There are unspoken rules regarding parking. Did someone park a little too close? Fine. Completely outside of the parking spot lines? Whatever. Stealing someone else’s parking spot? Not! These residents share how they got sweet revenge on their neighbors for swiping their coveted parking spots. Content has been edited for clarity.
‘I Was Only Parked In This Spot For Five Minutes!’
“One time, I saw an elderly man trying to get into the last handicapped parking spot at the Walgreens lot I was in. Just before he was about to park, a man with no handicap placard zipped into the parking spot and walked into the store.
Coincidentally, the local police department oftentimes gathered in the Walgreens parking lot. They met at the lot about an hour before their shifts and reviewed their daily briefings and reports. One of the officers watched as the man stole the handicapped parking spot, and walked over to the Walgreens. He watched as the elderly man parked a few rows deep in the lot and started to dig around in his car trunk. The elderly man pulled out a tire boot and locked it onto the other man’s car. The officer sat back, watched, and pulled out his ticket book and started to write one up.
The man who parked in the handicapped spot came out with a bag of prescriptions and saw the tire boot. He cussed and screamed, and had no idea where the tire boot came from. He spun around searching for a police car and noticed the two police cruisers parked in the lot.
The man yelled, ‘Why are you picking on me?! I was only parked in this spot for five minutes!’
The officers asked, ‘What seems to be the problem?’
He snarled, ‘You know what’s wrong with my car. FIX IT!’
Two of the police officers simply smirked in his direction.
The third officer responded, ‘Yes sir, you are correct. I do need to fix this for you, can you hold this for a minute?’
The officer handed him a ticket for parking in a handicapped spot with a business card for Joe’s Towing attached. The description on the ticket read, ‘To get the boot removed call Joe’s’.
When the man looked at the officer, his face turned beet red.
The officer continued, ‘They will come out and remove the boot for a minimum of seventy-five dollars. Sometimes, it can be up to one hundred and fifty dollars depending on your attitude. They have the boot keys, I don’t. I wouldn’t recommend holding on to your current attitude when you call Joe’s. It could get expensive.’
The man yelled, ‘One hundred fifty dollars for five minutes?!’ as he kicked the boot on his car.
The elderly man finally came out of Walgreens, to which the officer smiled and waved when he walked by.”
You Nailed It!
“Folks who were not PAYING tenants constantly parked in tenant-only lots at my college apartment complex. Continually, paying residents parked blocks away and walked to their homes. It wasn’t particularly fun at night, as unsafe situations were bound to occur while we walked home.
I was angry about the parking situation.
Tenants received parking passes for their windows. It was easy to spot the alien vehicles during the day. If any tenants forgot to display their passes, well, they learned a valuable lesson.
Nails were relatively cheap and easy to carry around in a book bag. If someone who wasn’t a tenant parked in the tenant-only lot, I shoved one or two nails into their tires. I was told there were cameras in the parking lot, but they must not have worked because I never got caught in the act.
I did not hunt for the cars. I just applied the solution when the ‘opportunity’ presented itself.
The solution sometimes resulted in an offender being parked in a tenant spot for a longer time, but I rarely noticed cars repeating the infraction after they received my treatment. Perhaps some did, I don’t know.
I wouldn’t do it again, but I still don’t feel bad. My roommates and I allowed a guest to crash on the couch for a day or two here and there, but if they parked in our lots? No way! If you didn’t pay, you didn’t park. If the nighttime walk was unavoidable, at least one of us had a guest pick us up so nobody made the trek alone. I came up with some creative self-defense tools and I felt relatively safe when I was not alone.
I lived on Top Ramen and hard, stinky sink water most of the time to make my rent. I earned my tenant parking.”
Parking Garage Guilt-Trip
“The place I worked at had two parking garages. The first garage was attached to the office building and was reserved parking only. The second garage was one city block away, and it was for the employees who didn’t have reserved parking spaces. Both garages were closed to the public, so employees didn’t have to compete with the general public for parking.
