Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozzie8
For everyone on this parking OCD thread, one of the other things I have been trying to figure out is the mindset of other drivers when parking their cars. I shall call these the non-OCD.
On the weekends I normally do the cooking and the food shopping. As the supermarket I like to shop at opens at 7am, I am normally there by 7:30am as it is relatively quiet. The outdoor parking lot is huge, however Australia does not regulate the size of car parking bays, so our bays are quite narrow.
So in a parking lot the size of a football field plus, my car will be parked on its own in the middle of nowhere a long long way from the entrance. In doing this I immediately eliminate elderly drivers (hi mum and dad), parents with very young children and accompanying child moving equipment and the very very dangerous group - people in a hurry.
That said, every now and then I will exit from doing the shopping, and there will be another car parked next to mine. At this point I normally quote John McEnroe 'you cannot be serious', loudly enough for anyone to know what I am talking about. Being from the OCD set, I go deep, thinking what could possibly possess somebody to choose the bay next to my car when there are another 458 bays to choose from, almost all of them closer to the shops? I mean are they people who live on their own, longing for company, so they park next to me hoping to strike up a conversation should our paths cross? Are they embarrassed about their car and want to park it next to a really great car to feel better? Are they the supremely jealous type and can't wait to pull in beside me, and knowing I am not in my car, gently whack my passengers door with their drivers door, and then in an innocuous manner slide their non-disposal shopping bags along the full length of my car as they pass by?
So puzzled have I become about the non-OCD set, I've started asking people why. It's not always possible, but every now and then, I will see Mr or Mrs non-OCD commence the long walk towards two cars in the middle of nowhere. I hastily sidle up to them making small talk, and then in a very polite manner I just ask them - 'why did you park next to me when there are so many other free bays'?. The answers will astonish you from, 'just trying to park in an orderly manner', 'your car looks great I've not seen that model before and wanted to take a closer look', 'I don't know my car just found its way there' and 'I just wanted to keep you company'.
Which all leads me to conclude, there are people like 'us'....and there is everyone else.
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Great description of the issues! We've all experienced the "parking next to me for no good reason" as well as the self-inflicted scrape. Hard to believe that it doesn't bother (most) other people.
My mother lives with us and I had to recently take the keys to her car (Lexus RX350) away from her because she hit curbs on two occasions in 4 months hard enough to create a 2" X 2" hole in the sidewall. Her car has scrapes all over it - hopefully I have removed one more source of door dings for others...