Parking Enforcement
I was driving around looking for parking and I saw a guy getting into his car right next to me. I asked him if he was leaving, and he said he was. I pulled into the driveway in front of him so as not to block the traffic on this busy road. When he pulled out, some idiot swerved into the spot from behind. I got out of my car and walked up to him. I said, “Excuse me, but you just took my spot. You obviously had to see me sitting there with my blinker on. So please, move your car”.
I am 5’10”, about 170lbs, and he was easily 6’2″, 200+ lbs. He turned to me and said, “Sorry, but there are no rules for getting parking. You lose. Get lost, kid”, and he started to walk away. I said, “Fine, keep walking. I can’t wait until you leave”. He took another few steps and then turned around and said, “I’m not moving my car, so you can just leave”.
I said, “I am no longer waiting for you to move your car. I am waiting for you to leave your car alone”. He turned red, walked up to me, and said, “Get out of here”. I don’t know what came over me at that moment…but I moved my face right up to his, stared at him straight in the eye, and perfectly calmly said, “I’m not leaving until you leave, either in your car or on foot”.
My heart was racing like crazy. Right then, he pulled back. I knew he had lost, and I had full confidence. He walked over to the railing, leaned against it, started doing something on his phone, and said, “I’m not leaving until you do”. I said, “Fine, I have all night”, and got back into my car, opened my book, and started reading it. He screamed at me, “Get out of here”, but I ignored him and kept reading.
He was late for something and eventually jumped back into his car, yelled at me, and drove off. I was going to park my car there. However, some little old lady pulled up and said, “Excuse me, but are you taking this spot”? I said, “No, you can have it”. I was a little afraid that the guy might come and trash her car, but it was a very different color than mine, so I convinced myself she was safe.