Work Stories: Episode 43: Trapped in the Parking Lot

Previously on Work Stories, I wrote about some kid who was really interested in Call of Duty tournaments.  I’m still not sure how having those tournaments would be financially viable in our tourist trap city, but hey, that was last week’s post.  This week I’m going to write about something different and some of you are going to read it.

I don’t think I’ve written about going home from work in a while, so why not write about that today?  It’s part of my working life, isn’t it?  In order to work, I have to travel to and from my workplace.  It only makes sense that I would have a few stories about the travel.  Hell, I’ve written about traveling to and from work a few times already.  What would once more hurt?  Today’s work story is about the trip home, or lack thereof.

The location at which we park for work is shared by our attraction, five others, and four restaurants.  Staff only, though.  Luckily, we don’t share it with customers of any of them.  If we did, there would never be a space to park.  It would be terrible, especially since only a handful of the staff live in the city.  The rest are from surrounding areas that require driving in order to get to work in a timely manner.  So the staff of ten different places all get to share the parking lot, along with the hotel desk clerks of two hotels and the maintenance workers.  That’s a lot of people.  Our parking lot is fairly small.  We get crowded in sometimes.

The worst time of day is around five in the afternoon.  This is when shift change occurs for most of the places.  That means that there are double the people in the parking lot than are usually there.  When you are on the night shift, which is five in the afternoon until two or three in the morning, you are lucky to find a spot if you don’t arrive super early.  If you are on the day shift, you already have a spot and need not worry.  Only, that’s not always the case.

There was one time when I was on a day shift.  I worked nine in the morning until five in the afternoon.  When I got to the parking lot, I got in my car and turned the ignition.  I pulled forward to get out of the parking lot.  Only, I couldn’t.  The cars on either side of me had parked within five inches of my car.  It was just enough space for me to get in the driver’s side door.  Then there is a single row of cars in front of where I was parked, perpendicular to the rest of the cars.  This means that I am pulling forward toward a passenger door of a car.  The only problem that day was that people had double parked in that middle row.  There were two rows perpendicular to the rest of the cars, not the usual one.  This left be about six feet in front of my car.  I did not have enough space to maneuver my way out of the parking lot.

I live in the city in which I work.  It’s not a big city.  I could have gotten out of my car, walked the half hour home, and come back to get it later.  There would have been fewer cars, and I would have been able to get out.  I didn’t do that.  I sat in my car and waited.  Luckily, a few minutes later, someone in one of the cars next to me, which was the last in the row, showed up.  They got in their car and drove away.  This gave me enough space to pull forward, move over a few inches, and back up.  Then I could turn my car away from the one on my other side, and pull out of the parking lot.

I was in the parking lot for about fifteen minutes that day.  It was not an experience that I would like to have again.  Being stuck in a parking lot makes a person angrier than they would be otherwise.  I don’t want to be angry when I’m leaving work.  That should be a happy time.  I haven’t gotten stuck in the parking lot since, so I guess I’m doing well.

That’s this week’s Work Story.  It’s not a great one.  But it’s done.  I’m putting this up for you.  I hope you enjoy it, though I’m not sure who would enjoy it.  You’d have to be one crazy person to enjoy this one.  Next week, I’ll try and give you a better story.

Until then, if you want to be free, be free.