depriving someone who NEEDS the space from using it.

4. Just because I am in my early forties, does not mean I am using "my mom or dad's" placard. It is mine, and I do not need to explain to you why my doctor has given me one, so don't fucking ask, and don't fucking give me the stinkeye when I use a handicapped parking spot.

Thank you for letting me rant!

:rant:

[LaurenG]

1. Hey I hear you and I won't do any of that stuff but

I about laughed out loud with the last rule... Stinkeye is very descriptive but I have never heard it before. :rofl:

[KitchenWitch]

2. It is one of my favorite descriptors!

:hi:

[kittykatkoffeekup]

3. Does it look like this?

http://the-contact-network.com.nyud.net:8090/otheregg/march03/49nail.jpg

You'll see many stinkeyes at once when somebody pays with a check in the cash only line.

[KitchenWitch]

4. Very similar!

[China_cat]

5. You might want to see

if your area has a program like North Charleston does. If you have a legal placard, the police will issue you a special ID and a ticket book. If you find someone in the city (which takes in a lot of territory and at least 3 malls) illegally parked in a handicapped zone, you can write them a ticket. And a ticket written by someone who has legitimate use of those parking spaces carries double the fine it would if written by a cop.

[UncleSepp]

6. Good Rant! I hate that "judgment call" thing...

I had a temp placard for a while, and really needed it. It used to really, REALLY hork me off when people would give me the hairy eyeball about parking in the handicapped spot. The worst was getting The Look from people without a blue tag or a red tag. What, did you want to steal the spot, and now you're ticked because I got it? It's like everyone thinks they've got a right to be your doctor, lawyer, and triage nurse. Nosy f*cks.

[KitchenWitch]

7. No doubt

I have an artificial hip. I had one 50ish man actually get all up in my face about using the spot...

I asked him if he wanted me to drop my drawzzz and show him exactly why my doctor gave me a permit...

Shut him the fuck up.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

8. At my old company, visiting clients were the worst.

One day, a non-handicapped client came by in his Jaguar, and instead of parking in one of the many available spaces a mere 15 feet from the building, this asshole parks in the handicap spot right in front of the building.

And not only that, he parked in the handicapped spot sideways. I really, really wanted to have him towed, but I was a lowly peon then (well, now, too).

[WCGreen]

9. Remember that OpEd I wrote about faking a limp

to get the people to stop giving me the "Stinkeye"....

It bothered me for years until I got my traveling companion, little Joey Oscar, my portable O2 tank...

Still, I never park in the handicapped spot unless there are no spots near by... I know there are a lot of people in far more need than I....

[KitchenWitch]

10. Yes I remember that!

I am on my way to toting a tanklike companion myself soon...I guess that would make people think twice about getting in someone's face about using the spots.

[WCGreen]

11. I can swing mine around and do a lot of damage....

[KitchenWitch]

12. I get less grief when I carry my cane

but sometimes I need both hands free....(I hate my cane)

[WCGreen]

13. I had to use a cane for a while.......

It looked like an Irish Walking stick, all knarlled and twisted...

[zanne]

31. I hate my cane, too.

When I want to use both my hands (which is ALL the time), but especially when I have to lean the cane against something when I pay for my stuff. It ALWAYS falls to the floor!

[UncleSepp]

47. Me too... people don't think I am drunk

I have bouts of dizziness that make me stagger, and I drag my foot sometimes too. I guess I do look drunk. With the cane, at least they'll take me for gimpy and not stoned off my gourd at eleven in the morning.

[In_The_Wind]

14. One more rant

Don't push your child's stroller behind me as I'm carefully backing out of My handicapped spot

[KitchenWitch]

15. Oh gawd yes!

:grr:

[In_The_Wind]

16. Getting out of the spot is as much fun as finding one!

So far I only need to use the handicapped spot on my worse days but those are the days that I may have taken a prescription pain pill ...

like I'm really thinking straight then ...

BTW ... Hey jerk - while you're at it ~ say Hello to all of your long lost friends while standing behind my car.

