Carpark moments | Pad Patter 13 Dec

I HATE parking garages with a passion. It stems from a very bad experience that I had in college.

I commuted to my university in college and took several night classes at various points while getting my degree. If I had night classes, I often didn't take public transportation because I encountered several crazy people on there at night. Anyhow, one night I came out of class and had parked my truck in the closest parking garage. Someone had parked poorly next to me and I did not have a good angle to get out of my spot thanks to some poorly placed poles and other vehicles. I am not exaggerating when I say that I tried to get out for FORTY FIVE MINUTES. I was in tears by this point and honestly didn't know what to do. A man came to my level in the garage to get in his car and leave. I suppose he saw the predicament I was in. He offered to help get my truck in a position where I could leave. So I handed the stranger my keys and after several tries, he was able to get my truck out and pointed towards the exit. I was so incredibly thankful he came along and helped me because the longer that passed, the worse it got.

 

Our local hospital still uses paper tickets. You are supposed to take your ticket and pay at the kiosk at the end of the tunnel between the hospital and the garage. Well this time the machines there were not working. I thought I could pay at the gate but noooo - I had to get the person behind me to back up because my ticket was not validated. Then I had to drive around the park garage until I found a ticket place with a person so I could pay.

 

Many years ago when we lived in Memphis, TN, we had flown somewhere during the winter and left our car in the remote long-term parking area. It does get cold in the winter there. We walked from the airport all the way out to our car with our luggage, got in the car, and drove to the gate with a wooden barrier and the little ticket kiosk that is supposed to have someone there to take your ticket and your money. There was no one there. We sat and waited for some time and no one showed up. My husband walked back to the terminal (pre-cell phone days) and spoke to someone who said that they would send someone right out. He walked all the way back to our car and we waited some more. Finally, he'd had it, got out of the car, walked up to the wooden barrier piece, snapped it off, tossed it to the side, got back in the car and we drove off. I was in shock for about 10 minutes before I could even say "I can't believe you did that!" But who knows how much longer we would have had to wait before someone finally showed up. (I guess it was also pre-surveillance camera days too!)

 

I'm lucky that I don't have to deal with parking garages very often. Perks of living in a small town. Even the parking garages in the larger city near me are actually small in relation to those in very large cities. I can't remember the last time I parked in a parking garage. However, I was with someone that used a parking garage about 5 years ago. Thank goodness they were the ones driving and they use that garage quite often so they knew what they were doing!

But I do have a recurring dream that I cannot find my car when leaving any place I've been to in my dream. I honestly don't know how many times over the years I have had that dream but it happens a lot. Thankfully it has never happened when I'm awake!

 

My husband has done that for people. He got skillz! He drove around south side of Chicago and mastered parallel parking. Then, being in Boston, mastered itty bitty room to get out spaces.

 

Hmm...We don't have the kind that takes a photo of your plate! I've only seen those on the toll roads. We do have ones that monitor the spaces so as you drive up you can see what level has spaces. The casinos here all have the ticket option. Vegas ones aren't bad, just expensive!!

The worst parking lot we were in was New Jersey. We parked to go to the Statue of Liberty at Liberty State Park in New Jersey (Totally recommend that over Battery Park if you drive in!). As we were leaving, the gates were backed up. There was one exit, one person manning the two gates and the machines were super slow. They only took cards, and if you didn't do it right, they started over. It took us 20 minutes (literally! I was timing it) to get out of the lot. We were the 3rd car. The other side was almost as bad. The attendant kept having to come over to the machine and run the cards himself.

 

My husband has been in a parking garage leaving an Atlanta Falcons game where he sat for FORTY FIVE MINUTES waiting to exit and then they finally just opened the gate and let them all leave without stopping to pay. I mean, he saved the $40 parking fee, but he would have paid it not to sit in the garage that long I am pretty sure.

 

No parking woes here....don’t drive but have some public transport and taxi tales that lead to immense frustration 95% of the time.

 

I hate parking garages.. the one that is the worst for me is the hospital where I go for my specialist visits for my eye and for dermatology... I have to get the appointment for 8am (even though I am retired and can go any time during the day)... if it is later than that I can be circling and going through 5 stories to the roof of the parking garage and still not find a spot... one time I looked for 25 minutes and was almost late for my appt., having to go all the way back down and out of the parking garage and park off site a bit to get a spot.. horrendous. Now when I make my yearly looky loo appt I say 8/8:30 appts only!

