A year ago, my mom finally got her handicapped decals for her car. She doesn’t use a wheelchair or anything, she just falls down a lot. That sounds like a joke, but it’s not. My mom is very accident-prone, and her balance is awful, so her doctor finally gave her a decal so that she wouldn’t have to walk so much. She loves her handicap decal. Even before my mom got it, I always felt really strongly about non-handicapped people parking in handicap parking spaces. Those spaces are there for a reason, and that reason isn’t so some holier-than-thou actress can pick up her dry cleaning without having to walk an extra few steps. But that’s just what January Jones did!
These are pics of January last Thursday, picking up her dry cleaning in West Hollywood. She didn’t have her baby with her, she was alone in her SUV. She just felt like parking in the handicap spot, and so she did. I guess I should find an excuse to try to explain her actions… well, the spot doesn’t look very well-marked. The sign on the pavement is very faded, and it looks like skaters or anarchists have stickered over the actual sign above the parking spot. Still, it’s pretty f—king obvious that it’s a handicap spot. I just loathe when people do this. I don’t care if you’re January Jones or Miley Cyrus or Usher. Just stop it.
I’ll tell you something else that bugs me… parking spots for parents with children at the grocery store. I’m fine with handicap spots, and pregnant-woman “stork” parking spots. But I don’t get why half of the spots up front at the grocery store are specially marked for parents with children. Being a parent and bringing your children to the grocery store IS NOT A PHYSICAL DISABILITY. There is no medical reason why they need spots up front. It’s only about convenience for the parents, to which I say… when can the childfree get some convenient parking spaces too?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
You really have all those “special” parking spaces? So weird. Over here it’s “first come, first serve” aside from the handicap spots. Works fine.
In San Francisco, there are handicapped, family, and hybrid car parking spots. And you want a bag for your items? That’s 10 cents each (paper only), whether at Safeway or Cartier.
I live in the Northwest Territories of Canada. We have a law which requires charging 25 cents per bag, even at the liquor store. I think it’s great for the environment. It was a tough adjustment for some people, but now everyone just brings reusable bags for shopping.
I think everyone should do it, really.
I also parked in my first hybrid parking spot at Ikea in Calgary. It was awesome.
My pet peeve is when I see women who either aren’t pregnant or are barely pregnant in the pregnant women spots. In my mind, those are for women in the last months who are too uncomfortable to walk far. Not anyone who just got knocked up(and I say this as a woman who is 4 months pregnant).
Parking spots for hybrid cars? Are you kidding me? What’s the rationale—you’re “green” so you deserve a special parking spot? GMAFB
Also, the only place I have ever seen the pregnant women parking spots is at Babies R Us…..the rest of us have to fend for oursleves (except for the handicapped spots)
25 cents? Zowers, it’s only five cents in Ontario. I know a while our dearly be-loath-ed mayor was pushing to get the bag tax repealed but no one (including me) wanted it as it forced us to be more mindful about these things.
Our mayor is…the nicest thing I can say about him is also the truest: a not terribly reformed and entirely uninformed ex-con. His out of the ether hissy fits and disastrous publicity stunts are good for a laugh, though. Hey, how’s that diet going? You know, the one on which you frequently and publicly cheated and quit when the public weigh-ins showed steady weight gain? Too bad his war on libraries, stop signs, and counting aren’t of the more athletic variety.
Expiation of bile completed.
wait is it for a hybrid car or for an electric car that requires a charger? in LA i have never seen hybrid parking, only the charge stations, which i think are great.
@Aud – I honestly was more tired at the beginning of my pregnancy than at the end and was more likely to want/need the pregnancy parking spots, so seeing someone barely or not visibly pregnant in those spots doesn’t bother me at all.
Delta – Nope! In the “nicer” cities in SD County, there’s parking for both Hybrids (think along the lines of being allowed to use the carpool lanes and not having to pay for a FastPass – Electrics & BioFuels get a “pass” too) and Electrics, complete with charging stations.
How are you, btw? 🙂
We have all those parking spots in Canada,but most people respect them and don’t cheat! Bags are 10c each in southern Ontario where I live ( except for Walmart who give them free) I see the next poster pays 25 cents in NWT..whoa!!
January strikes me as a very self entitled girl.watched her at the Emmys and noticed her sour expression unless the camera was on her! Not surprised that she abuses the privilege of the parking spot! Why do these people think they are so special?? Lady! You are just a c grade actress..2 a penny!
i dont miss that about living in san francisco(born and raised)…but now that i live in the south i see so many people who dont seem to care about any form of preservation, health, environment…its weird. ill get over it…maybe after ppl here stop talking on their cell phones while driving..jesus.
