Mark Blevis

I routinely have a Starbucks coffee with colleagues in the early morning. On nice days we’ll sit outside to chat and watch cars park, or attempt to do so, in the metered spots in front of us. Some people impress us with their parking prowess; others impress us with their struggles. Yesterday, we entered new territory.

While sitting at our table, we watched a red Sunfire pull into the rear-most parking spot of the line. The next spot up was also available and when the driver turned off the ignition, the first three feet of her car were well inside the next space (leaving a good six feet of available space in her own spot). In parking this way, the driver had made it impossible for another car to use the spot (except a Mini as the driver later noted).

As the woman fumbled for change through her purse at the hood of her car, one of my colleagues politely pointed out the situation. The driver immediately responded by saying she was lined up with the meter (she was well past it) to which my colleague replied that bylaw officers measure parking spaces by the painted lines. She stepped back from her car to inspect the painted line before sniping that she had to be on [Parliament] Hill in five minutes and had “far more important things to do than to worry about other people.” This is when she pointed out that a Mini could fit in the available space.

I find it particularly interesting that certain personalities succeed by rationalizing their actions on internalized importance — they do better by assigning their mistakes to others rather than accept responsibility for their actions. For them, this approach applies equally to qualitative and quantitative measures.

Is it their self-importance or the fact they succeed by it that most infuriates the rest of us?