Author Topic: "Parking Chairs"  (Read 8047 times)

erika

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"Parking Chairs"
« on: December 22, 2009, 10:26:33 AM »
I need some perspective... pardon the wordiness here...

I was flat-out called an asshole by some of our friends the other night for suggesting that placing a chair in your parking space (that you dug out of the snow) is ok and is acceptable in some parts of the country. The argument being that if you live on a street with very little parking, the unspoken agreement with neighbors is that you can claim your parking space that you worked so hard for. This is usually only during snowy times, but I've seen it done when the streets are clear.

This isn't something I do myself, but I was considering it the other night.

I was told that it was equivalent to stealing public property and claiming it as my own. Now, I can understand not liking this phenomenon, and wanting to remove aforementioned chairs from the parking space, but why does it make people SO ANGRY?

When I pointed out that I lived in Pittsburgh for 8 years, where this is very accepted amongst neighbors, I was told "In some countries it's ok to beat your women in public, but that doesn't make it ok."

FOT's, help me. Is this such a terrible offense? I can certainly see people abusing it, but does doing it make you some sort of neanderthal? In cities like Baltimore and Pittsburgh where there are rowhomes with nothing but street parking, it's very common. Have any of you seen this?

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=114420143544
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colonel panic

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2009, 10:37:10 AM »
This does not happen in North Dakota or when I lived in Minneapolis.

I would expect the 'chair placer' to acquiesce if someone moved the chair and parked in the spot and not yell a them or shoot them in response.

This is fascinating. Why don't people just steal the chairs for their frat-houses?

erika

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2009, 10:40:09 AM »
Well yeah I'd hope no one would get their cars keyed or tires slashed if they moved the chair. But when I lived up there the chair-spots were usually right in front of the person's house. It seems reasonable to me.

The other thing is that in North D or Minnesota, people probably all pitch in and shovel snow, right? In Baltimore, plenty of people don't bother so it's like 40% of the people on the street doing all the shoveling for everyone. You'd be amazed.
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Bryan

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2009, 10:53:17 AM »
I can't wait to hear Andy's take on this.

erika

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2009, 10:56:29 AM »
I imagine Andy is not fond of this sort of thing. Also, he might still need a hug...
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eastgrandforks

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2009, 11:11:14 AM »
This is done in Chicago, unless it was successfully outlawed. I grew up in the suburbs, so I have never seen this behavior up close. The one thing I don't get - why not wait for the snow plows to come through?

erika

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2009, 11:17:17 AM »
How will a snow plow help you when you're parallel parked on the street? They usually just create a foot-wide pile of snow next to your car...

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Chris L

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2009, 11:19:49 AM »
A few people would do this on the street where I grew up.  In heavy residential neighborhoods where parking is tough I'd say it's presumptuous to think just because you shoveled you "deserve" the space more than someone else.  If you move your car, you take your chances.  One thing's for sure: it's not a good idea in neighborhoods with a large concentration of professional wrestlers.

buffcoat

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2009, 11:35:49 AM »
Just park in one of the many millions of strip malls and office parking lots that dominate your region.  That's why Raleigh only has six buildings taller than about 8 stories.

Number of non-sporting event related situations where it took me more than two minutes to park this year: Zero.  And the economy has killed off the second reason for not being able to park, Christmas shopping.


What?  Every place is not like here?


I really don't appreciate your sarcastic, anti-comedy tone, Bro!

Bryan

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2009, 12:28:51 PM »
I have never heard of this until today, despite having lived my whole life in places that get plenty of snow. I think that it may be that in my neck of the woods, people are just used to the idea that getting a big dump of snow is a big pain in the ass, in all kinds of ways including parking, and we just have to deal with it.

erika

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2009, 12:39:00 PM »
Does everyone deal with it, though? Where i live people think nothing of leaving their walkways and streets covered in snow. I think that's a key difference between places that get a lot of snow and places that don't.
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erechoveraker

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #11 on: December 22, 2009, 12:41:35 PM »
I was gonna say, this is a very Pittsburgh thing to do, and I didn't care for it when I lived there. The problem I had with it was, you'd only really see it in neighborhoods where someone wasn't probably going to park and stay forever anyways. Visiting a friend, food delivery etc, I literally had to move a chair once so we could park somewhere for like 20 minutes. It all stunk to me of "this is my street, stay away" mentality, and that's pretty disgusting.

I also didn't care for what I called the "yinzer doorbell" - people double parking in the street who were picking someone up for work/whatever, and instead of perhaps calling on their phone, or walking up and knocking on the door, would just sit there and lay on the horn until the person came to the car. 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, didn't matter. I was told by several Pittsburghers that was a totally normal thing to do, and that I was weird for thinking it was weird. Heaven forbid I'm not the one who needs the ride and's trying to get some sleep or whatever, yeah?

I don't know that I would call a friend an asshole over either of these things, but I definitely fall towards thinking it's a bit of asshole behavior if you're being stingy about these things.

erechoveraker

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #12 on: December 22, 2009, 12:44:40 PM »
Where i live people think nothing of leaving their walkways and streets covered in snow.

I didn't care for that in Pittsburgh either. I chucked an ice ball through some richy-riches window when I lived in Squirrel Hill who left their sidewalk all iced up for a month and I almost died a slippery death on once. I was totally the asshole there, but I'll take that one.

Winter in Pittsburgh is the worst.

Andy

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #13 on: December 22, 2009, 03:10:38 PM »
I can see both sides of the argument.  I probably would never do it myself, but I would also probably not park in a spot that was "saved" unless it was the last one available.

Likening it to beating women is ridiculous.
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hugman

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Re: "Parking Chairs"
« Reply #14 on: December 22, 2009, 03:18:26 PM »
you bust your ass digging out a spot, it's your fucking spot. that's all there is to it.  who's the asshole? the person who just wants to coast in on your back-breaking labor, that's who.

basically, it depends on where you live, though, as far as how much you can expect people to respect that. people in chicago do it correctly.  everyone knows what's expected and those who deviate from that are the assholes.