Today I took my parents to the grocery store. My mom has a handicap placard. So, we parked in one of the handicap spots.

As I pulled into the space, a lady pulled into the wheelchair access space right next to me. (seriously close to my car too) An area that is NOT considered a parking spot.

So, as my parents and I were getting out of the car, I mentioned to the lady something like "you know you can be ticketed for parking in the wheelchair access space, even if you have a valid permit". You'd think I'd just tried to carjack her or something. She naturally went off on me.

I was trying to be nice and save her a parking ticket. (the guy who patrols the parking lots to write tickets for handicap parking violations was down by Kmart at the time, and was heading that way) She started to scream at me, and was calling me all sorts of bad words. (one started with the letter "F", and another one started with the letter "B", and there were a few others)

She was yelling that she could fall down... I believed her. I also noticed that she didnt have the placard or plate. (could be she forgot to put it up tho. I saw her walking, and really believe that she probably has a placard. Walked worse than my mom does) I did tell her that I totally understand the falling down...since I have MS and the vertigo has occasionally snuck up on me and knocked me to the floor a few times. (and I've tripped over myself a few times in the past few years)

There were also about 5 other open handicap spaces.

I tried to tell her that Ticket Writing guy was in the area and he WILL write tickets to people parked in the wheelchair access space (seen him do it) and he'll even sit there with his car behind the illegally parked car until the owner comes out and will use public humiliation to educate them in not parking illegally. She was too busy yelling at me tho to really listen.

I was just trying to warn her that the ticket guy was probably going to give her a ticket for parking in the wheelchair access. Plus the fact that the car on the other side belonged to a family that I've seen at the store before that the husband uses a motorized wheelchair, and for how close she'd parked to them, she was blocking his ability to get into his car when they came out of the store.

She was really ticked off, and so I just left it at that and went into the store with my parents. I did go over and warn the customer service guy about her and that she was really mad. Just in case she went in there to complain about me saying something to her.

On my way out, the guy who uses the wheelchair that was parked next to where she was, was talking to an employee of the store outside. (cart pusher) and the cart pusher was telling him about the lady being parked next to wheelchair guy's car. (the lady was gone by that point) Wheelchair guy said that he'd have written her a ticket himself, since he's apparently been trained to do that and carries a ticket book around with him. He was disappointed that he missed her. Apparently he loves to write tickets to people.

I told him that if I'd known he could write the tickets, I'd have come and gotten him myself. I can totally understand the frustration and fear of falling down and hurting yourself when walking into a store....but she really needed to realize that there are others that really need that wheelchair access space to be able to get in and out of their cars, and that she'd be seriously inconveniencing them. (or making it dangerous for people in wheelchairs to even attempt to get in and out of their car)

Especially since there were other handicap spaces available that she could have used (on the other side of the aisle)

I wonder if I was wrong in saying something...but I felt like it was ok to do so, since she could have parked in one of the other open legal spots as long as she had a placard.

As they say: No good deed goes unpunished!

Maybe she'll get a ticket next time.

The car she was driving did look kind of familiar, so I think I've seen her park there before, just never have actually seen her do it in person...just saw the car parked stupidly.

I kind of got the feeling that she never read the handy-dandy guide that comes with the placard that tells you where to park and where not to park your car when you have a placard. Maybe she's never had anyone call her on it before.

It was interesting that I didnt see a placard in the window, altho if it is the same car I've seen parking like that, she does have a placard. She probably just forgot to get it out. I didnt even mention that she needs to display the placard.

I dont like using my mom's placard that often. A lot of times, I'll just drop my mom off at the door and then go park in a normal spot and leave the handicap spots for people who really need them. I can always go pick my mom up at the door if I need to. Today at the grocery store, my mom wanted to walk in, and was insisting that I park in the handicap spot, since the store was swamped. She didnt want to hold up traffic getting out of the car at the door.

i HATE HATE HATE when folks share the handicap spot.

My mom uses a wheel chair frequently, and so many times I come out of the store with her, only to find I CANT get her back in the car, because there is not enough room between the car and the spot stealer to even open the door fully, let alone get a wheel chair up next to the car. by the time you find a mall cop or a ticket writer you are exausted, worn out, and ready to lay down in the parking lot yourself.

I tried to stop one really hateful old man from using the spot, and he sprayed me in venom. Told me how he is handicapped. He was clearly suffering from some lung disease from smoking himself to death in his younger days, and clearly needed the space, but there were 6 open spaces, and he DEMANADED the closest one to the door. I pointed to the parking lot cop and warned him she was coming. He flipped her the bird and shouted she has NO rights over where he can and cannot park. He was going to BUY CIGARETTES and come right out anyway. She saw him wave the middle finger at him, and made a mad dash to his spot. She blocked him in, and gave him a $150 ticket. She wouldnt let him out till she lectured him, and had to call the cops to get him to calm down. He was LIVID! I was watching from the distance. I felt bad for him, but I also know how hard it is to get back into a car with a wheel chair when the access is blocked.

Where do they get all this venom from? You know if you shared their spot, they would go off on you.

Erin, You were right but you don't have to be the one to take the ****. We all fall down sometimes but that does not give her or us extra- special rights. I didn't read the flyer either but I'm NOT stupid and doubt she is either. Well, Duh, a rectangle with stripes in it mean NO. If she's really that stupid maybe she should not be on the road. But it's not your responsibility to tell her and get yelled at. She 's an ****** and just tell Customer Service or whatever. Let them determine what's going on. DH, when trying to push my chair to my door and someone TOOK the wheelchair section sometimes accidently hits their car, they're so close. He's just trying to get me in out of cold or rain. What she did is just rude to others.

Why would you want to help a mean person like that avoid a ticket?

I hope all those venomous people die of a heart attack or something whilr spewing. Being handicapped doesn't give you rights to be mean. To Anyone.

all it takes is ONCE for YOU to need to get in or out of a car with a wheel chair to realise just how hard it is to do when someone is parked so close that able bodied folks cant get in and out of their cars, let alone walkers, or wheel chairs, and scooters.

I hope they learn it ONCE, so they can understand.

That happened to me one time. I had pulled into a handicapped spot and pulled way over, so the lift could slide the scooter out the side and sit it down.

When I came back, someone had pulled to close, so I had the carryout guy, pull my car out into the traffic lane, so I could have the room to put the scooter back into the minivan.

The said stupid parker, came out to leave and was perturbed, when he had to wait for me..LOL

temporary insanity on my part?

I'd make a blonde joke about her, but I dont want to insult other blondes. (lady's hair looked like she'd over bleached it a few dozen times)

Well, it was possible that she only recently started using the handicap spots and didnt know what spots were allowed? I'm hoping that after she screamed at me and left (I saw her get out of the car, and thought she went in the store, but she was gone when my parents and I came out) that maybe she thought about what she did and realized that she was wrong, and might start parking only in the allowed areas of the handicap parking, and not in the wheelchair access areas.

I was surprised that the whole time she was yelling at me that I was able to stay calm. Normally when someone calls me the "b" word, I would go off right back at them. I didnt go off on her tho...which is really weird for me. After the whole confrontation was over tho, and I was talking to my parents about her, that's when I was going off...I was almost wishing that I'd run into her in the store, so I could tell her where to go. Altho, I probably wouldnt have. Not with my parents there with me. (40yrs old and I'm still afraid of my dad yelling at me for swearing)