It's better to give than to receive! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

KAdams4458 · #1 12-25-2007, 03:06 AM

Boy, they got that right!

I bring my car home for the first time and parked it in the garage. Of course, it was Christmas Eve, and the people responsible for issuing parking permits were no where to be found. That doesn't stop the ticket-givers, though!

For the record, this is a private parking garage. I won't have to pay for the ticket, but it's still kind of ridiculous in light of the fact that you can park your Hummer in the handicapped spot every day without a permit, and never, ever get a ticket. I really wonder about the guy they send out on ticket patrol. Seems like they got a new one a few months back, and he might be brain damaged. You can park across three spots without trouble, but having a pass that's one day expired or just not hanging straight in your windshield will get you a $35 fine.

I'll be really amused if they send the poor guy out to write tickets on Christmas Day. I know they sent him out on Thanksgiving, so I won't be surprised to receive two nice little yellow gifts from them this year. Of course, I still won't be able to get a pass until the day after Christmas, at least.

Sometimes, life is just hilarious.

Jim B. · #2 12-25-2007, 03:57 AM

As far as the guy on the job who wrote you being brain damaged: It's a requirement.

It depends totally on whether it is a governmental or municipal entity, or some private for profit company working on private property or parking garage who issued the little white kiss you found on your windshield.

Having lived in San Francisco for over 25 years where the mere THOUGHT of even finding a place to park every single time you drive anywhere is MAJOR torture, I would read it real carefully.

To whom is the fine to be remitted? If the payee is not to the City Department of Parking and Traffic, The Clerk of the Court, or the municipality, then take the "ticket" and throw it on the ground, it is attempted extortion.

Just keep in mind in some of those "private" places they might keep a log, and may have some remedy to tow away your car, in some circumstances, which is another racket, but some places do it.

Park your Porsche 911 in the handicapped space, and leave your tennis racket on the front seat, though, now that is just asking for it.

KAdams4458 · #3 12-25-2007, 05:48 AM

Heh. The guy with the Hummer has hauled around snowboards, if memory serves.

Yeah, it's a private company that issued the ticket. It's not really a big deal at all, since all I have to do is hand it to the main office people when I pop in to get the parking permit after they come back to work. It's a corporate apartment complex, and the company pays for our two parking spots. I just couldn't get a tag or window sticker since no one has been in the office due to the holidays. They'll take care of it. I just think it's hilarious.

Jim B. · #4 12-25-2007, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

Heh. The guy with the Hummer has hauled around snowboards, if memory serves.

Yeah, it's a private company that issued the ticket. It's not really a big deal at all, since all I have to do is hand it to the main office people when I pop in to get the parking permit after they come back to work. It's a corporate apartment complex, and the company pays for our two parking spots. I just couldn't get a tag or window sticker since no one has been in the office due to the holidays. They'll take care of it. I just think it's hilarious.

You do???!!

Then you will just absolutely LOVE the antics of Homeland Security and the TSA.

Just wait until the next time you go to the Airport..........

KAdams4458 · #5 12-25-2007, 07:27 AM

Oh, you mean like how they will take your bottled water away from you, but on the other side of the security screening area, you can buy another bottle of water?

I'm sorry, but if I wanted to smuggle in some sort of dangerous liquid that looked like water, I could just put it in a sealed plastic bag, and tape it to my body somewhere. If I really needed it in a water bottle, I could buy the water after going through security, dump the water, and pour my evil terrorist concoction in to the empty bottle. Problem solved!

Now, watch me end up on some watch list just because I'm not a complete moron. The security measures are a joke. Anyone with half a brain could overcome airport security as it stands now.

Wait, I just had an idea! After you government folks get done investigating me, why don't you call me up and offer me a job? I guarantee you that I could do a better job of creating security strategies than the guys that you're currently paying to do it.

As for finding the ticket hilarious... Well, I only find it funny because I already know I won't have to pay it. That ticket is about as legitimate as Monopoly money.

Jim B. · #6 12-25-2007, 08:08 AM

This makes for an interesting and amusing response except for two things.

