Maybe Over the Line, But at Least They Didn't Shoot Me.

Don't know what got into me Sunday. I'm not much of a confrontational guy, but something about this just irked me.

I went to the Philly Pretzel Factory and this big SUV was parked this way at the Dunkin' Donuts.  The front end was into the handicap parking spot, the back end was out in the driveway of the parking lot and the middle was across the crosswalk lined for no parking.

I just wondered at the self-centeredness of this person. I wobbled over and it didn't have a handicap license plate and there was no handicap placard on display.

So I decided to snap some pictures.  No placard inside the windshield anywhere. There was a maintence man there empting the trash cans. he was smiling at me and nodding his head in agreement.

I was really curious about the owner.

Then out he came from I guess Dunkin' Donuts. He was a maybe thirty-something, looked pretty fit and well-built. Another guy followed behind him.

The first guy began shouting to me, asking if I wanted to buy the vehicle, said it was for sale.

After a bit of shouting at me, the other guy suddenly held up a placard and the first guy said, "Why don't you take a photo of that?"

I should have, but didn't react quick enough.

I told him it wasn't visibly displayed on the car as it should be. Then I asked what his handicap was, "an inability to park properly?"

The placard being held up meant nothing, since it wasn't on the car. They both looked pretty hale and hardy. Maybe someone in the family is handicapped, but you aren't supposed to use the placard unless they are along.

I probably wouldn't even have taken notice if the car had been parked within the parking space lines. This, though, was pretty blatant.

I desiged the tag number, one of those black plates you pay extra for, but it had no wheelchair icon on it.

I hobbled back to my car and left them flapping their gums to the wind. Like I said, I don't normally do this kind of thing, so maybe I was wrong. I could have been beaten up, but somehow this one just got to me. There lucky I wasn't a cop or they would have gotten a nice hefty ticket.