[Carmen]

Ok. I get it. Owning a car in nyc is not only an exercise in patience, but also means that you need to deal with the fact that you're car is going to get destroyed parking it on the street (as a sidenote, my car sustained almost no damage during the 18 months I lived in bedstuy and now looks about 15 years old after 6 months of parking in the slope...I digress.)

So I'm sitting in my car, parked, today waiting for alternate side to end (about 5 minutes till the half hour.) I see minivan pull up beside the car in front of me (sort of) and I realize she's going to try to wedge into the spot left in front of me (very tight.) She proceeds to try about 4 times to just back straight into the spot, then appears to give up and not only hops up on the curb, but then hits my car about 5 times WHILE I'M SITTING IN IT and shes trying to park. Basically it was bumper cars between be and the car she was pulling behind. I mean, this was enough force to actually slide my car backwards a slight amount. So I get out and throw up my hands like "wtf" and the woman just looks at me and goes "Oh I'm no good at parking this big van" as she walks away.



I was so outraged that I didn't respond. A large part of me would love to go back and call the cops but I know they're not going to do anything since this seems to be common practice but seriously- would you try to park like that when the owner of the other vehicle is SITTING IN IT?!

gkjnsdkl nieuhfdng. Sometimes NY living infuriates me.


[/rant]
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whoa hey whoa hey whoa

[Drunken Revival]

It is a common practice...

You know your options: 1) get rid of your car, 2) beat the shit out of violators, 3) deal with it. Dings and dents on your 2003 Honda Accord carry as much consequence as, oh let's see, spilling milk.

Just curious, at what point in your years as a New Yorker did you all the sudden develop this expectancy of common courtesy on the roadways? It doesn't exist, it never has.

[Carmen]

I would just assume that you wouldn't hit someones car while they're actually sitting in it. I mean, bumping while parking is one thing but i would def circle the block for an hour instead of risking hitting a car with its owner watching me.
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whoa hey whoa hey whoa

[LongTimeSloper]

You should have gotten out of the car right then and there and spoken to her about it.

And, that sucks too, very rude, i couldn't imagine just walking away with a flip of the hand

[Whatchuwant]

Yea, when I had my car (before it got smashed to smithereens last year WHILE IT WAS PARKED) I would get out the very second someone tapped it. Can't just keep letting them bump you cause then they think you don't give a shit, when clearly, they are assholes!

People suck Carm- sorry you had to deal with that.
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"...you can choose the rain....but I choose the sun..." - N. Costa

[booklaw]

You should have waited until she left, and then let the air out of all of her tires.

[Drunken Revival]

I honestly can't believe that you sat in your car while someone bumped you over and over again...

I honestly can't believe that you had no response for her "whatever" attitude... did you immediately think that you were going to rip her a new asshole on the brooklyian?

[young & modern]

she was prolly scared of her, the people who engage in that kind of behaviour are usually pretty tough.

[Drunken Revival]

I'd say Y & M hit the nail on the head... middle aged, mini van owning women who can barely drive are pretty bad ass.

I think I'm getting a boner.

[superjonbot]

That sucks about your car getting bumped, I feel for you... but my motorcycle with the bent handlebars that got knocked over 2 weeks ago thinks you are whining.

[Jamzer]

It is not common practice to hit a car when the owner is in it.

Add me to the list of people who are amazed that you let this person get away with hitting your car multiple times and then she totally blew you off. I don't know how I would have reacted, but if I reacted the way you did I think I would be too embarrassed to repeat the story here.

[Carmen]

What should I have done, went up and punched her in the face? I mean, I could have made a scene but its not like calling the police and reporting it as an accident would have done anything. I guess I sort of expected an apology just out of basic human to human respect and when she just scurried off I was a bit shocked. The fact that I didn't fly off the handle and act like a lunatic doesn't make me embarrassed as everyone seems to be implying I should be.
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whoa hey whoa hey whoa

[Drunken Revival]

Well.. just allow us all to be embarrassed for you. It DOES take a village.

[gretch]

Can you sue her, just for the sake of it? IT's just unacceptable. If I were you I would have been jumping out and yelling at her right there, taking her driver's licence no. and reporting to police or something as reckless behavior or damage to the property or something. Regardless or not I look lunatic. She should not be allowed to park in Park Slope if she could not hundle.

[booklaw]

I don't think I can hundle either. Hundle?

[Old Time Brooklyn]

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

[Carmen]

[prezst]

carry a can of yellow spray paint in your trunk. it might come-in handy.

[Carnivore]

[arches]

Or there's always the "green" option...



Still, you can't paint, glue, banana, whatever, unless you apply a healthy dose of WTF-are-you-doing-horn-honking while the battering is underway. Maybe she thought you didn't care (until she was done battering your car). Some people need instant feedback and behavior modification.