One, is that, unlike you, these people are deadly serious. What you just said might well indeed have landed you on some kind of a "watch list" already.

You have just put in writing, for all to see, chapter, verse line and page, a way to defeat airline security. Nice going.

Second, these people have Absolutely no sense of humor, or irony. . They really feel they are doing good by enforcing these absurd laws in this way.

The simple - and politically incorrect way - to carry out these dubious policies - would be to racially profile the hell out of every 28-40 year old, swarthy, middle-eastern looking, sweating, nervous looking person that fit the typical hijacker profile, and left everyone else the hell alone, starting with the 85 year old white, Norwegian American grandmother.

They are enforcing the rules and extending them to their most absurd extremes, because of the flinty eyed politically correct types watching their every move, and making sure the rules are enforced in a politically correct, non-racially profiling way.

Those with true evil intent are undoubtedly laughing their heads off while they watch.

But, you say, there are no more planes being hijacked with terrorists using box cutters anymore and flying them into buildings.

To which I reply, "Yes, and it keeps tigers away also. There have been no wild tigers coming into the airports since 2001 either, Homeland Security certainly must work."

Listen, the last time I was at an airport, was when I came back from Scandanavia about 3 weeks before the 9/11 attacks.

One of the reasons I haven't been back is this foolishness masquerading as "Security".

When they ditch the PC antics, straighten up their act, and racially profile the real terrorist types really hard, and perform security measures reasonably, then I'll reconsider.

Meanwhile, I am mulling a possible road trip to DC next year.

Way things are now, I would never consider flying.

KAdams4458 · #7 12-25-2007, 08:58 AM

You're probably right, but I'm not one for living in fear of society. The trouble today is that more and more, the people who should keep their mouths shut don't, and the people who should speak up do not. Some people need to wake up and act like they have two brain cells to rub together. A lot of us aren't falling for the show that's being put on, and I'm not just talking about security measures.

As for my bottled water statements, I'm sure that a million people have already conceived of it long before I did. I'm simply illustrating a point. I've actually read of such things in widely published works of fiction. The reasoning that it should never be mentioned at all suggests that the next brilliant step in preventing terrorism is going to be censoring all written text, or banning books. So much for a free society. If it comes to that, I won't hesitate to move to a country that doesn't suck, if any exist.

It doesn't take a genius to see flaws in the current security measures, so it goes without saying that it wouldn't take a genius to figure out ways to defeat the security measures. Meanwhile, we're nearly as at risk as ever before, yet a large percentage of people are lulled in to believing they're safer, while they essentially lose further hours of their lives needlessly standing in line to lose there bottled water.

Yeah, I hear you on the road trip issue. Driving looks good to my wife and I, as well. Next year we'll be doing the annual trip to her family in South Dakota, and we're driving this time. Better scenery and more leg room, not to mention being able to avoid the need to rent a car when we get where we're going. The only drawback, as I see it, is that the chance of getting a real ticket is clearly higher.

(Notice how I somehow managed to pull my reply back to the original topic in that last sentence? It's not going to stay there for very long, is it?)

KAdams4458 · #8 12-25-2007, 09:02 AM

Ha. I forgot to address the tigers... Loved that part.

And... I forgot something I was going to write. Here it is:

The simple solution? Don't sell anything between security and the entry to the freakin' aircraft. Also, check people more closely. They'll be all over you for having too large of a tube of toothpaste, but they won't look twice at you for wearing a baggy sweater, or cargo pants so long as you don't set off the metal detector. Easy to fix. All they have to do is actually focus on doing the job, and less on the strict size of shampoo bottles, and whether they're in proper zipper baggies. i understand the bottles of fluids, and why they need to be small, but they're seriously sucking in general.

I can't be the only person not only outraged by the stupidity of the situation, but willing to speak out about it as well. I took a flight a while back for the first time since the whole 9-11 thing, and I sure as heck won't be doing it again. The entire approach they've taken to security is flawed beyond belief. Who do I write to to demand it be fixed?

