Earlier this week while P5 was working with his tutor, Mr.P, M2 and I decided to swing by Costco so Mr.P could order a new pair of eyeglasses before the new year. I was still wearing my surgical boot which really slows me down when I'm walking. We pulled into the front section where the handicapped parking was and saw that there were already several cars camping handicapped spots. Seriously, at Costco where there are about 10+ handicapped spaces, people were camping spots. Mr.P and M2 got out to go ahead into the store and I said I would find them after I parked. Perhaps there are that many handicapped people shopping at Costco at a given time, but I can say now after more than a month of errand running with a handicapped pass I have seen a ton of people parking handicapped (with a placard) who look perfectly able bodied to me. I don't want to be too judgemental because you can't always tell if someone is in pain or slightly limping or what their story is, but I suspect that there are a fair number of people who use someone elses handicapped pass when that person is not with them. One day at Costco I watched a woman come up to her car in the handicapped parking area, she then proceeded to lift a 50 pound bag of kitty litter into her trunk, then jog her cart over to the cart return. Mr.P and I looked at each other and were both like, "WTF? Did that just happen?!"
So not only does there appear to be a gross abuse of handicapped parking passes, there are also the non-handicapped/non-placarded cars who still park in handicapped spots. I personally have never parked in a handicapped spot except for the two times in my life I've had foot surgery and legitimately needed to park in those spaces. I would never pull into a handicapped spot to run into the store, return a movie, drop off dry cleaning....I just know that if I were to do that a person who needed that spot would come along at that moment so I choose not to inconvenience that hypothetical person. A little bit of human decency and you know, following the rules. I often see people parked in the handicapped spots while using the RedBox DVD rental machine.
There was one day where I pulled into the parking lot of P5's therapy center. In that lot there is 1 handicapped spot which is pretty much never used, except I do frequently see one family in a very expensive newer Mercedes that uses that spot while they run their son in/out of the therapy office (and no, they don't have a handicapped placard or plate). Last year when I first noticed them doing this I thought to myself, "Stereotypical rich people...somehow the rules don't apply to them." So a few weeks ago I pulled into the lot and there was their car, sitting idle in the handicapped spot with the man behind the wheel playing with his iPhone. I pulled up parallel to him and smiled politely as I waved my handicapped placard. He made an apologetic face and quickly pulled forward and into a regular space (10 feet away). I just don't get why this guy thinks he can park in the handicapped spot when there are often plenty of spaces within 50 feet of the building.
So to finish up the Costco story from the other day, I finally gave up on handicapped parking after someone ruthlessly cut in front of me to camp a handicapped spot. As I pulled around her I waved my handicapped tag at her and shook my head in disgust; she glanced at me for a second then looked away and pretended she didn't see me. I ended up driving to the back of the parking lot where I was able to successfully camp a regular spot after much searching. Another car was camping the soon-to-vacated spot next to me, and as the driver and his teen daughter got out of their car at the same time as me I lightheartedly commented, "I think I just spent more time trying to find a parking space than the time I'll spend inside Costco!" The man replied, "Yeah, it's nuts here today." As we headed across the large parking lot together I mentioned to them, while I limped along, that I had tried to get a handicapped spot but it was impossible as they were all taken and multiple cars were camping the handicapped area. The teenage girl commented, "My friend uses her Grandma's handicapped pass all the time." Her dad replied, "That is terrible! Tell her she shouldn't do that. That is not something funny or something to be proud of." So yes, my suspicion that handicapped pass abuse exists was confirmed.
My handicapped pass is good through February, but today was the first day I ventured out in two matching shoes. Goodbye surgical boot! I did not use my handicapped pass today - even though I'm still limping and in a bit of pain, it just doesn't seem fair for me to use the pass anymore.
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