I live in the UK and we don’t need to pay for bags at any big chain supermarkets (sometimes local stores charge though) We have the system that you gain points for every reusable bag you use and those point eventually (after a very long time) add up to you getting like £5 off every £50 you spend. I do use reusable bags mainly for the reason that I can get the weekly shop in 4 reusable where as I’d need around 10 plastic. It’s just easier to manage. Anyway as for parking we to have parent and child and disabled parking in every car park to my knowledge. I find it strange that people on here find parent and child spots strange. I guess it’s something I’m just used to. Whilst I don’t use the disabled I do sometime use the parent and child when I can and it’s nice to be able to have a spot next to the pavement because it’s safer for my children but then again you could argue ‘teach your kids road safety’ which I absolutely have. If they were to take away the spots I wouldn’t be that bothered but safety is good.
Juliet – I can’t speak to ALL civilizations, but here in the US, children (and poor people, and women) are seen as nothing more than a drain on society’s resources and are therefore undervalued and unappreciated.
I have only to point you towards countless articles/examples in our current political climate.
The parent-and-child parking spots are pretty ubiquitous here. The reason that I love them is not because they are close, but because they are WIDER than the regular spots. In other words, I am able to wrestle my car seat in and out of the car WITHOUT scraping the paint on the snazzy sports car next to me.
So it’s kind of a win-win.
Jo ‘Mama’ Besser!!! I laughed when I read your segue from January Jones using a handicapped parking space,to a rant about the Toronto Mayor! I’m guessing you are not of his political persuasion,he is ‘colourful’ I have to admit but you really rather defamed him!!!
By the way,I also find it strange that people who have a ‘hybrid’ get a close parking spot …in line I suppose with the fact that they are perceived as ‘green’ and so, more aware of the environment!! Therefore better people?
I’ve never seen a parent/child parking spot. I have to admit, with a sometimes willful toddler and a three month old, it would be nice to have one of those spots. But i know, I know. It was my choice to procreate.
I’ve seen a few of them in supermarkets over here. Generally it’s for parents who have strollers for more than a couple of children. They’re extra wide to stop the strollers getting clipped by other cars when you’re setting them up. They’re hard to regulate though, because you don’t have permits for them, so really anyone can go in them, unfortunately.
People parking in a disabled space when they don’t need it, really, *really* pisses me off. My Mum has a blue badge parking permit (meaning she’s entitled to use a disabled space) and so many times there have been absolute tossers parked in a space they don’t need because they’re too damn lazy to walk the length of the car park, when they’re perfectly able to. And nothing ever happens because the traffic wardens are always ‘on a tea break’.
I was in Victoria, Canada (north of Seattle basically) when I saw an SUV take a handicapped spot in front of Starbucks. Don’t get me started on entitlement issues of gas guzzling latte drinking swine. I knew I wouldn’t have time to call the cops and get the driver ticketed, so I started taking pictures with my cellphone. Pics of the license plate, pics of the car clearly in the handicapped spot, etc. The driver rushed out to tell he was just running in for a coffee (like that made it OK?. Then he got upset when I said he should move his SUV regardless. I know it was a waste of time but I hoped that next time, he would pass up the handicapped spot because he was scared another crazy like me was around! Hope it worked.
I think the spaces for familys make sense when they do have extra space to get kids and stroller out of the car.
But I absolutely hate when people park in handicapped spaces or spaces for womem (in parking garages). There is a reason why they exist and it’s driving me mad if people ignore that.
I’ve never seen a special space for women in parking garages. That’s very interesting.
We do have them in Germany, they are usually in underground garages and close to the first level, so women can feel safer when they are on their own.
But guess what, there are always jerks who use them instead 😉
We have the “parking for customers with children” and let me tell you something. If you had two toddlers to reel in as well as a full cart of groceries you would see the need ! The convenience that childless people have is that they have no children haha
We’re not childless, we’re childFREE. 🙂
Exactly f’g right! Also; they do not have those handy spots in Arizona so I’m not defending something I have, just chiming in that it would help! 2 children under 5 can be disabling! Haha!
Because people without children never have any difficulties. I went through chemo and still had to go get my groceries and haul my ass from the far reaches of the parking lot.
Children are a choice, being handicapped is not. I don’t agree at all with special parking spaces for mothers or fathers with kids in tow. You should be fit enough to wrangle the length of the parking lot if you’re going to make the decision to have them, and bring them with you to the store. Now, being perfectly mobile but stealing handicaped spot… that’s one of the greatest karma offenses known to man. Would not ever, ever consider it.
No one ever said bringing kids to the grocery store is a physical disability…but the stores are certainly being kind by providing that option. I’m a single mom and going to the grocery store alone was never an option. When my kids were really young, I used those spots because for me, it was an issue of safety. My store had the spot right next to where you put your cart, so I’d get the kids right into an empty cart, shop, and put the cart back without having to get them across the parking lot. If I could have ever gone to the store alone, believe me I would have!
