#parking war

[robuttsinyourthighs]

So our apartment complex management told me and my 2 roommates that each apartment gets 2 spots. We have 3 adults and 3 cars. I was told there’s non marked parking in the back. The marked parking spots were obsolete as of January 2017 and would be first come first serve.

Cool.

I parked in the back for months right outside the basement door to my room. Do I get to enter that way? No. There’s no lock because this place is shitty. So I walked around the complex all winter and spring from my spot to my front door. At least when I left in the morning I was like 10 feet from my car.

Well!

That’s when the neighbor in a different complex started staking their claim on the spot. Always timed so they’d be parked there when I got home for 2 hours and then gone when I’m up for work the next day. Car had no indication (parking permit) that it belonged to an actual renter so I left a note saying permits are in the office and guests are to be in the street and I couldn’t tell if it was a guest or not in my spot.

The lady pitched a fit because it had their apartment number on the spot and also HOW DARE I TOUCH HER SHITTY CAR THEY’VE BEEN HERE 3 WHOLE YEARS BLAH BLAH PARKING RULES NEVER CHANGED THEY WON’T BELIEVE IT UNTIL MANAGEMENT KNOCKS ON THEIR DOOR AND TELLS THEM IT IS SO!!

Management came out and told them it was so. Looooooool

So I was like whatever there’s room for 3 cars? Just… 5 more feet from my room. Whatever. Next day they double parked and a neighbor who parks out front normally started parking next to them? I get home, park in a totally weird corner, get inside the house, and they go out and move their car back front to their normal spot.

Mind you these neighbors are in the same building as us and smoke weed all the fucking time and we’ve been told too bad deal with it it’s just a smell, so already FUCK THESE PEOPLE.

They were, as far as I could tell, intentionally blocking me out. Management told them the rule change but they don’t care their seniority overrules common courtesy and decency so fuck me right?

I kept coming home to insane efforts to block me from parking near my door from double parked cars to trash piled by a dumpster to keep me from squeezing into a spot. I started parking out front in a non-existant spot next to my roommate’s cars but it involves precise reversing and avoiding hitting my roommate’s brand new car and a dumpster.

It appears there’s a neighbor who only has 1 car and never see a second there over the last month or two. Cool, I won’t be pissing anyone off by taking a spot they’re not using right?

Wrong. After a weekend of uber driving and dealing with a job I loathe I park in the empty space. 2 days later there’s a note on my car politely telling me don’t park in their spot and they know we have three cars and one of us should park on the street and THEY’VE BEEN HERE 6 YEARS BLAH BLAH FUCK YOU I’VE BEEN HERE LONGER MINE MINE MY SPOT STAY IN YOUR LANE.

So I tore the note, Because I’m not putting this in my car, dropped it on the ground, look up and see their once closed blinds are now cracked open to watch me. I give them a peace sign, drive away and leave for my awful job.

I just got home and omg… this petty fucking cunt. She double parked so she could have her spots to herself XD FUCK YOU YOU DUMB SLUT FFFFFUUUUUCK YOU

I'll post a picture. Either this lady is that fucking challenged or she just wants to be a salty cunt

[kamereon-hub]

The Great Malaysian Parking Lot War

I watched a grown man lose his composure over a parking spot last Tuesday.

It happened outside a kopitiam in SS15. A silver Myvi had been circling the row for a good five minutes, indicator blinking, clearly waiting for a white Vios to reverse out. But just as the Vios pulled away, a black Axia swooped in from the opposite direction and took the spot.

The Myvi driver honked. Then honked again. Then got out of his car.

What followed was a five-minute shouting match in the middle of the road, complete with hand gestures, accusations, and a small audience of amused uncles sipping their kopi-o.

Nobody moved. Nobody intervened. We all just watched, because honestly, we've all been there.

Parking in the Klang Valley isn't just inconvenient; it's a nightmare. It's a daily psychological test.

You leave the house ten minutes early, not for the meeting, but for the hunt. You drive in circles. You stalk pedestrians as they walk toward their cars. You calculate angles, distances, and the probability that the guy loading groceries into his boot will leave before the car behind you steals your chance.

And when you finally, finally find a spot, there's a quiet triumph. A small victory in an otherwise chaotic day.

But when someone takes it from you? That's not just an inconvenience. That's personal.

I don't think we talk enough about how much parking stress shapes our mood.

