Parking Rules.

Rules. 

We love to hate them. We hate to love them. But at the end of the day, they’re simply that. 

Rules.

I don’t understand people who get upset when they get busted breaking the rules and get some kind of consequence for it. They’re there for a reason. Whether we like it or not, they’re there for you to follow. And, you can’t be upset either when you suffer the consequences.

One thing I always found rather troublesome was people’s beef with the Parking and Transportation department at Georgia Southern. The parking enforcement officers were deemed “Parking Nazis” and were some highly despised people. People always walked out of the parking and transportation office with a sour look on their face because they received “bad service.” And most of all, people complained whenever they received a ticket, or worse, their car was booted and towed.

Most of the time, I’d have to say this was because that person broke some kind of rule. I mean sure, sometimes you have those people who aren’t exactly “thrilled” with their job of choice, but it’s not always their fault.

Take for instance: During my last few semesters in school, I had a friend who had just recently brought a car to Southern. For me it was nice because I didn’t have to always drive, but one thing that annoyed the crap out of me is when he would park in 30-minute parking during the day. (note: it’s kinda an unofficial official rule that you can park in 30-minute parking after 4pm and not get a ticket, probably because the P&T office closes at 5pm.) There was also one time when he parked in Visitor Parking, something that students aren’t supposed to do until after 5pm.

He’d get tickets, and then not pay for them, giving me some stupid excuse that eventually he would pay for them. And of course never did. He passed the threshold to start receiving boot warnings on his car, which would happen at length whenever his car was spotted on campus.

Fast forward to my final semester, when I was working in the library. I didn’t want to get a ticket for parking on campus, and since I lived in the Non-Commuter Zone (you can’t buy parking passes if you live in this zone), I couldn’t park on campus until after 5. I could do that on Thursdays because I had the time to go get my car and drive back to campus before my shift, but Monday and Wednesday nights were impossible because I was in class right up to my shift time. So this same friend would pick me up from work at night. One night in particular, I was working like normal. It had been a bad day overall, although work that night was relatively slow. He was at the baseball game with some friends, and as luck would have it….

His car got booted that night at the game.

Of course I found this out literally as I was getting off work at 9pm, and with the busses no longer running at this point (they stop running at 9pm), not to mention being rather pissed at this point, I walked home in the dark. I tried to contact a couple of other friends, but they didn’t respond to my messages or never got them (my phone was picky with texts and phones calls sometimes at that time). Luckily nothing happened on the way home, other than me being spooked by my own shadow.

Of course, on top of now having to pay for all the tickets on his record, he also had to pay a fee to get the boot removed from his car, which wouldn’t have existed if you didn’t break parking rules to begin with, on top of not paying your tickets at all.

 I do have a level of skepticism with that situation, as I know he was hanging out with friends, and it would be really easy to lie and say that his car got booted in order to get out of picking me up to hang out with friends longer, but that’s not what this blog is about.

It isn’t Parking and Transportation’s fault that you get the tickets, or your car is booted and towed. It’s yours.

All you have to do is not put yourself in a position to receive that kind of stuff. GSUProblems posted on Facebook a few days ago a picture of someone who received a ticket. Not unusual, but this instance, the person who owned the car had put in the window the receipt for when they ordered their parking pass 2 months prior but hadn’t received it yet. So instead of taking the time to go to Parking and Transportation to sort the issue, you try to skirt around the issue and try to get a pass by doing something I think is stupid.

Credit: GSUProblems

First off, P&T doesn’t mail out parking passes. When you order them online, you go pick them up in the office after you place the order; I found out this from a friend. Second, if it had been two months and you hadn’t received it yet (IF Southern did indeed mail them out, but remember they DON’T), wouldn’t it cross your mind to go check on the situation BEFORE classes start? Maybe? Spend less time at the bar and more time making sure you can park in the lot you paid $150 to park in? Maybe?

What’s more idiotic is the comments on this picture. There was one girl who had been complaining about how she received a ticket for not properly displaying her parking sticker; instead of sticking it on the rear window like you’re supposed to, she just placed it on the dashboard. I called her lazy.

She gave me a whole laundry list of excuses (“It’s been pouring raining”, “I work a 9-to-5 job on top of going to school”), none of which I had any sympathy for. But, of course, in true Internet fashion, I got called an asshole by a completely separate party, and he even took the time to go to my Facebook page and pulled a quote from a Public status I’d posted, completely out of context, to try and prove a point. I found it rather comical, so I won’t even address THAT issue.

The point is that people are quick to yell all kinds of crap at Parking and Transportation for things that are their own fault. Yes, there are times when they are in the wrong, and I do understand that. But, if you’re always getting tickets and warnings for the same thing, shouldn’t you check yourself in the mirror too and see if maybe you’re the problem? For once?

I’m no innocent party. Before I switched tags on my car, I amassed 3 or 4 parking tickets on my car during a period. I got my fair share of boot warnings. But I also took care of my responsibility and paid off all the tickets when I had the money. I amassed those tickets in very quick succession during a period of the end of one semester and the beginning of the next one, and during that time, didn’t have the money. I never got booted, but I also knew the risk. I never put my car on campus any earlier than 5pm, knowing then I STILL had the risk of getting a boot, especially at major events on campus (as proven by the baseball game example). I got lucky, but again, I know it could have gone the other way easily.  

After I got everything taken care of, and got new plates on my car (change in ownership), I would drive my car to campus on the rare occasion for my 9:30am class if I woke up late and trying to catch the bus would be more of a fail than anything else. I assumed that risk, knowing that for the hour and 30 minutes my car would sit in 30-minute parking, I would be at risk for a ticket. I knew it EVERY TIME. I got one ticket during the entire semester, and paid it off the same day, no questions asked. I even joked with the person who gave me the ticket (he was writing it as I walked up), and the lady in the office when I paid it. Why be mad at them? They’re doing their jobs, and I’m the one who broke the rules.

I’ve seen people throw temper tantrums at enforcement officers over getting a ticket when parked in 30-minute parking. They’ll claim that they were “only there for 20 minutes” when I know their car was there for longer. Or, someone will get pissed when their car is booted and claim that they have no tickets or “never received a boot warning.” I know for a fact that you get e-mails about your parking tickets if your car is in the system; I received e-mails about my tickets, which also warned me about being on the boot list. Even if your car isn’t in the system, wouldn’t you know what was going on each time you got to your car and saw a ticket on it?

There are always exceptions to this rule, like someone playing a malicious joke and taking the ticket off your car and throwing it away before you get there. Or something else. That could be a thing. But for a majority of people – the people not seeing this – I have to ask, are you doing what you should be doing to make sure you don’t get a ticket? Or are you hoping to slip by and get lucky?

Just a thought. : )

'Til Next Time.