The only time I ever availed myself of the parent child parking spaces was a few weeks postpartum. I’d had a number of c section complications, and to be so close was a freaking godsend. Lots of people have surgery, though. I guess I could have gotten a tempo handicap tag, but that felt like too much, you know?
Parking farther away shouldn’t be as of a deal as it is to some people. It’s really NOT a big deal and it’s a positive, albeit infinitesimal contribution to one’s physical exertion for the day….having said that, maybe she didn’t realize it was handicapped?
Also, even if she knew it was handicapped but there were many free handicapped spots and she knew she was going to be there for two minutes, it’s not a big deal.
Maybe she is blind and didn’t see the blue curb or the painted blue logo. No matter how long she thought she was going to be or how many spaces there were lazy is not a handicap.
Sorry, but there is no reason she could give that would make me think this was acceptable.
Her behavior is obnoxious but not surprising. Exactly what I expected of her.
Agreed. I think it’s a widely accepted belief that JJ is a b**ch who thinks mostly of herself. At least that’s her reputation. And she certainly appears to be living up to (or down to) it here.
Idiot! I think that d-lords who do this should get a pricy ticket, or get their car taken away, but how to know if someone is in need of space or is plain moron.
“Idiot!”
Well maybe JJ thought being mentally handicapped qualified her?
She drives a Range Evoque. Sweet!
Boo, January. How lame. Glad she got caught doing it, though. Maybe she’ll think twice next time.
The special spots that irk me are the ones at Whole Foods for hybrid cars. As if the rest of us should be penalized for not being able to afford a pricey new car? What about special recognition for the people who walk or ride bikes to shop there? Aren’t they being even more eco-friendly than the hybrid drivers? Ugh.
Hm, hmmmm. I don’t drive and like it when I get money for things, so I’m very, very intrigued.
I’ve always assumed those hybrid spots were maybe set up anticipating charging stations or something.
Parents with children parking spaces? Is this something new, never heard of it or the stork parking.
I’m tempted to use the handicap parking when in a rush and knowing it’s hardly ever used where I live. Then I remember the heft fine and public shame. January Jones you know better.
Seems strange that January will use a lot of energy to become pregnant with a mystery dude, but cannot walk a few extra steps to pick up her dry cleaning? Her warped sense of entitlement is disturbing.
If you are not a person with disabilities, do not park in those spaces. PERIOD.
We have spaces for people with young children and pregnant women as well, but since she is not either, (at least she does not have her child with her), she would not be eligible for those either. She, like many others, seems to be just lazy. And what kind of dry cleaning comes in bags like that? Mine doesn’t.
Yup. THIS. If you don’t have a issue, don’t park there. Even for 5 minutes to run in.
And handicapped does not mean walker/wheelchair/obvious physical handicap. I have a coworker who has a hip and back issue that means she can’t walk far in a parking lot, but since she doesn’t appear to have any issues just by looking at her she is constantly getting harassed.
Never heard of stork parking. Is it for heavily pregnant women?
We have designated parking for “parents with prams.”
Nope. If you’re knocked up you qualify. At our local malls, more than half of the near parking is taken for expected mothers. Someone please explain to me why we should consider them walking a couple feet outside if they’re going to proceed to walk an entire 2 story mall? If you’re so pregnant that you need special parking than maybe you don’t belong at a mall.
+1. You have a child, you’re not disabled and you don’t deserve special treatment in the form of an advantageous parking space because you decided to procreate.
Besides the fact that there’s only a couple of those “mom parking spots” in every lot. So I guess all the other moms that don’t get a special spot just have to walk a little further like normal people huh? Seems pretty unfair for most of us, moms and non-moms alike.
The parent with children spot isn’t about just walking less. Picture it’s pouring down rain and before you can even load your groceries in the car, you have to take your baby out of the cart and strap him in. Not only am I getting soaked but so is my baby. A shorter walk to the car is really helpful, esp up north where the rain can be really cold. It’s really a nice option.
But most I see are parents with infants, not children. Often new moms struggle to relearn simple things like grocery shopping now that there’s a baby along for the ride. My son just turned 1 so I have stopped using those spots so other new moms (or moms with multiple children) can use them.
To that, then I feel they should have special parking for the elderly who are not disabled but have to find a parking spot just like everyone eles.
Parents have been using regualer parking for years and have survived. Hell parents living in NYC manage to go grocery shopping, in the rain and snow most with out the use of a car with their kids.
I’ve seen a “seniors parking” spot pop up in a chain drugstore recently. Nice to see someone finally did it, TBH.
Entitled Biatch..