Think about it. You could have a perfectly good morning. Coffee was fine. Traffic was manageable. But if you spend twenty minutes circling a car park only to end up in some dark corner of B3, wedged between two pillars and a motorcycle, something in you shifts.

You walk into your meeting a little more tense. A little less patient. A little more likely to snap at a colleague for sending a follow-up email too soon.

All because of parking.

The numbers paint a familiar picture.

According to a Nielsen survey, 54% of Malaysian households own more than one car. That's more vehicles than we have space for. And in high-density areas like Bangsar, Damansara Uptown, and USJ Taipan, the mismatch between cars and parking bays has turned double-parking into an art form.

A study on haphazard parking in the Klang Valley found that Kuala Lumpur City Hall issued over 670,000 parking compounds in a single year. That's roughly 5,000 summons a day. And yet, the behaviour continues.

Why? Because for many drivers, the fine is a calculated risk. The alternative is being late. Or missing the appointment entirely. Or circling for so long that you give up and go home.

So we double-park. We leave our phone numbers on the dashboard. We hope for the best.

There's an unspoken etiquette to double-parking in Malaysia.

Leave your number. Keep your phone on. Be ready to run back at a moment's notice.

Most of the time, it works. You call the number, the person apologises, jogs back, and moves their car. A small inconvenience, handled with mutual understanding.

But sometimes, it doesn't work.

The number is wrong. Or the phone is off. Or the person just doesn't pick up. And suddenly, you're trapped. Late for something. Watching the minutes tick by. Feeling that familiar heat rise in your chest.

I've been on both sides of this. The one waiting. The one being called. And I can tell you, neither feels good.

A friend told me about a trick he uses.

When he double-parks, he doesn't just leave his number. He leaves a small note that says: "So sorry! Will move immediately. Please call."

"The apology helps," he said. "People are less angry when they feel like you're not being arrogant about it."

It's a small thing. But it reminded me that so much of parking stress isn't about the parking itself. It's about how we treat each other in the process.

The guy who blocks you without a number? That's disrespect.

The guy who blocks you but apologises profusely and runs back within two minutes? That's just someone trying to survive the same broken system you are.

I think about how this shapes us.

We've normalised a level of daily friction that would be unacceptable in other cities. We've built commercial areas with two parking bays per shop lot, knowing full well that each shop might have a dozen customers at any given time. We've designed malls where the car park is so confusing that people give up and park illegally outside.

And then we blame the drivers.

Don't get me wrong. Double-parking is wrong. Blocking someone's car without warning is inconsiderate. Taking a spot someone else was clearly waiting for is, frankly, a bit shameless.

But maybe the real question isn't why Malaysians park so badly.

Maybe it's why we've built cities that make good parking nearly impossible.

Something is revealing about how we behave in car parks.

When space is scarce, patience wears thin. Rules become suggestions. Courtesy becomes optional.

I've seen people argue over spots. I've seen passive-aggressive note-leaving. I've seen cars keyed, mirrors folded in, and once, memorably, a durian placed on someone's windscreen as apparent revenge.

We laugh about it. We share the stories in group chats. But underneath the humour, there's a frustration that's hard to ignore.

We're all just trying to get somewhere. And the system keeps making it harder than it needs to be.

I don't have a solution.

More car parks would help. Better public transport would help more. Fewer cars per household would help most of all, but that's a lifestyle shift most Malaysians aren't ready for.

What I do have is a small suggestion.

Next time you're in a parking war, take a breath. Assume the other person is having a hard day, too. Leave your number. Apologise when you're wrong. And if someone comes to your spot, please let it go. You can find another one. It's not worth the shouting match.

Because at the end of the day, we're all fighting the same fight.

I drove past that kopitiam in SS15 again yesterday.

The silver Myvi wasn't there. Neither was the black Axia. The spot they fought over was empty.

Funny how that works.

[commutercontempt-blog]

I'm In Love With This Person's Passion

Gothamist makes us privy:

No amount of "Park(ing) Days" can mask the ugly truth that locating parking in the city is the worst—and going to a garage is an admission of defeat most drivers will do anything to avoid. So when one Park Slope resident's car broke down on her block, she was relieved that her car was at least sitting in a legal spot in front of her neighbor's house. But the neighbor wasn't happy when the car sat there for two weeks, as the note above, which was left in the car's windshield, suggests. You can read the whole account of their argument here, but here's the real question: who is acting more passively-aggressively between the two?