[KitchenWitch]

17. Yeah, it's not like people with disabilities have anywhere else to be

:sarcasm:

[In_The_Wind]

20. doctors appointments

nah ...

nothing to do ...

no where to be ...

it's fun to sit - in the car.

[KitchenWitch]

18. dupe - self delete

:sarcasm:

[AirmensMom]

19. Great rant, KW!

:hi:

[datasuspect]

21. hmm

1. you are correct

2. PEDESTRIANS ALWAYS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY. WAIT.

3. you are correct

4. you are correct

[KitchenWitch]

22. point #2

I am talking about people who walk through the spots, when they could walk elsewhere, and not inconvenience anyone, not even themselves.

[petronius]

25. #2 is a lot more general than just the blue spots...

All parking spots are walkways, and the people who walk through them are called 'speed bumps'.

[KitchenWitch]

34. I love how you think.

:rofl:

[BlueIris]

23. People ASK why you have a card? Holy shit.

Dear LORD.

There are a lot of things wrong with my city and state, but (from what I've seen, anyway) assholes like that polluting our parking lots aren't among them. Mainly because, where I live, you pull that crap (parking in a space for people with disabilities) and at the very least some stranger will give you a big, fat lecture about your assholishness. The fines for that kind of law-breaking in our area can run upwards of $1,000 (more than driving around a school bus, even).

[flvegan]

24. The folks that put the carts in them are the lowest.

Seriously...

Scenario: The only open handicapped spot has now become the resting spot for your cart, as you're too lazy to lumber your raggedy ass to the cart return or the front of the store. God forbid you burn a fucking calorie. Along comes Jim, who lost his legs in 'Nam. He's lucky and can still be mobile in his equipped van. However, to park, he has to stop, get out of the van, in his chair to move YOUR fucking cart. Jim, bless him, isn't such a pathetic sod that he'd just bump the cart with his van to move it, as it might bump the car in front of him or damage the cart. Yeah, enjoy your pork rinds, asshat.

You've seen the ads for Reebok? The "Terry Tate, Office Linebacker" ones? What we need are some real life "Terry Tate, Parking Lot Linebacker" folks. Oh, how I'd pay to see that...

[Darth_Kitten]

27. people are stupid.

:mad:

[area51]

26. "... handicapped parking spots are NOT cart corrals."

This always gets me when I see this. I always take the time to move the shopping cart back to the store. What do these idiots (nazis, I'm sure) think, that people in their wheelchairs are going to bump the carts out of their way? Jeebus.

[Darth_Kitten]

28. They don't think, period.

:(

[1gobluedem]

29. I agree!

I have a handicapped plate and placard because I only have one inner ear (other was removed so a brain tumor could be removed) so I have balance problems if I have to walk long distances or downhill. But, because I don't 'look handicapped' (there's a generalization for you) people feel perfectly entitled to give me grief.

My stock answer to people who say "Well, you don't look handicapped" is to say "I guess appearances can be deceiving because you don't look rude." It works.

[uppityperson]

60. Very good response, have to remember that. nt

[Ladyhawk]

30. Hear, hear. I have a temporary placard, which I only use at the

college and at the grocery store.

There aren't enough handicapped spaces at the college and it's frustrating as hell. I live in the foothills and in order to get to classes I have to go uphill no matter where I park. Have a look:



It's a nice campus, all right, but you have to HIKE into class. And there are mountain lion warnings on the pathways. I kid you not. :)

Anyway, there aren't enough handicapped spaces and I feel guilty parking in them even though I do need them. At least I can walk. Some folks can't even do that. I'm not sure where the college would PUT more handicapped spaces. They'd have to cut out a hill or something.

:shrug;

[CaliforniaPeggy]

32. Most excellent rant, my dear KitchenWitch.......

I try to behave properly around the handicapped places.....and I always look to see if someone has parked illegally in one.....

I did have a thread on this....someone parked illegally in front of our local Olive Garden, and I called the police on it......

I was so frosted I could hardly see straight.....

So now whenever we eat there, I always check to make sure the car in that slot is not there illegally......