I’m generally okay with the parent parking-when there is a reasonable amount. And by that I mean one or two, although babies r us is an exception. But our local supermarket does not need 25 of those spaces (seriously). And those parents are militant about them. And I’m not going to lie-I park in them all the time if the lot is super crowded. Oh there’s 15 kid spaces? Yea, I’m going to park there on a rainy day when the next closest spot is 30 spaces away. Kid parking is a friendly gesture on the part of the store and no cop will ever write a ticket on it.
Honestly, there are still kids that work on farms and walk for hours. If it is a baby that is one thing, but getting a kid out of car and into a store isn’t that hard. My parents took 6 kids to the grocery store weekly, and while it was frustrating, she never expected a closer spot.
My dad worked 2 jobs so my mum could stay home with me and my brother. Once a week, my beloved mum and myself, went grocery shopping and pushed 2 carts home (1 each) full of groceries and supplies. The walk was approx. 3/4 of a mile. We even did this trek in the snow. Folks are so damn lazy–no wonder obesity rates are skyrocketing.
See it’s the “getting militant” thing that changes the whole game. Recognizing it as a nice gesture on the part of a store and using it etc is one thing, but when you start getting all entitled and bitchy about it that changes things.
When did people become so lazy to walk a few extra steps to the store entrance?!
The parent parking spot isn’t for walking less. It’s because toddlers being very short, most drivers cannot see them in their rear view mirrors as they are backing out of their parking space. And because not all parents control their toddlers at all times, you do not want toddlers running around in the parking lot.
Parent spot are also larger, giving them more room to have the stroller right next to the door to put their kids in it. They are also wider to allow a wheelchair to manoeuvre in that space.
Handicapped spots serve the same purpose: people in wheelchairs are not highly visible in rear view mirrors to drivers as they are backing out.
Never saw a parking spot for people with children, but I like that idea a lot (and I don’t have children)! It is a lot more difficult to put a child in a car than just entering yourself, together with the fact that if you have more than one child or just a very active one it will be nice to not have to cross all the parking lot and a lot less dangerous also (yes, i know everyone here is a perfect parent, but I still think that children can easily escape their parents in a blink of an eye)! What I already saw and I was a bit surprised was a special parking for women (in Germany)! I was quite surprised with that but I was told that it is for security reasons, specially at night, that women wouldn’t have to cross the all park alone.
Parking in the parking spots for disabled is just wrong and very moronic. I don’t care in which condition: if there are a lot of free places, if it’s at night, if you will be very fast…It’s just a no! Park anywhere else and walk some more steps, what’s the problem? My question here is: did she really parked in the disabled place or is she just in the limit? I think we can’t see that properly in the photos and it might be that she was just a bit out of the normal parking spot for some reason…
Maybe the spot she’s in isn’t handicapped but the one next to it?
I only wonder this because my husband once got a ticket ($500!) for parking in a handicapped spot. He was so totally upset because that is something he would never do. He actually took pictures of the spot to show that he wasn’t in the handicapped spot, it was the spot next to him. The curb was funky and the signage made it really difficult to tell. He showed the pictures in court and he didn’t have to pay the fine. He was so upset and embarrassed.
Anyway, maybe this is one of those cases? I know she’s not the nicest but I’d like to think she isn’t foolish enough to be so terrible in front of the paps.
Nope,she is clearly parked in the spot with the handicapped logo.
No. She is in the handicapped space and she knows it. Here in West Hollywood everybody knows exactly what and where those spaces are. The fine is very high – $900 or more – so people are careful. It always entitled folk in expensive cars who try to get away with parking there.
The parent/stroller parking is not enforced. Park your car there. Yes strollers are awful, but I’m not going to circle a parking lot for 10 min to find a spot just in case a family shows up. Arrest me, I’m a rebel.
They should do what a city out west (Canada) is doing, they have a sign under the handicap symbol that reads “lazy is not a handicap, park elsewhere”
OMG I love that.
Do you think we could find a photo of it on the internet? I think I’m going to look. What a hoot!!
Is this some disabled people vs.parents with toddlers dispute?
It’s turning into one, yeah. I wonder if the people arguing vociferously for Parents’ Rights (TM) have ever heard of the STFU, Parents blog.
Soon as I started reading the comments I thought of the STFU Parents blog. 🙂
That blog is hilarious and reminds me how lucky I am to have an awesome Friends List on FB. Never any oversharing or TMI and a nice, respectful amount of cute baby pics.
Only ass_oles and entitled ice queens would do such a thing.
She is such a stoopid.
If i EVER see someone park in handicap spotwithout a placard, i give dirty looks and will say something. I have a friend who is a paraplegic and he struggles enough. He doesnt need some trick taking his parking spot when he wants to go somewhere! So uncool!
