The handicap spot

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kowski I am a paraplegic and have let the air out of tires where people did not have proper id showing. Have also called 911 and the police were happy to respond.

I am with others... this is just stupid on your part... what right do YOU have in vandalizing a car... just because YOU can not see proper ID..

Sure, yell at them when you see them... shame them if they are not handicapped.... but you do not know anything else.... maybe the person was driving their spouses car and forgot to bring the mirror hanger... maybe it fell on the floor.. My wife used one when she had a foot operation... I can say that almost every place we went, there were places to park... so park in one of the other places...

I can agree in calling the police... they can write a ticket and if the person is illegally parked they will pay the fine...

[CuppaJoe]

No need to escalate this, folks, the air has gone out of those tires.

[donheff]

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Originally Posted by youbet My favorite is when not-handicapped folks park in a handicapped spot while their passenger runs in to do an errand. They say they'd move if a handicapped person arrived and needed the spot, but that's bs. To the arriving handicap person, the spot simply looks occupied and they're unlikely (esp if elderly) to challenge the other driver to move. ......

I have done this a few times when there are several handicap spots vacant but not when it is the only spot or other spots are not adjacent. I agree that the legitimate user would likely ride by and be forced to park farther away.

[cantlogin]

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Originally Posted by FIREdreamer I think it takes a particularly lazy, indecent and disrespectful person to abuse handicap parking spaces...

There is no shortage of those.

[DangerMouse]

On issues such as this, all I know is the only persons behaviour I can control is my own. I make the choice to never park in a handicap spot even if it is only for a minute.

I think it is despicable when able-bodied persons utilise a handicapped spot. However, I am not going to become the police patrolling handicapped parking because there are often cases where a handicap may not be visibly apparent and why should anyone have to justify to me what their disability may be. For those who use the spots just because they are lazy, well let's hope that karma gets them in this life or the next. They have issues of some kind, if their judgement allows them to utilise the handicap spots knowing that they are designated for those who have been less fortunate health wise.

[CuppaJoe]

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Originally Posted by DangerMouse .... there are often cases where a handicap may not be visibly apparent and why should anyone have to justify to me what their disability may be....

Good point, we should honor their right to medical privacy.

[youbet]

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Originally Posted by donheff I have done this a few times when there are several handicap spots vacant but not when it is the only spot or other spots are not adjacent. I agree that the legitimate user would likely ride by and be forced to park farther away.

I can't condone you doing this Don. But, if you must, be sure you're not in a van accessible spot leaving other handicap spots empty but taking the only van accessible spot.

This is sort of like advising you on how to mug someone but leave them some change to make a phone call home......

[kyounge1956]

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Originally Posted by tiuxiu Am I the only one who eyes with much suspicion people who park in the handicap spot then don't appear to have any visible difficulties? I always give the benefit of the doubt, figuring they probably have some malady that isn't very obvious, but I can't help attempting a discreet visual examination. This is especially the case if someone gets from their car to the front door of the establishment at a faster rate than I'm walking. Is it just me?

I agree with the others who have said "don't assume all handicaps are visible". My dad has two replaced joints due to arthritis, and my mother has heart problems that make it difficult for her to walk long distances. In neither case can their medical issues be detected simply by looking at them. At least two other medical conditions have been mentioned in this thread that are also not obvious to the onlooker, and I'm sure the list would get a lot longer if everyone on the board who could do so, sent a message about a relative or acquaintance who has a handicap sticker for some non-obvious medical condition.

I strongly suggest you continue to give the benefit of the doubt.
Karen

[LOL!]

Only slightly OT, the grocery stores in our area have spaces for folks with kids next to the handicap spaces. When my kid is with me and a few of these spots are open, I park in them, especially after 9 pm. My kid is 13 years old. How about you?

My mom has a handicap tag. She can really fool you as she runs into Walmart, then collapses into the electric scooter. Maybe another heart attack will prevent that.

[DangerMouse]

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Originally Posted by LOL! Only slightly OT, the grocery stores in our area have spaces for folks with kids next to the handicap spaces. When my kid is with me and a few of these spots are open, I park in them, especially after 9 pm. My kid is 13 years old. How about you?

I don't have kids so don't have the option. However, even if I did I probably would not park in one of them, as my assumption is that these spots are intended for those who have children in strollers and babyseats. However, once again each of us is free to do what they are comfortable with, I'm not on this earth to tell you that my definition of the intention of these spot is the only way they are to be interpreted.

However, if you want to talk about something that does annoy me at the supermarket it's those people who get in the express line, 15 items or less - cash only, with a trolley load of 50+ items and proceed to write a check. I just don't get why they do it. Perhaps someone can help me out as to the logic as to why people do it?

[growing_older]

I've seen people in the express checkout with too many items at my local supermarket alot. The HUGE signs that say 15 items or less are mounted on the ceiling above the checkout aisles, but they are mounted to hang over the aisles, so are invisible to people in line. They can look over at the other lines and see the signs well enough, but cannot see the sign for the line they are in. If they do look up to see it, they are viewing it edge on, and cannot read it.

