SoapZone Community Message Board

The only places for me to park at work are the short (3 car lengths) "driveway" behind the back door and a single row of all-day parking. Everything else is either 2 hour parking (VERY strictly enforced) or permit parking (I recently found out that not only can only employees of the stores in the plaza--which we're not, despite having a rear entrance that opens to the plaza parking lot--park in permit parking, you have to pay to get the permit). I went to the all day parking row first and of course it was full. SM doesn't want me parking in it when I work the later shift anyways; she worries about my safety walking to my car despite it being a very safe town and a very well-lit parking lot. Then it took me 5 minutes just to get to the end of the row, which is opposite of our driveway. There was a car already in the "second" slot on our side of the driveway (the other side is for the real estate agency above our store) and someone in the "third" slot of the agency side, the third slot being the one closest to the parking garage. I pulled in behind the car on our side only to have a woman exit the store and apologetically tell me she was leaving and could I move? Sure! So I pulled back out of the spot, circled back around after she left...and before I could pull in to our driveway, somebody pulled in to the third spot, hopped out and went into the restaurant next door. The restaurant patrons aren't supposed to park in our driveway, and SM usually makes a fuss, so I just went back to circling, hoping I could find something in the 2-hour parking and then come out later and move my car (I've done that before).

No joy. I circled for another 5 minutes, then I pulled into a permit parking spot (of which there were plenty of empty ones), right next to the parking grinch who was sitting in his modified VW bug having lunch. I asked him very nicely if there was such a thing as a temporary permit, or perhaps he could make an exception just this once as I was now late for work. But alas, his heart had yet to grow 3 sizes, so he bluntly told me no. I asked him where I was supposed to park then and he basically said not his problem. Ugh. I got back in my car and circled a couple more times and finally, the car parked in the agency's driveway (probably a customer from the toy store next door; it was definitely not an agency employee as they are off this week...and all their cars have vanity plates having something to do with real estate) was gone. All in all, it took me 25 minutes just to freakin' park.

Right now, the town is working on the bridge over the river/falls but once that's done, I really hope they look into building a parking garage or something. Because you shouldn't beg people to come down and shop at/eat in your quaint little Hallmark town and not give them anywhere to park.