Parking lot etiquette: Who is the jerk?

[qtlaw]

Live six decades and you realize these peeves dont mean much. I’m a speeder and know I don’t really get there any faster than the clown going 55 in fast lane.

 

[ChrisLong]

Thought about this, never found out if it is true. Start up your car, fluids aren't really warmed up yet. Pulling out forward requires shifting from Park to Drive. Backing out requires shifting from Park to Reverse to Drive. That's two shifts before the tranny fluid heats up. Does backing in so you can pull out forward help save the tranny? Don't know. As Beau and his wife would say, it's just a thought.

 

[Songbird]

The parking lot thing isn't a big deal.

The new bro thing is no-**** cocksuckers revving their engines hard and fast, and, coupled with their ****ty mufflers, the deafening sound makes you want to grab a shotgun and shove it their assholes and pull the trigger ... then reload and pull the trigger again.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

Some time during the pandemic, people completely forgot how to share the road with others, the main culprit being the inability to judge distance and/or closing speed.

I call it the Maryland Special: Cutting someone off only to drive 10 mph under the speed limit while screwing around on your phone.

The pandemic broke a lot of people in ways that will last for decades. And it's very apparent on the roads.

The number of absolutely blatant assholes has quadrupled. In a lot of ways, we've ceased to be a society.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Did it break us, or did it expose us as who we really are as a society?

 

[Deskgrunt50]

Did it break us, or did it expose us as who we really are as a society?

Also a good way to look at it.

 

[Batman]

White is the unofficially official color of contractors' trucks. That's a huge chunk of the truck-buying market so even if you aren't one that's what you will most likely find on the lot.

Vehicles in general tend to have a lot more limited colorways these days. Take a look around out on the road sometime and notice how many vehicles are white, black, gray, silver or beige.

Why Aren't Cars as Colorful as They Used to Be?

Back in 2018 I bought a new car on the spur of the moment (my old one blew a water pump on the way to work and it wasn't worth fixing), so when I got to the dealership I had everything set except for which exact car I wanted. There were about 30 of that model on the lot, and 25 of them were either black or white. I got the blue one.

 

[swingline]

Most of the time when I look all I can see is the back half of the 22-foot truck parked beside me.

People walking behind? I have no clue.

Case in point (my car is on the left):

Dude, that's a ****ty parking job by you. Stay in yer lane, fool!

 

[dixiehack]

This spring I needed wheels after my wreck and didn’t have the budget to be particular. But not only did I luck into an old-but-low-mileage SUV, it came in an actual color. Maroon is still an understated choice but at least it is something.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I saw this recently. Gotta say, I like it:

 

[DanOregon]

Part of it is the ease of pulling out instead of trying to back out. Part of it is the "gotta be able to escape the situation fast!" when the psycho arrives at the grocery store. Part of it is the post-military guys who (IMO) probably have some lingering issues about crowds, parking areas, etc. And another part is the BroDudeFratBrah group that includes 18- to 25-yos and their daddies, uncles and other 45-up BDFBs.

Also, parking lot spaces aren't designed for these modern monster-size vehicles. I have a 2018 Tundra, nothing special, and if I pull into a spot with my front bumper to the middle line, the rear is hanging out a bit. Billy Ray BDFB in his jacked wide expanded nut-bumper frontwinch truck definitely can't fit. Even a regular Suburban or Escalade is tight in them.

My "thing" is parking farther away, no cars on either side. Walking a few extra steps. Solves many problems.

 

[MileHigh]

My "thing" is parking farther away, no cars on either side. Walking a few extra steps. Solves many problems.

Yup, that's what I do.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

I drive a truck with an extended cab, so it's but longer than many cars. I usually try to do the pull-through parking thing at work, but it isn't always easy to tell if I've pulled forward enough to completely clear the spot behind me.

So, if I get out of the truck and notice that the rear bumper is hanging a foot or two into the other spot, I'll get back in and pull up a little. But every time I do that, my testosterone level drops and eventually I'll probably just be a guy-shaped inert object with no real aggressive reaction to anything. Maybe I should get a set of those chromed dingleberries to hang on the trailer hitch to ward that off.

Do you have a backup camera?

If you do, could you throw the truck into reverse for a second to turn the camera on to see if you’ve cleared the back of the parking space?

 

[Driftwood]

Around here, it seems the aisle between spots has narrowed, making it more difficult to swing in and get a straight line on the spot. It's made more difficult by the bigger vehicles that stick out into the aisle. It's probably more often than not that I have to pull partially in, back up, straighten up, then line up to park. Backing out is 10X worse.

That's also part of the reason I park at the fringe and would rather walk.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

Do you have a backup camera?

If you do, could you throw the truck into reverse for a second to turn the camera on to see if you've cleared the back of the parking space?

It’s a 2011, before backup cameras were common.

 

[dixiehack]

My former in-laws were big on parking their minivan at the back of the Wal-Mart lot. Then one day a group of thieves took advantage of the isolation, piled in and drove it across town to knock over a jewelry store.

They started parking closer to the store after that.

 

[swingline]

Did they leave the keys in it?

 

[justgladtobehere]

Thought about this, never found out if it is true. Start up your car, fluids aren't really warmed up yet. Pulling out forward requires shifting from Park to Drive. Backing out requires shifting from Park to Reverse to Drive. That's two shifts before the tranny fluid heats up. Does backing in so you can pull out forward help save the tranny? Don't know. As Beau and his wife would say, it's just a thought.

I don't think it's true. 25 years ago I heard Click and Clack say it isn't necessary to idle a cold engine except in extreme cold. Engines and fluids have only gotten better.

 

[dixiehack]

Did they leave the keys in it?

No. They did catch them, but by that point the van was an insurance write off.