:yourock: :loveya:

[left is right]

33. 20 years ago, I was riding with my brother an amputee from the

viet nam war. He pulled into a handicapped parking space and I said, "You can't park there, it's for the handicapped." He tapped his prosthesis leg and said, "I am who they created this space for." I have never questioned another individual since that time about their conditions

[AlCzervik]

35. My uncle is a quadriplegic so I'm always mindful of those spots.

[nini]

36. I was 27 when I got mine

..... and I FUCKING HATE THE STINK EYE crap. These god damned snotty seniors stop and give me the 'look'. Funny thing is they walk a hell of a lot better than I do. Age does not dictate need and it pisses me off to no end to be judged by people who have no idea what the issue is with me.

I had a woman tell me I couldn't park there once because I wasn't in a wheelchair :shrug: Well, I was for a year - guess that didn't count.

You've hit on one of my pet peeves.

:nuke: :nuke:

[KitchenWitch]

38. I have had mine since I was 29

I know of what you speak!

The other thing that really gets me, I used to work with someone who had a handicapped child, so she had a placard. But she never brought her child to work with her. That did not stop her from parking in the handicapped spots. That royally torqued me off!

:nuke:

I think that kind of behavior is 7th circle of hell territory.

[nini]

41. She could lose placard rights doing that

the handicapped person must be present to use it. too bad the child would hurt if you ratted her out :evilgrin:

When I was in college ( I went back to school after my accident). The campus police asked to see my id for the card to prove I was the person with the card. I was the only one out of about 20 people that was the owner of the card. They reported the others to the DMV. I'm sure the parents and grandparents of those kids weren't too happy when they got fined and/or lost their rights to the cards.

People need to take this seriously.

[KitchenWitch]

43. No doubt

I did not turn her in at the time, but I would now.

[nini]

44. I know they've really cracked down on that in Calif

let her have it. She is abusing the system her own daughter needs. She's really the worst kind.

[Missy Vixen]

37. KitchenWitch, we feel your pain

DH is a volunteer with a local police department. The volunteers have a limited commission, so they get to ticket those who are stupid enough to park in a disabled parking space without benefit of placard. The ticket is $250. One does not get out of paying it unless they can produce a legal placard, issued to them.

;-)

Julie

[KitchenWitch]

39. The fine here is $200

I think it should be $500, personally, but, hey, I do not make the laws.

[Missy Vixen]

40. It's $550

if one liberated, shall we say, someone else's placard.

Julie

[Lex]

42. A friend with MS can't walk a long ways & has a handicap sticker

to use for parking when she is feeling particularly unable to walk much.

You wouldn't believe the looks of people who clealy think she shouldn't use it because she's not completely wheelchair bound!

[anti_shrub]

45. You apparently need to be skinny too

My mother (and me, and my grandfather) are all large framed people, and we have a placard for when I drive her places since she has a degenerative bone disease. She used to have to wave her cane at people since they thought she looked too "healthy" to need a handicapped spot.

[fudge stripe cookays]

52. I'll probably be dealing with that

within the next few years. 10 minutes at the grocery store, and I'm ready for a nap.

I'm SO looking forward to dealing with future stinkeyes. But I will NOT be shy and retiring.

Anyone confronting me will be met with a snarling "I have MS, FUCKWAD! Care to tell me anything else??!!"

I do not suffer fools lightly.
FSC

[KitchenWitch]

53. I am with you

Depending upon my energy level...sometimes I just don't have the energy, other times, the asshat gets it BOTH BARRELS.

[Lex]

54. Yes, I've felt like screaming that on her behalf.

I think it would be cathartic for her, but she just holds her chin up and carefully makes her way into the store.

[KitchenWitch]

46. I knew this guy who got in a motorcycle accident

and had to have one of his legs amputated at the knee. This particular young man was extremely good looking (could have been a model). Anyway, he gets out of his car in the handicapped parking space, at the time he only had a temporary prosthesis, and this woman walks up to him and screamed at him for like 5 minutes. Finally she asked him what he had to say for himself. He said, "Look down at my feet." and he pulled his pant leg up, showing her his metal prosthesis, and she just turned white. She apologized profusely. He nicely reminder her, that next time she sees someone that does not LOOK handicapped, to keep it to herself.

