Someone left an anonymous, passive aggressive note on my car and I am mad!

[Shananigans]

Ok, so this morning I get in my car to leave for work and notice a note on the windsheild. Thinking it must be from one of my friends, I grab it and start reading it as I drive off. Turns out it isn't from one of my friend's after all. It's from a neighbor! Here's what it says:

"Hello-

I park in my garage so that my friends can park in front of my house. We would appreciate greatly if you would show consideration and park in front of your own home. Would you be so kind?

Thank You ~ N "

Now let me explain. I live on a non-busy PUBLIC residential street where there is parking on both sides. There are ALWAYS rows and rows of spots open on both sides of the street. When I pull up to park, I park directly across from my house. Sure, I don't park directly in FRONT, but it is very inconvenient for me to drive down the street and then have to turn my car around to park on the other side.

I am rarely ever home. I spend most of my evenings with friends or volunteering and usually don't arrive home until after 9PM. When I do, I have no problem finding a parking spot anywhere on "that side" of the street. This morning when the note was left there was almost an entire block of empty street!

So am I right to be a bit appalled by this note? If this person is so concerned why can't her friend's park across the street. I am just PISSED right now. Never leave an anonymous note, people. If you have the balls to write a note, at least sign your name and I will tell you exactly what I think.

*sigh*

[Screaming Lord Byron]

1. Actually, I'm getting close to being that guy.

Our neighbours built a garage round the back, yet never use it, and park directly in front of my house! It's like they're taunting me! BASTARDS!

But yeah, your situation is a little different.

[demnan]

2. I think they asked you nicely enough

I would try to accomodate their wishes. Then when you need extra spots some time when you throw a party or something, they will be more likely to accomodate you.

[Shananigans]

14. There are always spots on our street, though...

at the time I parked last night there was only 1 other car parked on the street within a whole block!!!

[On the Road]

3. I Actually Got a Warning

for doing that. Turns out in Chevy Chase, you can't park on a public street in front of some else's house. Or something like that.

Anyway, it might be wise to check with city hall or the police to make sure of the legal situation.

It's unbelievably petty. People can be jerks. It's up to you whether you want to start a flame war with a neighbor, though. I had some bizarre experiences doing that.

[MissMillie]

4. Don't let it get to you

Street parking is public parking, and no one has any right to tell you that you can't park there.

And being pissed will just eat up too much of your energy. The person who left the note is the person with the problem. Let this one roll off your back.

[Guaranteed]

9. Seriously, neighbors aren't worth it

I don't understand why someone would write such a petty note like that in the first place. It doesn't need a response.

[IronLionZion]

5. he asked you nicely, so you should do it

the 30 seconds it takes to turn around is worth it.

just my $0.02

[Shananigans]

16. The main reason I don't park on the other side of the street...

is because no one else ever does. People are used to just curising down the street and not worrying about vehicles on the other side. This winter, when I WAS parked on that side of the street, my old car was scratched by a passing car. Also, there is a streetlight on the side that I DO park on that deters car theifs, etc.

[Bokonon]

6. Passive aggressive? I think not.

I think it's rude when my neighbors park in front of my house. The guy who wrote that note did it in a considerate tone, and you should probably stop parking in front of his house. It's not his fault you find it inconvenient to park in front of your own house. Just my two cents.

[ohiosmith]

7. I personally don't think the request is unreasonable. As regards

the note being anonymous, it apparently was written by the individual's home in front of which you parked.

[Guaranteed]

12. It's not unreasonable either way

This just shouldn't be turned into an issue.

[HFishbine]

22. Right

It really shouldn't be a big deal to either of you. Neither of you is in the wrong. However, if you started parking in front of your house, you'd give your neighbor a little more faith in the goodness of human kind. Would that be worth it; to make someone's life a little less stressfull no matter how trivial it might seem? You just might make some good karma. The wings of a single butterfly, you know?

[Shananigans]

17. Not necessarily....

I was parked evenly between two different houses. I'm not sure which one wrote the note!

[GregW]

8. Just pull across the street and park in front of yours ...

... facing the wrong way. It's a suburban street, no big deal.

[Bridget Burke]

35. You can get ticketed for that in Houston....

Don't know about other cities.

[MichaelHarris]

10. I got a note once

I had a knee replacement and I'm still fairly young. I had a handicap tag for 3 months during the rehab. I used a cane to get in and out of my car and someone at work left a note on my car saying I was too young to be handicapped. And can you believe it, they didn't sign the note.

[asthmaticeog]

19. Oy, memories!

The last year of my dad's life, his ticker was so far gone that he couldn't walk from one end of the house to the other without taking a rest halfway because he got seriously winded. So for obvious reasons he qualified for a handicapped parking permit. When we went anywhere together, I'd get out of the car, go around to the other side to get the door for him, help him out of the car and walk him, slooooowly, holding on tight to his arm, to wherever we were going. Despite all this, and despite the glaringly obvious big blue handicapped tag, people would give us the bad-eye for using a marked parking spot, and some would even make snide comments. Do you have to be a quadruple amputee before people give you a fucking break or what? Anyway, to all those people, THANKS for casting aspersions at a sick man nearing the end of his life.

