I recently experience a situation that I had only heard about and had often laughed about. After attending a concert a group of friends and I decided to go to a local restaurant downtown for breakfast before heading home. The parking lot in front of the restaurant was full but we were able to find parking in the lot across the street. Great location!
After an hour or so we left the restaurant to find that all of our cars were gone; and not just the cars of our group, but a number of others as well. A crowd of about a dozen irate people had formed in the parking lot. After about two minutes of people asking each other “did you see anything?” a gentleman comes over and points out a small sign on a Pay Box at the north east corner of the lot. Mind you most cars enter in from the south west corner, because all of the streets in the area are one-way driving. Meaning we would have seen the Pay Box on our way out, not on our way in.
As I walk toward the Pay Box I notice a sign about two feet off of the ground that reads “All cars must pay, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”, then I see a sign that reads “All violators will be towed at the owner’s expense.” This is no longer a great location!
As I am calling the tow service to get information about our cars and the process for getting them back, I hear one of my friends say, “I knew it was too good to be true, free parking downtown on a Saturday night”. I thought about his comment for a moment and decided he was right! Free parking on a Saturday night? We should have looked for a sign.
Because we were so eager to find a parking spot we forgot to consider our surroundings. Downtown on a Saturday night in a dining and entertainment district, we should have looked for a sign. Because we didn’t, we learned a $195 lesson.
My take away from this experience… when you are in a hurry, pause and look for signs that you are making the best decision. Acting fast may get you the first seat at the table but it may also cost you more than the price of the meal when you leave.
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