Some people who had to park in the second garage got into the habit of ‘patrolling’ the first garage around mid-to-late afternoon and searched for empty spaces to park in. They believed if a parking space was empty around five in the afternoon, the person whose space it was must have already left for the day. In their eyes, the spot was considered ‘free’.
They didn’t take into consideration that there were many reasons someone might not be parked in their space that late in the day, but would still be returning to the office. Maybe they had an afternoon meeting, a doctor’s appointment, or maybe they worked flex time and their lunch hour was in the afternoon.
I worked flex time and was often away from the office from about two-thirty to three-thirty. I became very, very tired of coming back to work and finding someone else’s car in my reserved space. It got to the point that it was happening multiple times per week.
I started to print out signs. They weren’t anything fancy, just printed on normal copy paper. I made the font big enough so the message filled the page. The signs read:
‘I don’t appreciate your parking in my reserved parking space. For future reference:
Mondays, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – This is not your parking space.
Tuesdays, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – This is not your parking space.
Wednesdays, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – This is not your parking space.
Thursdays, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – This is not your parking space.
Fridays, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – This is not your parking space.
Thank you.’
I kept a big stack of the signs in my car, along with a couple of rolls of heavy-duty packing tape. When I found someone in my parking space, I plastered every glass surface on the car with the signs. I made sure nothing touched the paint or anything that could be damaged by the tape. When I say plastered, I meant plastered. Depending on the size of the car, I put four of them on one side window, eight to twelve on the windshield, and however many the rear window held. It was impossible to drive if the signs were not removed.
Irritating, but it didn’t take that long to rip paper signs off your car. That’s why I used packing tape and made sure I smoothed every single piece of tape with my fingernail. There weren’t air bubbles, corners, or edges that stuck up to make removal easy. Not a single piece of tape overlapped another. In other words, I made sure they couldn’t just rip the tape off; they likely had to use a razor blade to remove all the tape and its residue, and it would eat up a significant amount of their time.
I think I made signs three times before word got out not to mess with my parking space. No one ever parked in my space again.”
‘She Went To Leave, And I Heard An Ear-Piercing Shriek’
“At the place I worked, we had assigned parking. I worked in a small country town on the outskirts. My co-worker was too lazy to park in her space, so she took mine. I didn’t mind if I walked to work, but it was the principle of the situation. If she would have asked, I would have traded her parking spots. After I asked my co-worker to not park in my spot numerous times, I hatched a plan.
She was terrified of spiders, to the extreme where she left work a few times when she saw them inside the building. Springtime was arriving, which meant bugs were arriving too.
In casual conversation, I told her, ‘I can’t wait to see the spiders, bugs, and wildlife again this spring!’
I loved nature, bugs, and animals, and I was truly excited. I talked to her for days about the subject.
I then divulged, ‘There is a spider nest super close to the building. I LOVE seeing them in my car!’
I proceeded to make some tiny ‘spiders’ from yarn, then placed some on her car. She went to leave and I heard an ear-piercing shriek.
She ran inside, grabbed me, and screamed, ‘There are spiders EVERYWHERE in my car!’
If you got close enough to her car, you could tell they were little bits of yarn, but no way would she get close enough. I told her I’d remove the ‘spiders’, which I did.
I told her, ‘You’re good to go, but you might still have some spiders inside your car.’
She had her husband come get her car and drove his vehicle ever since. Oh, and she never parked in my space again.”
Residential Parking Rivalry
“In my neighborhood, there was a parking area for residents who lived on our block. Some neighbors lived further away and believed they could park there. I contacted our local council, and they sent letters to those neighbors. The letters explained that the parking spaces were allocated, specifically for residents on our block. I came home from my night shift unable to find a parking space. One of the ‘other neighbors’ (who had received a letter from the council asking her not to park there) had parked in one of our spaces. I simply parked my car so it was blocking her in. I had a cup of tea, then went to bed.
Around ten in the morning, my wife woke me up and told me, ‘There is a woman at the front door, and she is claiming you are blocking her car.’