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[MichaelHarris]

21. they're just pissed

they didn't have one. When I rehab'ed I never used it again

[trotsky]

11. I don't think it was too inappropriate.

At our previous house, we had "the car family" living across the street from us. They had 3-4 grown adult children still living at home, with a 1-stall garage. Their cars CONSTANTLY crowded the street, and inevitably they'd park in front of our house. It annoyed the snot out of me, for the same reason it annoys your neighbor - people who come to visit couldn't park right near our house.

At least they were polite in their note.

[fudge stripe cookays]

20. I'm with you.

We've got that now.

And it's a decently wide street, but when I back out of our driveway, I have to be really careful so I don't hit any of the kids' damn cars. There's so many of them.

[Fridays Child]

13. Of course, you know that, because it's a public street...

...you may disregard the note.

We once got a note on our car. We had parked our car a bit crookedly in a public parking space because the adjacent car was crooked--you know how that goes. When we came back to our car a few hours later, the car that had been next to ours was long gone, making it look like we had parked crooked just for the heck of it. And there was a typewritten note (yes, there are people who actually go to the trouble of pre-typing nasty notes) under our windshield wiper. It read:

"If you fuck like you park, you'll never get it in."

:eyes:

[WillParkinson]

18. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

Can I use that? PLEASE????

[Fridays Child]

30. It's a zinger, alright. And, yes, you may consider it...

...a freebie. :)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. Personally

I get paranoid when cars that aren't mine are parked in front of my house. It ain't hard to park where you should anyway.

[fryguy]

23. OK...so this is coming from a NYer

who is used to driving around for up-wards of half an hour looking for a parking space, and is lucky to find one within 5 blocks of my house, but...

are you telling me that your neighbor's (and some in this forum) problem is that they have to walk ACROSS the street?? Heaven forbid! Is it really too much work to use one's legs for a purpose other than pressing the accelerator? Does it significantly impede one's egress to and from their house to cross a "non-busy public street"? I'm guessing this is the type of person who would drive to the end of their driveway to get the mail. And besides, what is the issue about parking in-front of someone else's house - unless in doing so blocks their driveway or they happen to live in an area where the property line extends to the middle of the street? Otherwise, the street is a public thoroughfare and, as such, it is permissible for anyone to park on it.

[loafie]

24. There is an elderly woman on my street

who continuously puts notes on cars parked across from her driveway asking them not to park there b/c she doesn't feel like turning her head when she backs out of her driveway and doesn't want to hit them

[Ready4Change]

25. Put yourself in their shoes.

Imagine if you lived in their house. You'd still want to use that same space. Yet you often come home and find their car parked in that space infront of your house, when there are plenty of open spaces in front of their house.

Also, it's pretty clearly not an anonymous note, as you seem to have little doubt who let it.

Eventually, you need to weight your personal convenience against the annoyance you impose on your neighbors.

[Shananigans]

27. Actually, I *DO* have doubt who left it...

there are two houses right next together and I was parked in between both of them. Also, I don't know either of them, therefore it *IS* anonymous.

It's not just that there are plenty of open spaces in front of MY house, it's that there are plenty of open spaces in front of THEIR house too! Out of let's say...10 spaces in front of their house, there are usually 7 free on any given day/time.

[NoPasaran]

26. Circle October 31 on you calendar

Vengeance is a dish best savored cold.

[Van Helsing]

28. Next time....

park on his freakin' sidewalk. That'll learn him. :evilgrin:

[cally]

29. Folks feel very possesive about the space

in front of their house. I get somewhat annoyed when folks park in front of my house, instead of their own. I know it's insane to be bothered but I am. I would just start parking in front of your own house or go knock on both doors and tell the person why you park on their side. You come home at night and feel safer under the light and you are worried you'll be hit.

[Kat45]

31. I get so annoyed when folks act like they own the space in front

of their houses. They don't own the street. Once a guy yelled at me when I was parking in front of his house to go to work. THe main street that my workplace was on had meters that only allowed for short periods to park, so I couldn't park there and I had to park on the residential streets around the corner. This guy had a driveway long and wide enough to accommodate about 4-6 cars, but from that day on he started parking his car in front of his house so nobody else could park there.

That really pisses me off! I often wonder if these people have so much time on their hands that they constantly monitor the street in front of their house. Man, I've lived in a densely populated urban area where you were lucky to find a space within a block of your house. Give me a break! I'm with you on this one.

[Taverner]

32. Wise words "Don't shit where you eat"

It's why the cop who lives next to the pot smoker never busts him...
It's why the neighbors tolerate my obnoxious dogs...
It's why we let some stranger build our fence, just because he's related to the neighbor...

Just let it pass - at least he wasn't rude.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

33. Don't flame me but I agree with your neighbor

I have a neighbor that keeps his driveway clear and parks in front of my house and it makes me crazy. I think it's just a sign of courtesy to use the space in front of your own home in a small residential neighborhood.

[noiretextatique]

34. it's a PUBLIC street....

which means they have no "claim" to any space on it, including the one in front of their house. you are not being "inconsiderate" by parking on a public street. if you choose to park in front of your house, so be it, if not: it's PUBLIC street.