Even before I had a parent with a handicap I was zero tolerance with non-handicapped people parking in designated spots. When I was a little kid (maybe around 7/8) I remember see a wheelchair bound person struggling to get out of his car and into his wheelchair and then in the next aisle seeing some able-bodied entitled person taking their sweet ass time strolling out of the grocery store and loading their SUV at a snail’s pace. I’ve never forgotten that. My mother is now handicapped, and I get even more pissed when non-handicapped people use those spots. I sometimes even write down their license plate # and give it to the customer service desk of the store.
Me too, Scarlet. My dad’s gone now, but he had a handicapped permit. I can tell you that Walmart (my dad’s favorite place to go) does not enforce its disabled parking. I reported one car (with plate) and the security guard just shrugged and told me to call the cops. I didn’t feel like calling 911 for a parking violation so I let it go.
Also gets me going when people use the placards to get free parking. Where I live if you have a handicapped card, you can park at a meter all day downtown and not pay, plus meter limits are not enforced. There’s parts of town where the majority of parked cars have handicapped placards displayed.
Ugh, THIS!! I deal with this every time I take my BIL out. Recently, we were at the mall trying to find a handicap spot and this broad in a huge SUV takes the last handicap spot and jumps out of it and starts walking. I pulled up to her and started yelling at her for being selfish and lazy. Bitch ran into the store.
Re : non-enforcement of handicapped parking spots.
I will tell you my favorite you-can’t-park-there move. It is relatively harmless but gets the point across. I put dish detergent on the front windshield (alot of detergent). It irritates the hell out of the offending driver but it does no permanent damage to the car. And its so much fun to watch the bubbles when they try to wash it off with their window washer fluid!! Yes, I’m an evil person. Sigh.
Disgusting!!! My sister has a very handicapped son and I cannot tell you the number of times some a-hold parks in the spot so she cannot. I think people think, “Oh there’s lots of spots, it won’t matter.” It does! So my sister has to get out the walker and help her son stumble across a huge parking lot because the handicapped space is so often taken. You know what? Her life is pretty hard. Being disabled is pretty hard. If you’re such a jerk (insert swear words here) that you don’t recognize that and steal the one small break given to the disabled, I hope you January Jones rot in h-e-double hockey sticks.
That’s exactly what my sister always says! We laugh because my little kids say things like, “I wish we were handicapped” just because of the parking spot. My sister and I look at each other, smile sadly, and she says, “I’d trade it in pretty fast.”
See my comment above – dish detergent on the windshield. And if you get that non-phosphate stuff, it’s environmentally sound too.
My 12 year old son has cerebral palsy due to medical malpractice and we use a wheelchair and believe me to use a handicapped designated spot like that is so uncool. Some may complain over excessive amounts of specialty spaces but believe me few places I patronize have that issue. I would rather not need the extra assistance and be able to park in a normal space like everyone else, but I can’t change it now.
I meant to reply to you and I accidentally replied to my own post. See above.
More than all of these, I think what bothers me the most are the folks who park in the fire lane/right on the curb in front of a store. There’s usually a driver who waits while the car idles and the passenger runs into the store, and its utter BS. You can tell they have the attitude of “I’m just popping in for a minute,” but it’s ludicrous. It takes two minutes to walk across a parking lot. How lazy are you when you feel you shouldn’t have to walk as far as the handicapped people, who have the nearest actual parking spots? I call those folks “Super-Handicapped.”
Those people suck. Also sucky are the people who double-park in the city. It is incredibly dangerous to pedestrians and other drivers alike, it blocks people into their paralell parking spots and it disrupts traffic by blocking off lanes.
I never understand why parking attendants are so quick to ticket parked cars that are in metered parking spots, which are relatively harmless/safe instead of ticketing a-holes who double-park.
OMG I hate double-parkers.
There’s a show called Parking Wars that my husband and I watch on Saturday afternoons on A&E. They show people getting booted, getting tickets and paying their fines at the parking authority. Gives us a nice sense of schadenfreude.
@ I choose Me-you’re making me wish I had cable!
I would love to watch a show like that and just laugh and laugh…
😀
YEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
I was just thinking, ‘January, don’t you watch Parking Wars?’
I swear, that show should be required viewing for any person who lives in a settlement with a population higher than seven people.
Poor Ponytail, he gets the worst maniacs. I just wanna give that guy a hug.
