Score 1 for the Little Guy

This morning, as with most mornings, the parking on base was atrocious. I generally wind up walking about 1/3 to 1/2 a mile to my desk, across a creek, through a cordoned-off gravel area, up a relatively long road, down a hill, and across a street. It sucks.

It sucks even worse when some asshat double-parks in a space relatively close to the building. There's one particular space that's kind of stunted in size, and I've made the most of my car's small size over the years to snatch that space when no others were available.

I've been ticketed twice for parking there, but had both tickets overturned. I even helped a coworker get a ticket overturned for parking there, and she got a note from the Police Chief saying that no tickets would ever be issued for that space again.

This morning, a dude in a big Mercury Sable GS decided to park with his wheels over the line, making an already small space almost unusable. And today was the 3rd time this week that he's done it.

So I took a look, determined that I could just barely fit, and did so. I had to fold in my mirror, crawl out the passenger window, and close the windows with the key. I got my camera out and took some pictures, lest the fellow decide to attack my car upon his return.

Later, after I'd left for lunch, I got a call from a coworker that the dude was out there and was hopping mad. The guy was asking rhetorical questions like "couldn't this guy tell I was trying to reserve that spot?"

So I placed an anonymous call to the police, reporting the Mercury as improperly parked. The police, however, were already on the scene. I was at lunch, so I went back to my lunch.

Then the phone rang again: another coworker had been called, and I needed to either go out to my car or call the police dispatcher back. I chose the latter option and told them that I was 30 minutes away (true). They said that was fine and thanked me for calling.

When I got back, I didn't know what to expect. Had they towed my car? Had the dude keyed it? Was I going to be greeted by a large group of cops?

There was nobody to be found, and the car had been moved 2 feet to the right, allowing me plenty of space. No damage was done, either.

I got back to my desk and called the police to report that I was back and available if they still needed me. I was then told that the officer on scene determined that I was parked properly, that there was no conceivable way I could have gotten out of my car (ha ha!), and that the other guy was improperly parked. Since I was off-site at the time, it would be the other guy's responsibility to move the car, and since he was parked illegally, he needed to do it right then or get a ticket (awesome!!!!). He crawled in through the passenger side, pulled out, and backed in fully in his spot.

I win!