Driving Lessons

Yesterday was another long day for me as I taught my weekly night class after working at the 9-5 job. In class last night, I decided to do an activity to help the students to become better acquainted as they choose teams for their project. In order to organize them a little more for this activity, I decided to buy a mixed bag of candy, allow them to pick a piece of candy, and organize them into groups, based on what candy they chose.

So, I needed candy.

I decided to stop at Kroger in order to pick up a bag of candy. Of course I was stopping there at 5:00-ish in the evening. There was a lot of traffic in the parking lot and I decided to just park in the first row that I came to. I happened to follow another car down this row. He passed the closest spot on the right and turned to his left. So I immediately pulled into the vacant spot, only to realize that his intention was to back into the spot (I don't know if this was his original intention or if he realized that a spot wasn't open on the left and was going to then back into the available spot) I realized what was happening and I was going to back out of the spot and let him have it (even though there were plenty of spaces to choose from a mere 3 cars down).

I put my car in reverse and began to check for clearance to back out. At that point a 3rd car pulled down the same aisle. I had nowhere to go, so I thought "Screw it! I'm not responsible for him being an idiot and attempting this maneuver during Kroger Rush Hour." I put my car in park and proceeded to gather my bag to walk into the store when the first guy gets out of his car and approaches me. I told him that I would gladly move but that I couldn't get out of the spot - really, I was happy to move for him (he scared me!) To which he just gave me the evil eye and then hopped back in his car and parked in the previously mentioned space just a few cars down.

I jumped out of my car and power-walked into Kroger (which was another adventure of white-trashiness and the most disgusting female mustache I have ever seen, but that's a story for another time).

Anyway, this experience got me thinking that there are certain rules that you should follow when parking ANYWHERE...

1. You have to move quickly
2. If it's a crowded parking lot and there are multiple cars lining up behind you, don't waste your time or mine trying to back in to a parking space.
3. If you do wish to park in a particular space, indicate so - turn signals are good, or possibly a maneuver that prevents someone else from taking the space (seriously, the way he passed the space made me believe he was PASSING THE SPACE!)
4. Don't you probably need access to your trunk - and isn't that difficult if it's not facing out?
5. Don't waste your time getting out of the car to approach the person who took your space - just park your land yacht and do your thing