The thing that I HATE about people on that show is that when the cameras are on, people who aren’t involved have to stick their noses in things because they want to look like some noble Sir Shouts-a-lot when they’re completely ignorant of what’s happening. They always scream nonsense about ‘a courtesy’, like its someone’s job to stand at a meter for twenty minutes because Ol’ Gummy Rufus and his fake-ass Bootsy Collins process is all about helping the kids or some other rot. As if any of these favour-seeking fools would give a rat’s tail about the ‘injustice’ of people being penalized for breaking the law. ‘Oh, but they take the children to school here every day and the PPA hates people trying to do something good for the community.’ As if a person dispensing tickets is supposed to be able to intuit all of the fineness of a driver’s soul by communing with the ‘No Standing’ sign and permitting a violation to continue for who knows how much longer. You want to honour the integrity of your community, Chocolate Giddyup? Canning the cussing in front of a gaggle of seven-year-olds, is a decent place to start. Oh wait, you won’t do that? Too incensed to compose yourself in front of the impressionable community, even as ‘a courtesy’? Have you ever even been here before, or did your sense of civic duty magically erupt when you saw those cameras? Come back without the crew, we’ll see how far your ‘concern’ goes when you can’t even be bothered to step over these community corpses in the street. Loser.
That is seriously irritating, and you just know that NONE of those people have ever had a medical emergency or been the victim of a fire, because if they HAD they would be much more respectful of those fire lanes.
I had a mother who flat out REFUSED to jockey for a close parking space (no matter where we were) and told me “God gave you two good legs; you can use them.”
I love my mother, and I’ve been the same way since I could drive. (Except when I actually had a valid handicap permit due to a medical situation.)
Hi OBels-that’s the thing-I don’t see any reason why anyone shouldn’t be able to walk, UNLESS you’re disabled.
Maybe I would understand it more in suburbia where they have GIANT Walmarts and huge stores, but in the city, you’re never more than a 5 minute walk to get across a parking lot.
So people have to walk a little further. BFD.
OKitt – Hi! Yeah, where we USED to live, ALL the rows in close proximity to the doors had “handicap only” spaces that extended at least 5 or 6 deep on both sides of each parking lane. And that’s GREAT!
When you consider population size, median age of said population, the fact that these particular stores (both Wal-Mart and Costco) were located across the street from more than one retirement community…I mean, come on! It’s not rocket science!
But I can’t abide by ANYONE who doesn’t physically REQUIRE one of those designated spaces using one. It’s just bad form.
To that I’ll add the people who park in the marked off area right next to the handicap parking (usually covered in diagonal yellow lines) as if it’s some free space.
I don’t think she parked in the handicap spot, she parked next to it. The parking that’s marked blue is the handicap spot, which is to the left of where she parked.
If you get annoyed because people with children get to park closer to the entrance, you’re being ridiculous. If you have children/strollers and so on it’s much safer to park closer and also more practical. The spots are bigger so you won’t ruin someone else’s car and sometimes it’s physically impossible to get your child into the car without moving it because someone parked too close to you. And some children are active and a lot of people drive like absolute lunatics and don’t give a sh-t if they hit a child or not. And the argument “are they so lazy they can’t walk a few more steps” is absolute BS. Why can’t YOU walk a few more steps when you don’t have children?
(And I don’t have kids)
I actually have kids, and an SUV, and I still like to park farther away for that exact reason: I don’t want to hit anyone’s car, and I don’t want to have to move mine to get Toddles into his car-seat.
Unfortunately, where I live, LOTS of people have big ole’ trucks and double cabs and duallies, and they have the same idea about parking, so…
Plus, lots of parking spaces have become so small over the last 10 or so years, they’re now the size of “compact” spaces without benefit of actually being “compact” spaces, you know?
Actually shhe is parked in a worse spot…in the handicapped spot in front of the access ramp. Look at her tire..it’s parked ON the painted logo. But blocking the wheelchair ramp? That’s just horrible JJ!
I have a sign as I have AS..but my big gripe is when able bodied people bring the handicap person to sit in the car while they go inside. If I take anyone to the store who is able bodied and wait in the car, I DO NOT park in the handicap slot.
I do see your point, but you don’t always know what’s going on when you see someone parked. One person could have decided to stay in the store longer and the sticker owner came on out to the car to wait. Or it’s possible that while waiting they may have to go in for the washroom or what not, still needing to be accessible.
Watch what you wish for, you selfish woman. Try being in a wheelchair for even one day and see if your attitude changes.
Nice that someone highlighted her selfish idiocy, though.
As well as what people have already said about needing the wider spaces for strollers, there is also a safety issue. There have been several deaths where a parent dealing with the groceries had their child run out of sight and get killed by a car. So it is also a lot easier for the parent not to have to cross the parking lot with the children and instead have them all by the car and strap them in quickly.
I think I need to move to whatever magical, mystical place has all of these spots for people with kids. The only place I’ve seen them is in front of a Land of Nod, and then the parking for pregnant women outside of Babies R Us.