I said to my wife, ‘Tell the neighbor I am in bed after a long night shift, and to come back later.’
Ten minutes later, the woman banged on our door and screamed furiously about how she was late for work. I got up, put some underwear on, and answered the door.
I told her, ‘I just got off work and need to get some rest. If you come back later, I will move my car. You received a letter from the council asking you not to park in my spot, and you ignored it. If you have any complaints, take them to the council! If you come back soon, I will not answer the door, sleep in later, and never move my car!’
I closed the door and went back to bed. She was in shock. The neighbor hasn’t parked there for the past two and a half years.”
Parking Spot Payback
“When this story took place, I was working for the vice president of a company as his executive assistant. It was a well-known tradition across the company that if the vice president was on vacation and their parking spot was free, the spot now belonged to the executive assistant. This applied to the secretary and the owner of the company too. In my eyes, the rule was fair. The parking lot was quite large and it was a far walk to the office.
One week, the vice president went on vacation. This meant the parking spot was finally mine! The days of having my parking spot stolen were gone. I could leave for lunch and have a guaranteed parking spot waiting when I arrived back at the office.
One man I worked with, Bruce, was extremely jealous about the parking spot I had been temporarily gifted. He planned to show everyone that he did not have to abide by the parking rule and that the esteemed parking spot was on a first-come, first ‘Got it!’ basis.
When the vice president was out of the office, Bruce said, ‘I think I am going to try to move my car into your spot when you go to lunch.’
I kindly told him, ‘I wouldn’t try it. I seriously will have your vehicle towed.’
Luckily, the company I worked for had a security department that provided this service. Bruce tried intimidating me and threatening me, which only made me more determined to follow through with my plan. Now keep in mind, that if I was going to be out the same day as our vice president, I gave the spot to someone in our department. Generally, I would give the parking spot to someone who appreciated the gesture. This guy was just being rude.
I went out to lunch and came back to find Bruce had parked in the spot. I called and asked him to move his car and he refused.
I told him, ‘If you don’t move your car right now, security will be towing it soon.’
Bruce threatened me and began his usual tantrum. Wrong thing to do. I called security and they asked him to move his car. Again, he refused. About fifteen minutes later, he got a call from someone who was watching out the window. They saw the tow truck moving his car. Bruce was furious and threw a huge fit! When the vice president came back the next week, Bruce thought he was going to get me in trouble and told them about the incident. It backfired.
My boss just laughed and told him, ‘You were warned multiple times. You knew that parking spot belonged to the executive assistant.’
It was the last time Bruce ever took the spot again.”
Petty Or Perfectly Justified?
“I lived in a building with about twelve apartments in it and each one had a numbered parking space. My parking spot was right by the front door, but it would sometimes stay open if I wasn’t home. After my spot was stolen a few times and being forced to park elsewhere, I became fed up. I came home after a night out and found a car in my spot. The building had a set of buzzers at the front door so you could notify the apartment you were visiting and they could let you in. Instead of just parking somewhere else, I buzzed every apartment until people started coming out.
I said to each person, ‘Do you know who’s car this is?’ until someone owned up to it.
The individual who confessed was visiting someone in the building, and they were pretty mad that they had to get out of bed at three in the morning to move their car. I waited for them to move it, and when they came back to the building I pointed to the number on the ground.
‘See that number?’ I asked, ‘That’s MY apartment number. These spaces are numbered for the residents! Keep that in mind next time you visit!’
Someone must have complained to the management because they put up a sign shortly afterward.”
The Nightclub Nuisance
“I exited a nightclub and found a brand new car parked behind my car. I went back inside and informed the bartender about the situation.
He said, ‘I know the car! It is the assistant manager’s, I will page her over for you.’
He paged her and she came over.
Holding her drink, she said, ‘I’ll be right out!’
I walked outside and waited. Ten minutes later, I went back inside and complained. The barkeep paged her once more.
Again, she said, ‘I’ll be out soon!’