Of course people who have been in the store before should know these are express checkout lines, but it's easy for new customers to get confused. It costs so little to be nice to these people, I just smile. Or maybe not so much when I'm really in a hurry.

Then there are the serial offenders who glare and just defy the rules. They know better, they know you know they know better, and they just do it anyway. I assume these people have bigger problems in life, but they are annoying.

[Rustward]

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Originally Posted by DangerMouse ...However, if you want to talk about something that does annoy me at the supermarket it's those people who get in the express line, 15 items or less - cash only, with a trolley load of 50+ items and proceed to write a check. I just don't get why they do it. Perhaps someone can help me out as to the logic as to why people do it?

Where I shop, I have seen checkers say something to the effect of "You have too many items for this express line, ... and I can take you over here" which is usually a self-checkout lane that the store employee will operate the shopper's groceries through.

[kyounge1956]

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Originally Posted by Rustward Where I shop, I have seen checkers say something to the effect of "You have too many items for this express line, ... and I can take you over here" which is usually a self-checkout lane that the store employee will operate the shopper's groceries through.

What good is that?

The person with too many items still gets waited on before the people who got in the right line. The people in the express line still have to wait while "too many" items get rung up. ISTM the clerk is just rewarding the bad behavior of the person with too many items. Now if the checker said, "you have too many items, I can take you over here", and then made the cheater wait until the rest of the customers in the express line (the ones who don't have too many items) had been waited on, we might be getting somewhere.

[MichaelB]

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Am I the only one who eyes with much suspicion people who park in the handicap spot then don't appear to have any visible difficulties?

Life is too short to spend it confronting or policing others for their social transgressions. Their spouses, children, and ther family have to live with them and their pettiness - that's bad enough.

Quote:

I've seen people in the express checkout with too many items at my local supermarket alot.

Anyone remember sniglets? They had a word for these folks. Expresshole: the a$$hole using the express checkout lane with excess items in the shopping cart.

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DangerMouse .... However, if you want to talk about something that does annoy me at the supermarket it's those people who get in the express line, 15 items or less - cash only, with a trolley load of 50+ items and proceed to write a check. I just don't get why they do it. Perhaps someone can help me out as to the logic as to why people do it?

Sometimes when a clerk is not busy he will wave me over despite a full cart.

[jdmorton]

...someone is selling these metal signs on eBay for about $9US each.





When I had my hip replaced and was in rehab, I had a temporary handicap tag to hang on my rearview mirror. When I applied for the tag, I was told that, due to fraud and misuse, the State of Pennsylvania contacted the medical professional to ensure that the appliction form was actually signed by that individual. It took so long to get, by the time it arrived I almost did not need it anymore.

When I did use it to park in a handicap spot, I could sense some people would look at me get out of the car and believe I was not handicapped - especially when I was able to walk unassisted without a cane.

[Bestwifeever]

Joe, I have also had express-lane cashiers at the grocery store wave me over with a full cart. Of course while my stuff is being rung up, someone comes behind me with only a loaf of bread, not knowing I was invited into the line.... I hope no one lets the air out of my tires for that.

What about using the handicap-accessible stall in the restroom? Anyone keeping tabs on that?

[Rustward]

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Originally Posted by kyounge1956 What good is that? The person with too many items still gets waited on before the people who got in the right line.

Yes, it's not the best solution but it gets them out of the express line. While we are on the subject and off topic I'll say that grocery checkout might work better with a single waiting line -- but it might be a little awkward to implement.

[Sarah in SC]

To heck with the express lane at the grocery store--I would pay extra for a checkout line without kids in it! Squalling their heads off while mama or daddy shows of those parenting skills they learned at the trailer park down the street.

[MikeD]

I have had handicapper plates since about 1980. I first got them for permanently broken bones in my diabetic feet that would not heal. Since then I have qualified for them for more serious foot problems and kidney failure. I now wear an Aircast walking brace (since '91 - it's permanent). Before I got the brace I used to get *lots* of snide comments about how how I "didn't look handicapped" to the commenter. If they were close by or particularly nasty I would suggest that they call the cops and complain.

Once, back in '97 we had just gotten a new car and had the temporary plates on it so I was supposed to use my placard. I had had the HP license plates for so long by then that I didn't even think about parking in that spot. When we came out of the Home Depot on the first day with the new car - Surprise, I had a parking ticket. We had forgotten to use the blue hangtag. I spotted the Sheriff and went over and asked her if she had given me the ticket. She very nicely said "Yeah, we got a lot of calls on that." I 'splained the situation and she took back the ticket!

I have many times had to park way out with the unwashed masses due to people waiting for someone to run a quick errand and parking in the last handicapper place. They are not temporary, 5 minute parking places. What anm I supposed to do, get out of my car and walk over to them and ask them to move?

The State of Virginia has the permitee's name and birthdate on one side of the red (temporary) or blue (permanent) mirror tags and instructions to hang them on the mirror with the name side towards the interior.

Now, my wife has the handicapper plates, too, for her bad knee AND back. She is getting her knee replaced in about one month. We are the handicapped parking team.

We try to park in the furthest away handicapped spot from the door so that a really bad off person can have the closest one.

Mike D.