On another note, there seems to be some hatred on this board from some for people who dare to have children, and I don’t get it. You want kids – fine, have them. You don’t want kids – fine, don’t have them. But bitching about parking spaces – please stop. There is an individual cost to having children (time, energy, and $ spent feeding, clothing, and sheltering them). But there is also a cost to society (the biggest one being funding of public schools) for raising children, who are, after all, the next generation of taxpayers. Deal with it.
OK, confession time. There are some parking lots in Dallas with no parking left for able-bodied people, mostly due to the valet nazis. My favorite Chinese takeout place is in one such area. There are literally no other spots to park within about .5 miles sometimes. If it is well after peak times, and there are at least two other handicap spots open, and I’ve called in my order, I’ve been known to park in one. If I received a ticket I would not protest, it’s always less than 5 min. and I can see my car and the other spots while queuing and paying. It’s a slippery slope of bad behavior and wrong, but I’ll still do it under those conditions. Commence yelling.
I don’t understand this rage towards parking for people with kids. Personally I don’t want any kids walking from one end of the parking lot to the store and back again. It’s not laziness, it’s terrible drivers!!
What JJ did though is very wrong. And she knows she’s being photographed and yet no shame at all.
I call BS on the spot not being well-marked. I didn’t notice the faded painting on the pavement because the ad was in the way, but upon closing it it looks pretty damn obvious to me.
Regular parking spaces typically don’t have signposts in front of them, January.
Arrogant, rude, and entitled? ABSOLUTELY! But stupid? No.
I simply CANNOT STAND people who do this. WTF with these famous people, who happen to be in AMAZING shape, not being able to walk further than a few feet to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf or the dry cleaners?
I mean, it’s not like they’re dock workers or pulling double shifts at the factory! What they do isn’t THAT taxing, you know?
I feel like parking in a handicapped parking space is like #3 or #4 on the List of Bad Karma, #1 being murder. It’s just something you DON’T DO. EVER.
Exactly.Perfectly said. I would add to the top 10 using the R word.
Ooooooooooh, Bobbie, you made me just do mental “Snap! She got it.” (I sat up a little straighter and went DAMN!) I don’t like that word to describe those who are handicapped. NONE of us is perfect, but EVERYONE deserves a modicum of respect and the dignity afforded a fellow human being. (If that’s the word to which you are referring.)
OKItt – Yeah, it doesn’t require a firm belief in karma or “what goes around comes around” to see that shit is true.
How you treat people is how people treat you, and kindness begets kindness. Likewise…well, you get the idea.
This irritates me because I find it to be disrespectful (& downright rude) to use a handicapped spot simply for your own covenience.
I’ve never seen a stork/parent-child parking space though.
Families with kids buy more groceries than child free people. That’s why they have preferential parking. We spend more $$. We are preferred customers- finally, somewhere!
Yes indeed…and we are broke & exhausted! Even still, i do not expect to have a preferential parking spot. I guess these merchants are trying to make us feel special, so we will spend our very last penny in their establishment.
I’m reminded of an experience on a bus I had a few months ago (is there some kind of peerage to be bestowed upon those of us who don’t drive and therefore take spaces ‘away’ from no one? We should start something up) and the bus just being stuck and honking.
Why?
Well…
The loading zone for the bus was blocked by a minivan, meaning that anyone who wanted to get on or off the bus would be forced to walk through traffic. Not only that, but the width of the space taken by the van was so wide, the bus driver would have had to swerve into the other lane (you know, the one with all of that oncoming traffic) in order to continue on. Now, not only was the van parked in the loading zone, but its extreme length meant that the front of the van was blocking a fire hydrant and the back took up a significant amount of a handicapped parking space with its rear. During rush hour. More, you say? Here, my dear: The van completely blocked the walkway and wheelchair ramp of this residence…an assisted living residence…for WAR VETS! Since there was less than an eyelash’s length of spare room left for the bus, it wasn’t able to deploy its own ramp, so the elderly gentleman with the walker and oxygen tank had to be assisted out of the bus by a team of passengers: someone to get his tank and walker out, someone strong enough to sustain the full (effectively dead, since he had to lean all of his weight on someone) weight of a grown man who wasn’t exactly frail of frame, some people to direct the bus out of its tight spot so that they and we could, you know, GO and the delicate ballet of having several lanes of oncoming traffic inch away from the bus and stop so we could, you know, GO and the combined will of a bus load of passengers praying that the damned fool would be revealed so that a vigilante justice of several pillowcases filled with doorknobs would be given opportunity to prevail. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.
First income taxes and now this. War heroes: always wanting more.
Jo Mama – WOW. Just…WOW.
I didn’t always own a car. In fact, I had to take the bus (a 90 minute one-way ride) to the Dr. for my OB appointments when I was pregnant with my oldest (I was a teen). People didn’t care that I was out-to-there pregnant, or that I gave my seat to the elderly (who I felt deserved it more than I).