I waited. After five minutes, I lit a smoke, took a few hits, then dropped it through the cracked open sunroof onto her beautiful leather car seat. Each minute that passed, I dropped another lit smoke through the roof onto the seats. Do you know what a lit smoke does to tan leather seats? The result is ugly and impossible to repair. There were at least fifteen smokes in the car before she finally came out and moved her vehicle. It was dark out and she had been drinking, so I don’t think she noticed. I wish I could have seen her reaction the next morning.”
No Chain, No Gain!
“I had a reserved parking lot at work, which I was very grateful for as local parking was expensive and scarce.
There had been a few instances in the past where someone from the general public took our parking spot. To prevent it, all of our spaces were closed by chains between two metal posts when we weren’t there. I had the only key to the padlock on my chain. Although the chain was quite loose, it was perfectly effective and indicated this was a reserved space.
Or so I thought.
On Friday, I came to work and found that there was a very small car in my space. The padlock was still in place, so either the driver must have got someone else to raise the chain and then scraped their in underneath it, or there was another key to the lock.
I reversed out of the lot and hunted for somewhere else to park, which meant I was late for work.
As I walked back, fuming, I passed a hardware store and had an idea. I went inside the store and purchased a large new padlock. Then I went back to my space, hauled in all the slack on the chain, and put the new padlock through a different link. The chain was now tighter across the back of the small car, which made it difficult to exit the parking spot.
There was no way could the trespasser raise the chain to get their vehicle underneath, and even if they had a duplicate key to the original padlock, it wouldn’t do them any good.
Then I went to work. At the end of the day, I walked back to my car, paid the high charges, and drove home.
Bear in mind, that this was a Friday and the following Monday was a holiday. I wouldn’t be at work. Tuesday morning, I got a lift to work from my husband. The little car was still sitting there, chained up. I undid the new padlock and by lunchtime, the car was gone.
I never did find out who took my space, but they never did it again.”
A Recipe For Disaster
“A guy began to park across my driveway, so I left a polite note which asked them not to. They ignored it. The next day, they parked across my driveway again. So, I decided to print signs to place on their car.
The signs read, ‘Do NOT block driveway’ in large letters. I placed them across the driver’s side windshield and secured them with homemade glue. The ‘glue’ recipe consisted of flour, water, and eggs. The mixture was strong and ensured the signs would not blow away.
The next morning it took him several hours to remove the signs. He tried hot and cold water, scrapers, and other tools.
He never parked across my driveway again.”
Hardware Store Hostility
“When I was at The University of Oklahoma for my freshman year (1969), I was not able to get tickets for the Oklahoma and Nebraska game. I slept in and intended to run some errands while I listened to the game on the radio. When I woke up, two cars were parked in my driveway and three on my lawn. All of the cars had Nebraska plates. I was blocked in my driveway so I called a friend. We went to the hardware store and picked up some cinder blocks, chains, and locks.
When the game was over, five cars were sitting on cinder blocks, and five sets of tires were stacked and sitting in my garage. All of the tires were locked and chained. I ‘sold’ those tires back to the owners for seventy-five dollars a set. I did not loan them my floor jack or impact wrench, they had to figure out the situation on their own. To make things even sweeter, Nebraska lost the game.”
‘Three Hours Later, She Showed Up And Wanted To Know Where Her Car Was’
“I had a commercial property for my metalworking business and there were only two parking spots. People often parked in the second spot, and I always left a note which asked them not to park there again. There was one car that continued to park in the spot every day.
One day I hired a crew to help me move something. While we were setting up inside, the car parked in the second spot, and the driver could not be found. I had three ‘No Parking’ signs that were completely visible. So, I had the driver’s car towed. Three hours later, she showed up and wanted to know where her car was since she parked there every day.
I confronted her and questioned, ‘Did you get my notes?’
She nodded.
I asked, ‘Did you see the signs?’
She simply said, ‘Yes.’
I told her, ‘Call the number to the tow company on the sign.’
She still felt indignant.”
