It's been a rather rough winter so far this year. Right now it is 5 degrees out and I believe it's snowed for 10 days straight now. The cumulative snow fall so far is around 40 inches, when it is typically closer to 15 inches.
Just before Christmas the weather was so bad that I couldn't get my car out for days and I questioned whether I would even be able to get it out to go home for the Holidays. I eventually did get it out thanks to some shoveling and the help of Ashley, my post man, a random bumb (not kidding), and another kind stranger.
Last Fri/Sat it snowed about a foot, with more predicted this week. And the temp was expected to drop drastically, meaning it would all turn to a 16 inch block of ice. So, Becca and I decided to shovel our spots. We shoveled for about an hour or so and managed to get both of our spots fairly clean, plus the ones in front of us.
At this point we decided to make a Target trip, however I was very hesitant to give up my newly cleaned spot. Mike came outside about this time and assured me that common courtesy in Chicago winters is to respect someone's clean spot, especially on a friendly street like ours.
Just to be sure though, I decided to mark the spot with a chair (there was a whole parking spot in front of me that was fairly cleared off from me as well). I've seen tons of people do this by Nikki's house and it always seemed to work there, so why not here. And, for the record, I would never do this for an extended period of time, nor if I lived in a place where parking was scarce. As it is, my street is zoned 24/7 so it's really not that bad.
The Target trip was quite successful, since we both made it out for less than $50. The whole way home we contemplated whether my chair would still be there. Becca was skeptical, but I was confident that it would be, especially since there was an open spot in front of me.
But, I was wrong. This little blue Kia had parked in my spot. There were plenty of open spots on our street (including the one in front of my spot) but they still decided to park in my spot. They left a little note to clarify though - "Chairs in the street are illegal!"
Alright, so maybe it is illegal, but I'm not really sure that it is. Plus, who the hell cares. Half of the things people do in this city are illegal, particularly drivers. So, let's ad this one to the list. Either way, I was pissed. Correction, we were pissed. I think I would have been fine with it, almost expected it, except the person was simply being an ass trying to prove a point - 1. the spot in front was left empty and 2. they left the note. Also, I was pissed because they clearly didn't even live here since they had a visitor parking pass in their window.
Now, I have always been a firm believer in good karma. But, I have also been a firm believer in what is just, however different my version of just is from the next person. This time proving a point outweighed any fear of attracting bad karma.
Becca suggested we put snow on this person's car. I took it a step further and suggested we simply clear my new spot by putting all the snow on their car. And, that's just what we did.
After 15 min or so, spot #2 was completely clean. After a little thought, I decided it was best to move my car from that spot, lest I receive any retributions for our actions. A half hour or so later, Becca got curious and decided to see if the car was still there...
Turns out it was Paul's car!
Who is Paul?
Paul is the neighbor who lives below us and takes care of everything. He shovels our walk and fixes everything anytime we have a problem. And, he offered to pull my car out when it was stuck before Christmas. And, I'm sure he already shoveled out at least one spot that day. And, that was his rental car because he totaled his truck last week on the ice.
So, I guess there's karma for you. Now I feel terrible.
O well, there's not a whole lot we can do, other than fess up that it was us if he brings it up. Becca thought maybe we should just go tell him it was us, but I'm sort of against that idea since the only reason we would know that is if we were secretly watching the car afterward - and if that was the case, we really should've went out at that point in time. Plus, really we didn't hurt anything - after all, it was just a little snow on a car.
I guess the lesson here is don't retaliate when people do stuff to you. And, don't try to hold your spot, even though everyone else does.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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2 comments:
For some reason I remember you had this little blog today.... Again why does some of this shit only happen to you?
I saw a story on the news the other day about this issue. They reported that the city of Chicago will now be removing furniture from parking spots. They will write a ticket if they see people placing the furniture....hold on to your furniture :)
Kate
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