[doublediamond]

It's super crappy that she kept hitting your car, especially with you in it. I know that I freak out parking if someone is sitting on a stoop watching me. I get extra careful.

That said, I'm puzzled as to why after the second tap you didn't get out of your car and wave at her to roll down her window. You wouldn't have had to be a jerk, and you could have nicely said something like, "Hey, I'm in the car behind you and you've hit me twice. I don't think you're going to fit without hitting me again."

Hindsight is 20/20 but if there's a next time, just flash a big smile and get out of the car!
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I believe in peace, bitch.

[calm head]

bumpers are made for bumping

[booklaw]

calm head is mistaken. Bumpers are made for preventing serious damage to the car in the event of an accident.

When bumpers bump, they get horribly scratched and dented, and reduce the trade-in value of the car.

[Lo Kee]

What an id ee oooot.

I would have been inclined to lose my cool.
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giggity giggity

[Old Time Brooklyn]

There's a parking shortage. So you try and fit in any spot you can. Like I said, if people didn't park like pigs it'd be less of a problem.

[filmlover44]

[Old Time Brooklyn]

I didn't say it was her fault. I asked how she was parked. A lot of people leave room for their trunk so that 15 people can stand behind their car and watch them unload.

But if you park your car around "Park" Slope and think you're not gonna get slammed by people jamming into spots, you're a bit naive.

[young & modern]

[kick rocks!!!!]

[Carnivore]

Could be worse.

http://fapipo.today.com/2008/09/24/nice-parkingmoron-pics/
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[modsquad]

I think you have to be more philosophical about parking a car on NYC streets. If the OP had not been in the car he would not have known that it was hit. Not much different than a tree falling in the woods. Many people consider bumpers no more than a starting point to define a parking space. Cars on the street are a little like stoops on a brownstone. Sort of quasi public, OK to lean on, to use the mirrors to apply make up or pop zits, put your foot up on the tire to tie your shoes etc. When I first moved to NY, I remember looking out my window and seeing kids leaning on my car, "Jesus H Christ, who do those little shits think they are!" Letting go of that attitude has set me free. I don't even lock my car anymore. Oh yea, I would never buy a new car, that's just crazy.

[filmlover44]

[Old Time Brooklyn]

Screw you with your "useless." Like your posts are part of the borough's water cooler talk every day.

Problem is most people don't make space. They hog.

[BrooklynJack]

here are a couple of options

http://www.bumperbadger.com/

http://www.bumperbully.com/

people are always going to park using the braille method

[daver]

[homeowner]

Mod note: Stop it with the name calling. The subject at hand is parking. Discussions about how much you dislike one another can be done by pm.

[daver]

That post contained useful information, both on and off topic.

Gee.

Surprise.

It's gone.
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"It's only as boring as you make it."

You're making me want to poke my eyes out with a spoon. Stop that.

Bringing the term thin-skinned to a whole new level!

[Mamacita]

[Mamacita]

Hey, what about Carmen!?!? She's pretty awesome too. Even if her car's all banged up.

All kidding aside, let's keep on topic gentlemen.
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(\__/)
(=’.'=)
(”)_(”) "Gentrifire Extinguisher"

[MeredithB]

Um, there's a reason they are called bumpers and fenders. To take bumps and fend of dents.
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Walking on the beaches looking at the peaches.

[good one]

yeah, ok, bumpers are made to bump but when you smack into a car so hard that you CRACK the bumper or smash the headlight then I thinbk you are working your parking a little too hard. Both of these things has happened to me. In addition, check this out, I was parked at the first spot on a corner and there was a spot in between me and the car in front of me (because there was a tree that would block you from being able to open the drivers side door). When I returned to get my car, my car (with emergency break on and in gear) was pushed up smack against the car in front for me. I was now the car in the spot that you couldn't open the door cause it was now flush against the tree). some jackoff, I assume with a very large truck, managed to push my car, damage it too, and get himself a parking space to boot! nice world we live in, huh?

[BoogieKnight]

Tapa-tapa the missus and I call it. Backing in slowly and gently, GENTLY, tapping the bumper in from or back of you while parking is allowed. But it should be no harder than as if a person physically bumped into you while walking. Like if you hit a person with your car at that speed they shouldn't fall over or even be hurt. Gently. You're parking so you should probably not being going faster than even 5mph in either direction.

But obviously people are stupid and even the best of us misjudge all the time and just crack into other's car at racing speeds.

ITA that its weird that you sat in your car while someone just slammed into you numerous times.

[eggcream]

5 times? I would have stopped her the first time.

[Garfunky]