Do Whatever you Want, but Don't Take My Spot!

I’m one of those early people. I’d rather be to work early than stay late. When the day is over, I want to get home. I make it a point to get in to work early (most days ½ hour early) to get myself ready for the day without a fluster of running around doing last-minute things in a panic. In coming to work early, I have had the good fortune to land one of the prime parking spots. It’s one of those ‘closest to the door you can get without parking right next to the door’ spots. Every day for the last 5 years or so I have quite literally parked in the same spot, although my friend Deb might disagree. She claims it’s only my spot because I stole her spot. The only time I have changed that is when I either have been late due to unforeseen circumstances (and when I say late, I mean closer to contract time than I usually arrive) or if I have an appointment and need to scoot out before the buses leave. One morning I arrived at my usual time only to see someone leaving her car and walking towards the building. Fine, except for the fact that this car was parked in my spot. I thought “That must be a substitute teacher. Everyone knows this is my spot! But why would a sub be here so early?” I didn’t recognize the car or the back of the person walking in. I half wanted to chase her in and say “Um, excuse me, but you have parked in my spot. Could you please move?” But could I do that? Afterall, there is no assigned parking. She is free to park wherever she wants, as I am. But it’s the principal of the thing. If I have to park somewhere else, so does Sara, and Deb, and Dana, and so on. It’s like the domino effect. If I was so rattled by someone “moving my cheese” wouldn’t everyone else be? I took my plea to Facebook. The response was overwhelming. I got a mixture of sympathy and ribbing. Those who understood what it’s like wholeheartedly supported my stand.  In fact, I found out that the culprit found her way to my spot because two people before me had informed her that she was parking in their spots! But since I’m not one for confrontation and because it really is just a silly parking spot, I’ve decided to suck it up and park wherever there’s a free spot, which will still be my spot because I’ll just make sure I’m there earlier.