Why you should always drink coffee...

SBS0628

...because when you're tired, you do stupid things that lead to a $50 parking ticket

Here's the story:

I have three parking permits in my car: one for each campus I work/go to school at, and one for my apartment complex. One of my campus ones and my apartment complex one are the same size and shape. The campus changes the color of the pass each semester. This semester, it's red -- the same color as my apartment complex's pass.

Normally, it's not a big deal because the back of the campus one is white (where all the instructions are printed) and the back of the apartment complex one is red with nothing written. Well, it's not a big deal when I don't forget my morning jolt of caffeine and am operating at only 50% power.

So, I got to campus, reached down, and grabbed what *felt* like the right permit. I hung it on my window, lept out of my car, and scurried off in the direction of the coffee cart. I get back to my car later to see the bright green PARKING TICKET envelope tucked under my windsheild. "What the heck? My permit's right..." and I trail off as my eyes look up and see my apartment complex permit hanging from my rear view mirror.

The kicker is, I always hide my other permits in some nook or cranny in my car so they're not just laying around in plain sight. Which, usually, is good practice. However, it completely nullifies my right to petition the ticket (you have to somehow prove the permit was in sight in the car, just not displayed correctly (like it was on the floor or your seat -- assuming it fell down or something). GRRRRRRRR.

So not what I wanted to spent $50 on this month.

(Sorry this got long. I needed to vent).

mofe

Oh that bites.  I wonder if you brought the ticket and your pass to the school police station if they would make your ticket magically go away.

hawkilady

I feel your pain... I just went to get my hair cut at lunch and only had $0.50 in change in my purse so I had 46 minutes on the meter.  Got back after 50 minutes to find a parking ticket that I had gotten 2 minutes earlier!  Mine is only $25 but it still sucks.

keb270

I would take your ticket into the parking office. The exact same thing happened to me and I was able to get the ticket voided. Just explain what happened and you might get a break. GL