Last night I drove into downtown Portland, Oregon to check out a little of the local scenery and listen to some jazz music. Not having ever driven in this particular area, I began searching for some place to park my rental car. As luck would have it I found a parking lot that only charged three dollars for the entire evening, pulled up next to a blue Jaguar (a beastly chick car, by the way), assured that my car was even with the Jag, paid the nominal fee and set off on foot to find a jazz club.
My evening coalesced into several hours of watching the most passionate band I've ever seen, and I've seen many. Jazz, for me, has been an acquired taste; it wasn't something I latched onto naturally. Watching these guys, though, made me appreciate the music that much more.
After their first set, which lasted an hour and a half, I got the chance to speak with each of the band members and congratulate them for being so talented.
It was after speaking with the band members that I decided to head back to my hotel, as I had to get up relatively early the next morning for work. Somehow, I got turned around in the city and couldn't find my rental car. I had walked about six blocks and made a couple of turns to get to the club and attempted to back track to my car. After what seemed like forever, I recognized a couple of buildings and signs and finally found it. And much to my chagrin, I had a parking ticket. The ticket stated that I was double parked, and I was. That being said, I was the only car remaining in the lot at that time of night, and the lot was nowhere near capacity when I arrived, so I was perplexed about why they felt the need to write this ticket but figured this was an easy way of generating revenue.
Now most people would just get upset and pay the fine. Not me. I may wind up paying the fine, but not before I argue with someone about it. And here's how that conversation went this morning:
*ring, ring, ring*
Lady: Pacific Audit Solutions, how may I help you?
Me: Yeah, I got a parking ticket last night and want to speak to someone about it.
Lady: I can help you with that.
Me: Great.
Lady: Can you tell me the ticket number?
Me: Sure. (I tell her the number on top of the ticket)
Lady: Okay Mr. Upton, it seems you were double parked. We took a photograph of your vehicle and you split the yellow line. Half of your car was in one spot and half in the other. Do you dispute this?
Me: Well, I lined up next to that blue Jaguar, so I thought I would be fine. Did that driver get a ticket too?
Lady: No, that car was in a single parking spot. It's the only parking spot on the end. Starting in your row, the spots are doubled, so when you lined up with him/her you were double parked.
Me: Oh, well I didn't realize that. But I have a couple questions for you.
Lady: Okay.
Me: I paid three dollars to park. If I took up two parking spots, don't you think it would make more sense to charge me six dollars, rather than the fifty-seven noted on this ticket? Seriously, how do you justify charging fifty-seven dollars for a parking violation in a three dollar lot?
Lady: Sir, we don't set the fees, the city of Portland does that. We simply enforce them.
Me: You didn't answer my question. I asked if you felt the fifty-seven dollars was justified. I want to know if you think charging someone fifty-seven dollars for a parking violation is the right thing to do when the real right thing would have been to charge me another three dollars for the extra slot you said I took?
Lady (after a few awkward seconds of silence): Sir, I can't answer that.
Me: What do you mean you can't answer that? Do you mean you aren't allowed to answer it, or do you mean you don't have an opinion?
Lady (obviously getting flustered): Sir, how about as a courtesy I just dismiss your ticket?
Me: Great! Have a wonderful day!
*click*
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