Personally I would have gone all medieval on her, but he was gracious and kind.

[Redstone]

48. One of the best bumperstickers I ever saw was on a car with HP plates.

It said: "I'll trade my parking spot for your legs any day."

Wonderful. Succinct, sharp, and to the point.

I'll agree with your rant: If you aren't handicapped, stay the fuck out of the handicapped parking spots. No arguments. No excuses. Just stay the fuck out.

Redstone

[KitchenWitch]

49. I have been tempted to make a bumper sticker

that says

Watch out, I also drive like I am handicapped

[bobbieinok]

50. I'm running into places that have 5 handicapped spaces and all

are filled and each car has a card

is it that there are so many more people handicapped or what????

[KitchenWitch]

51. The population is aging

therefore there are more that qualify.

I think the ADA needs to be updated to reflect that.

[mykpart]

55. What I can't understand is why there are handicap spaces further from the

door than the regular spaces in many restaurant parking lots.

When people as why you have the placard, just tell them what I tell them: It's none of your fucking business!

[Digit]

58. They probably think a ramp allows them to do this..

I am noticing that trend in my area with newer establishments.
I let them know that there are people with heart, pulmonary, arthritis, etc issues which do not require them to be in a wheelchair.
You have to complain.

There was one place I had to visit which not only had the parking space far away, but instead of stairs, they had an uphill ramp.
I have severe osteoarthritis in my knee (need total knee replacement), and stairs are easier for me than a hill.

[Digit]

56. You'll love this....

The Harris Teeter grocery store in my area has reserved all the closest spaces for "Expectant Mothers". I would guess there are approximately 6 spaces reserved for them, and yet I have NEVER seen anyone parking there.
They evidently felt they could put the handicapped spaces (all 3-4 of them) father away....as long as they had a friggin ramp.
I wrote a letter to the company, and they never responded. Then, I went into the store and complained. The lady in customer service was very pleasant, and said she has received alot of complaints.
She told me to park in the expectant mother spots, but then I REALLY get stared at.
Geez
:eyes:

[bliss_eternal]

57. Shopping carts--

don't know why that one bugs me, but it does. It takes less than three minutes to walk it to the actual cart area or coral. Why people just leave them ALL OVER THE LOT and in the handicapped spaces, is beyond me.

As a society, people are getting lazier, and that troubles me to a degree.

Kitchenwitch--sorry people are such pills toward you as far as that space is concerned. :hug: I wish people were more considerate of those that really NEED that parking space, instead of using it in the ways you've described.

[Lady Effingbroke]

59. I work at a grocery store and get to run about 5 miles a day chasing after

perfectly able-bodied lazy-ass MFs who leave their carts all over the damn lot. Many of these MFs are too damn lazy and selfish to walk THREE FEET and return their cart to the cart rack thoughtfully provided by the store. I clear carts from the handicapped parking spaces as fast as I can, because lazy-ass MFs leave them there all the time.

Chaps my ass.

[bliss_eternal]

63. I know, it's really ridiculous.

They can create such havoc in a parking lot--for people TRYING TO PARK! Hello?!

You're absolutely right--many times it would take them walking three feet. Ridiculous.

I frequently take the time to not only return mine, but any others near me--just to make it a bit easier on the poor guy that has to collect them, or whoever needs to park.

Gives me a little extra, much needed exercise... ;)

[Lady Effingbroke]

64. Thank you!!! I *heart* customers like you!

You make my job so much easier! :yourock:

[bliss_eternal]

65. Thanks!

:hug: ...it's nothing, really. Just something I've got in the habit of doing. :pals:

We saw this woman fighting with her car door and her shopping cart a few weeks ago. Instead of taking it to the cart area, she chose to actually try to DRIVE away. The cart was hooked onto her door somehow, and she didn't get very far. So what does she do? She gets out of the car, shoves the cart out into the lot, gets back in her car and drives off--

--as the cart is rolling into other cars in the lot. :mad:

[KamaAina]

61. Say it, sister!

although the H-word is somewhat discountenanced within the movement; the PC termis "accessible parking spaces".

[KitchenWitch]

62. I understand that, but most people still call them handicapped spots