For me, the sales of post-Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc are not worth the hassle. I'll get a smaller item.

I'm with you, NicoleK. It would take a fire in my house to get me to leave it on Black Friday, the day after Christmas, etc.

My MIL loves Black Friday. But I think she likes messing with the other shoppers as much as she does buying stuff.

I swore to myself when I bought my Boxster that it wasn't going to be a trailer queen. If I'm concerned about the closeness of the parking spaces, or who I might be parking next to, I park farther away from the doors. Around here, it's the F350s and their ilk that take up multiple spaces.

It's too bad you didn't come across someone who actually puts cones on both sides of their car, taking up THREE spaces.

Just encountered this in the underground parking at work this morning. Tiny Chevy taking up two spaces.

I'm gonna keep post-its in my car just for the purposes of leaving this thought on the offending car's window next time. At least it'll make me feel better.

My dad (RIP), would likely have parallel parked his truck behind the porsche, or possibly to the right. parking close enough to make a point, without actually causing damage to the car.

And the obvious choice, if the car on the left were absent, would be to park so close to the Porsche on the driver side that they can't even squeeze in between the cars, let alone open the door to get inside.

As much as people who park like this annoy me and deserve to be flogged, I can also sympathize with them.

I have hundreds of nicks, scratches, and dings in my car from 7 years of parking at the local light rail station. It was a nice-looking car before that.

People who swing their doors open wide without thought for the car next to them, slide themselves across a car while wearing metal-studded clothing, or dent a car without leaving a note have driven other people to selfish behavior to try and protect what is usually a substantial purchase for them.

Last year, someone backed out of the parking space next to me without looking at what they were doing and caved in the rear quarter panel on my car. They drove off; no note, nothing.

And parking spaces all seem sized for the Smart Fortwo. Whatever happened to parking space with enough room to fit a car that fits four people and allow the doors to opened when a car in in the space?

"Whatever happened to parking space with enough room to fit a car that fits four people and allow the doors to opened when a car in in the space?" - Conan the Grammarian

About 30 years ago, when many people were turning to compact cars for fuel economy, most new parking lots set aside about 75% of their spaces for "compact" cars. The rest were generally large enough for family-sized vehicled. Unfortunately, what happened was that everyone in compact cars parked in the larger spaces so their cars wouldn't get dinged. This left nowhere for the larger vehicles to park, so many were had no choice but to squeeze in those compact spaces and hope no one tried to park next to them.

No one ever thought to post signs that said, "Parking only for mid-sized and larger cars." There was no way anyone could make that against the law.

Why would you take that car to black friday? Either it's your daily driver so it already has dents or you are not supposed to have it. Dad's car was my first though. On the other hand I saw some guy with a beat up honda civic taking up 4 spots.

I'm ok with this for the simple fact that had they not parked you'd still not have gotten the spot. The lots are over flowing, just that simple. So if you are there on black Friday then YFD. Would I park like that? No because the same crazy bitch that bit (no not a north east euphemism) someone in front of me over a sale item would set my car on fire. But I completely understand. I'd rather have someone butt hurt than that same someone scratch my car then not have even close to enough insurance to cover it.

For what it may be worth, I just picked up my copy of "Good Manners" from the PO Box today, and I'm really excited about reading it. (It was a generous gift from my brother and his family.)

i just need to finish the other two books I'm reading first...

I don't buy the "I'm rude because other people were rude first" argument. If you ding someone, certainly leave a note with your info on it, but if you're driving a car, dings and scratches are the cost of doing business. Your car WILL get messed up. No car stays pristine forever.

I recommend driving a beater, so you can do things like park 1/2 inch from this guy's driver's door.

My kid bro got rid of his classic Mustang because people were always banging into it. No matter how he parked, it was a magnet for door bangers.
Me, I look for "Compact" spaces to park my full-size van.

I'm with Conan on this - yes it is a bit annoying that people do this when parking is tight.

But, sorry Amy, the assholes who DAMAGE other people's property are the problem here.

I'm glad you think dings and dents are no big deal; but to some of us they are.

And, yes, I do park my car far away from others and still, STILL some asshole has to park next to me and BANG into my car.

It just happened this past weekend. I was in my car after leaving the store - parked far away from everyone else . . . and this big fat bitch pulls up beside me in a oversized SUV swings her door open real fast and BANG! right into the side of my NEW car. The bitch didn't say a word or even look to see if she caused damage.

However, because she was black (and I'm white) I didn't say anything.

So, go ahead and make fun of the person who parked this way; but, realize the reason they are trying to protect their property is because of the rude, damage-causing assholes in the world.

I think you really need to point the blame at the other parties here.

I saw someone in a 80,000 Porsche use the handicapped parking spots.

Yes she had the permit, but for fucks sake the thing was a damn sports car.

Charles,

I used to live by that particular shopping center and frequent it on occasion.

He isn't parking like that because he doesn't want his car dinged, because if that were the case he would use the valet parking. The valet area is HUGE.

Second of those types of cars are a dime a dozen in Irvine and I've seen them smash and ding the shit out of other cars.

On a related note someone smashed my friends entire parked car over there. The car was totaled.

The parking hog that takes the cake was one I saw last week. He was taking not two but three disabled parking spaces, right next to the disabled entrance.

I finished the book yesterday, I loved it, laughed my way through it ( from 'looking for lost watches' onward :-D ) It was a great read, thought-provoking, and there were a couple of sections I'm going to read again.

Great job!

I saw someone in a 80,000 Porsche use the handicapped parking spots.

Yes she had the permit, but for fucks sake the thing was a damn sports car.

I had a similar experience. I saw a BMW Z3 parked in the handicapped space. The car had a handicapped tag on the mirror.

It's a two-seat, low-slung sports car. If you need the extra space to get in and out of your car, you need something larger than a Z3.

"He isn't parking like that because he doesn't want his car dinged, because if that were the case he would use the valet parking." Awe hell no. Those dick heads in Manhattan managed to fuck up my stick shift daily driver 3 out of 3 times. I wouldn't let those communal butter dumpsters anywhere near my vette. Which is why I do not take that car into the city EVER. So back to the old idea if you have high end sports car keep your old beater for shit drives and transporting rescues.

As far as the handicapped plate. What successful people can't have injuries? Any number of injuries/illness can be hard to detect but would restrict movement over longer distances. What I can't stand if fat people with those plates. Illness and injury may or may not be your fault. Being fat unless you are the 1% (some say less) of people with very specific issues you're fat by choice. The fact that gastric works sort proves that.

Handicapped spaces aren't just for people who need space for their wheelchair/walker/etc. People who don't use a mobility device (yet) but still can't walk very far also need the handicapped spaces. Can you imagine being a guy with a lung problem or heart problem that severe? Yeah, I'm not gonna snark on a guy who wants a sportscar in that case.

Unless he parks like an asshole.