 

If I go someplace I don't normally go to, I always park as close to a lamppost as I can. Or if it a Wal-Mart or Target type of store where I could have a shopping cart, I park as close to the cart drop off area as I can. If that means I walk a little farther to my car then I walk a little farther. I like having the visual of where I am parked. I have also been known to take a photo of the area I am parked in when in an extremely large parking lot like at WDW or Cedar Point where they tell you where to park.

 

Parking garages can be horror stories for sure - the hospital I work for has one so I use it every day. I get there early and get a good spot. But it's rare that there isn't at least a few spots left on the top floor. The employees have badges that get us in and out easily - but the patients sometimes really struggle with the paper tickets. It can back up the exit and sometimes the entrance too! Once an oversized van with a heavy top didn't quite fit and security was trying to help it back up - you could hear the scrapping of the top of the van against the garage ceiling framing. The van took down the clearance warnings signs that were hanging above too. Traffic was backed up in both directions for awhile and a few people were late for their shift. I had come in early thankfully.

The worst was at LGA (NY airport) this summer. (We were there exactly 1 week before that notorious news story this summer where people were abandoning their cars and walking with suitcases to try to get to the gate terminals. The traffic was horrible for us too and we really didn't think we'd make our flight either. Construction, poorly signed rerouting, and a big shortage of parking spaces and parking options). On the return flight, we had gotten back from a 5 hour delayed flight. It was like 1 or 2 am in the morning. We were supposed to land at 8pm. We paid like $250 in parking fees because LGA is the worst! And then we went to our car. The gate machine ate our ticket and the gate wouldn't lift. We had to call security and they said it was showing we hadn't paid. I had to work the next day and we were all exhausted fighting with the garage security who seemed to know nothing. Then 2 other cars pulled up with the same issue. The system was telling them they hadn't paid either. I swear I thought my husband was gonna drive right through it!! The security employee had to call in to customer service to find out what was going on - probably someone half way around the world. I think we sat there as hostages for like 30 minutes. There was no way we were paying that $250 fee again. I think bc it happened to all 3 of us - they let us all go. LGA is THE WORST!!!!

 

Yikes. You all are making me feel so grateful. I've lived in San Diego and Los Angeles and though I live in small town Fredericksburg, VA now, I drive up to Washington, D.C. and down to Richmond occasionally, so I have had many parking garage and pay parking experiences but no horror stories like I read above.

I locked my keys in my car in a parking garage in college. But I just had to wait for my sister to bring me the spare key.

I've taken so many photos of where I parked in unfamiliar parking lots, to aid my memory in finding my car again, that I could make a two page layout about it, or maybe an entire album.

I've had more trouble with toll roads than parking lots. A couple years ago, I was in another state, taking my daughter to a concert, when I got confused about toll road signs. I'm forgetting the details now. It might have been the kind in which you have to have a thing in your car (ugh, I don't know what they're called. I haven't actually used one). I realized after I was on the toll road that I wasn't supposed to be on it because I hadn't bought one of those things, and I thought I'd explain at the expected toll booth at the exit and pay -- but there wasn't one! So I thought I might get a fine in the mail in a few weeks, but I didn't. I just had a lot of stress that evening.

 

We park in a parking garage just off of Michigan Avenue every Sunday for church. We rarely have issues, but we do have to park on the same floor on the same side or we'll lose the car... lol! We've been parking on the west side of 5 (May, Green) for probably 12 years now. If it's ever full there's a slight panic about remembering which floor we actually parked on!!

 

Wow! That is so fancy! We don't even have parking garages (multi - level parking ramps) near me. So I don't use them often. Usually the only time I use those is when I go to Chicago these days. Most of the parking lots by us are half empty and don't charge for parking so I guess I'm a country mouse like you too Justine.

A couple of years ago I discovered Spot Hero for parking when we go into Chicago... you basically buy/reserve your parking spot before you go. They are MUCH cheaper that way too and you can see on a map how much it will cost for the amount of time you'll be parking and can pick where you want to park based on how far you're willing to walk combined with the price. It's super cool!