Jim B. · #9 12-25-2007, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

You're probably right, but I'm not one for living in fear of society. The trouble today is that more and more, the people who should keep their mouths shut don't, and the people who should speak up do not. Some people need to wake up and act like they have two brain cells to rub together. A lot of us aren't falling for the show that's being put on, and I'm not just talking about security measures.

As for my bottled water statements, I'm sure that a million people have already conceived of it long before I did. I'm simply illustrating a point. I've actually read of such things in widely published works of fiction. The reasoning that it should never be mentioned at all suggests that the next brilliant step in preventing terrorism is going to be censoring all written text, or banning books. So much for a free society. If it comes to that, I won't hesitate to move to a country that doesn't suck, if any exist.

It doesn't take a genius to see flaws in the current security measures, so it goes without saying that it wouldn't take a genius to figure out ways to defeat the security measures. Meanwhile, we're nearly as at risk as ever before, yet a large percentage of people are lulled in to believing they're safer, while they essentially lose further hours of their lives needlessly standing in line to lose there bottled water.

Yeah, I hear you on the road trip issue. Driving looks good to my wife and I, as well. Next year we'll be doing the annual trip to her family in South Dakota, and we're driving this time. Better scenery and more leg room, not to mention being able to avoid the need to rent a car when we get where we're going. The only drawback, as I see it, is that the chance of getting a real ticket is clearly higher.

(Notice how I somehow managed to pull my reply back to the original topic in that last sentence? It's not going to stay there for very long, is it?)

Wasn't there some saying to the effect of "When you trade freedom for security, soon you will have neither?" or something like that?

I saw a bumper sticker in a store a few weeks ago in Berkeley when I went there to see a Berkeley Rep play there. It said:

I CAN SEE THROUGH YOUR PATRIOT ACT

Sorry for the diversion, back on topic, now.

KAdams4458 · #10 12-25-2007, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

Wasn't there some saying to the effect of "When you trade freedom for security, soon you will have neither?" or something like that?

I saw a bumper sticker in a store a few weeks ago in Berkeley when I went there to see a Berkeley Rep play there. It said:

I CAN SEE THROUGH YOUR PATRIOT ACT

Sorry for the diversion, back on topic, now.

I believe there was. It's much more than a catchy phrase, isn't it?

That would be a great bumper sticker, by the way. If I allowed them on my cars, I'd probably run out and get one.

Back on subject again... I can't wait to see if I find another present on my windshield tomorrow! I should have made a poll!

Hatterasguy · #11 12-25-2007, 09:56 AM

Ahh private parking tickets, they are fun to ignore.

I run the stop signs and pretty much ignore all traffic laws at the mall, what are the mall cops going to do ticket me? Fat chance I'll pay, not that I would actualy ever stop for them.

t walgamuth · #12 12-25-2007, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

Oh, you mean like how they will take your bottled water away from you, but on the other side of the security screening area, you can buy another bottle of water?

I'm sorry, but if I wanted to smuggle in some sort of dangerous liquid that looked like water, I could just put it in a sealed plastic bag, and tape it to my body somewhere. If I really needed it in a water bottle, I could buy the water after going through security, dump the water, and pour my evil terrorist concoction in to the empty bottle. Problem solved!

Now, watch me end up on some watch list just because I'm not a complete moron. The security measures are a joke. Anyone with half a brain could overcome airport security as it stands now.

Wait, I just had an idea! After you government folks get done investigating me, why don't you call me up and offer me a job? I guarantee you that I could do a better job of creating security strategies than the guys that you're currently paying to do it.

As for finding the ticket hilarious... Well, I only find it funny because I already know I won't have to pay it. That ticket is about as legitimate as Monopoly money.

They prolly collect the water and resell it on the other side!

Tom W

Jim B. · #13 12-25-2007, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

.

I can't be the only person not only outraged by the stupidity of the situation, but willing to speak out about it as well. I took a flight a while back for the first time since the whole 9-11 thing, and I sure as heck won't be doing it again. The entire approach they've taken to security is flawed beyond belief. Who do I write to to demand it be fixed?

Some Vietnamese-American guy is in charge of it now, I heard; write to him. The name is Thang Sa Lot.