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The Commuter Column: Parking Wars

Kathleen Joyce

The only day I’m on campus now is Monday, so parking on the great Post campus doesn’t bug me as much as it used to. I was driving through one of the closer parking lots, not the large one in the back and eureka! I saw a spot! But, stupidly I drove past it, I reverse and I see a SUV, quickly fly by and take it. I was startled and angry. I put my car in my park and decide to give this (insert your own word here) a piece of my mind. But as I walk over there, I stop. Why start a war or a fight over a small parking space? So I held my head up high and walked back to my car, but of course in my perfect fashion, not without giving the girl the bird first.

I decided to not start a fight over a parking space because I’m young and in decent shape. I also had some time so I wasn’t in a complete hurry, so I could have just sucked it up and parked farther away and taken the walk. But as with so many of you Post students, you guys want to park closer (I’m guilty of this too). You don’t want to walk a half-mile to your class when you can just wait in the parking lot for ten more minutes and pester an innocent student for their spot. I find that this is the most annoying thing in the world. First of all, if you ask nicely, I’ll be more than happy to walk faster and give you my spot. But most of the time, when I was asked, it was nasty or the person just followed me, like a stalker, to my space. Excuse me? Let me just call the police and they’ll handle the situation. How should I know you want my spot and not my bag full of goodies? So, students if you are planning to take a spot, ask the student walking to their car if they’re leaving, NICELY, and thank them afterwards.

Second off, many students walking to their cars sometimes are just dropping off books or getting something they forgot. All of a sudden, you have five cars lined up for your spot. Ah! It’s scary. This used to happen all the time to me. I would drop all of my heavy textbooks after class and go back to another class. I used to dread walking to my good parking spot because I knew that I would be asked more than once if I was leaving or better yet followed. I would run, throw those books in, and run back. Yes, maybe I looked crazy, but I was avoiding the parking war that was about to ensue.

In my later years as a student, I gave up. I just parked in the farthest parking spot that you could find because I had a newer car and I wanted to avoid the parking spot stalkers. I like the walk (not on a rainy day) and it gives me time study if I have a test. I would walk and read to pass the time it took to walk. I know it sounds nerdy and nuts, but it’s true. Parking far away also gave me a reason to walk through Hillwood and check out the Starbucks line. So I woke up and got smarter with just a walk. I know some professors are nuts when it comes to being late to class, but they have a parking lot next to the buildings, so remind them that. So my fellow commuters good luck and avoid a parking war as much as possible because it’s not worth it.

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