For a better world, follow the rules of parking

I had a lot of errands to run and had to visit a variety of stores, which isn’t a favorite activity to begin with. So I was already annoyed.

But we all have to do this sort of thing, and I can just hear my mother's voice telling me I should be grateful for my life because there’s a war in Ukraine and there’s a pandemic and millions of people have it worse than me. Got it, Mom.

So I pull into a local store parking lot and immediately am grateful that the lot is nearly empty, which means no long lines. Of course, just when I get to the only open register with my three little things the guy with overflowing cart zips right in front of me. So before I say anything sarcastic to him, I hear my mom’s voice again talking about war and pestilence. I let it go.

I patiently waited for the guy and his massive pile, then get my stuff paid for and head for the door to my next stop. And I walk outside and could not believe my eyes.

As I’m standing there trying to hold onto my bags, I notice the parking lot is almost completely empty. It was so odd. There was this long stretch of parking spots with nary a car or SUV in any of them. Except for one.

And where was this car parked? Right next to mine on the driver’s side. There was literally an entire parking lot available for this person to choose, but she (or he) had to have the closest spot to the entrance door so she (or he) decided she (or he) won the parking spot lottery by having the first space nearest the door.

Since I had the second closest spot this person parked so close I could not open my door enough to get in. Now, if the lot was full, I suppose I could understand. But it was empty. Like a desert. The person easily could have taken the spot on my passenger side, but apparently those extra four steps were too much. She (or he) HAD TO HAVE the parking space closest to the entry door.

When I was a teenager, this never happened because the types of cars I drove back then were rust buckets. And everyone knew the unwritten rule as to what would happen if they parked their fancy cars too close to a junker.

But these days are different. So I had to carefully open the door and suck in my belly like a fat guy on a beach trying to impress a hottie walking past. I squeezed in, but barely. And was not happy. In fact, I was gonna leave her (or him) a very strongly worded note. But I couldn’t get out.

So I took out my frustrations by squealing my tires as I backed out. And then I flew onto Telegraph carelessly causing an oncoming driver to stop abruptly and slam on his horn. Yea, buddy, I cut you off, big time. And I didn't care one bit.

Sure that driver was ticked off. But he’ll get over it. Because there are a lot of people who have it worse and at least he has his health.

Ray Kisonas is the Regional Editor of The Monroe News and The Daily Telegram. You can reach him at rayk@monroenews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Ray Kisonas: For a better world, follow the rules of parking