But once I’d actually had my son, still relying on public transportation, I really, REALLY resented those who had no manners for those who rode the bus and had to load/unload in unsafe conditions.
Isn’t it awful? The whole bus was just seething on behalf of the gentleman. It was just incomprehensible.
Still, nothing’s worse than the cut off–yes, yes, I have another tale of geriatric woe.
Somewhat recently, I was visiting my sister and we hopped on a bus, which is just asking for trouble, evidently. It was one of those gross afternoons you get around November when everything is cold, clammy, grey and wet–I call them dirty wet sock days. An older lady had just sounded the bell and while she was walking up the aisle, some peckerhead absolutely bolted through his own red light, cutting us off and forcing the driver to slam on the brakes. Naturally, the force of stop sent us flying and a bunch of the passengers bit their tongues and got hit by other people’s packages. Being tiny, my head slammed the seat/metal handle, (so guess who got to go to the hospital? I was pretty confident that I would only have to deal with a goose egg, but I’m not an idiot, so of course I got it checked.)
Okay, so a few minor injuries for those of us lucky enough to have been sitting down. That old lady wasn’t sitting down, so OF COURSE she took a major spill and next thing we know, her head is bleeding (on the bus floor that was covered with silt, water and all that other gross crap. The fact that she was just so, so sweet made us feel even worse because she was apologizing to us for holding us up and said she was embarrassed by her accident. Isn’t that crazy? When it came to the point where we were to part company, she blew us kisses for helping her–she was such a doll and class act, to boot. I kind of gasped out, wondering if she was on any kind of blood thinner medication and OF COURSE she was.
She turned out to be absolutely fine when the ambulance came around and was checking her out, thank God.
And where was she going? My sister lives across the street from an assisted living Salvation Army branch built to assist–you’ve got it–war veterans too frail to care for themselves. She was running errands for her husband, who had Alzheimer’s and was dropping off some items for him before she was going to go to the airport to meet up with their daughter, who was visiting. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far away, so the passengers started to finish up and contact her family for her.
Some drivers are just…
My first car accident happened when I was eleven and some spore turned left on a red, plowing into a school van and bestowing upon me the riches of chronic pain which continue to this day. The second one was a hit and run that happened (prepare) in front of my high school!!! I can definitely say that that was my worst birthday. Sweet Sixteen my shiny metal ass.
You guys need to apologize to JJ. She’s NOT in the handicap zone. Look at the blue curb at the front of the space next to her. THAT’S the handicap spot. She’s parked next to it. You sent her ugly thoughts when she is innocent.
Morraly handicapped does not apply.. remember this.. you stupid immoral people
I’ll go one step further and say that an otherwise healthy pregnancy is not a disability either, and if not healthy or particularly difficult, a temp card can be issued. It’s a nice gesture on the part of the store, but no point being all entitled and bitchy about it.
One place I hope to never see these special “with kids” spots is in a hospital parking lot. You can pretty much assume that a fair number of people going there are having some form of difficulty, and parking in general is a nightmare around hospitals anyway. If you are an otherwise healthy individual who just happens to have a kid, I don’t feel you deserve priority over the elderly, dialysis patients, people being discharged after surgery or cancer patients.
For all the people who don’t get the parent/children parking spots, well, just go ahead and ask your own mom. I bet you anything she will say “I wish those were around when you were a baby/toddler!” Because wrangling a toddler and a cart full of groceries into a car is damn hard.
No one except the handicapped should park in handicapped spots.
If you replace ‘car’ with nothing because we’re walking home and it’s going to take well over an hour, then yes.
Maybe she thought she was entitled to park in the handicap space due to the stick up her a$$.
she has already the brains of a handcapped.
WHEN WILL HER BODY FOLLOW THE MENTAL PART?
Um…
Um, what?
gosh january,
sucks you have to walk so far from your car, wanna switch? i’m in a wheelchair, but i’m no where near as lazy, selfish and uppity AS YOU!
I don’t agree with special parking spots for parents as having children is a choice, and that includes choosing to have to experience more difficulty at a grocery store, for example. There’s enough parent worship and pandering out there as it is.
I can’t stand it when people that aren’t disabled take the spots! My husband has an actual disability, M.D., and he needs some extra space to get out, because of his wheelchair and transferring out. You wouldn’t believe the amount of times we couldn’t get the disabled spot and the people parking in them are perfectly fine and don’t have the disabled badge. Or they’re very young and they do have them (I’m guessing they borrowed it from someone) and they run to the store and run back out -_-. Once a young man, around his 20s, in a sports car, saw just waiting for the disabled spot and raced us to it and beat us. We can’t park in a normal space, it’s not enough room for him to transfer, so we’ve had to go back home if we can’t find a spot. Disabled people REALLY need those parking spots.