Day 3: I.Hate.Parking.Enforcement.

The title of this blog speaks for itself... however, I'm going to take this blog as an opportunity to vent... be prepared!

We employees at the 18th District Court Service Unit absolutely DREAD seeing these tickets on our windshield way too often. Let me give you a bit of background information: As you saw from my picture yesterday, I work in a city-like community. The disadvantage to that is that parking is scarce and most have to rely on street parking. Unfortunately, my coworkers and myself are not an exception to this (even though we spend 40 hours a week serving the public and protecting our community) and do not get the luxury of utilizing a parking garage unless we want to pay hundreds of dollars a month for a spot. So, instead, we are forced to park in the residential areas behind the courthouse, which just happen to be 2 hour parking. This means that we have go outside in the freezing cold, rain, snow, ice, humidity, storms, etc. every 2 hours to move our cars to keep from getting a parking ticket. Some might think this is nice because you get a short break from working, which sometimes is nice. However, when you are stuck in court during a trial, have a mandatory meeting, or are busy writing reports, this can be quit an inconvenience. Take today for example: I'm sitting in a meeting with a family I have just met and the parents are crying because they are concerned about their daughter who keeps running away to her boyfriend's house, who by the way is only 14 years old and actively trying to impregnate her. Do you think I really have the ability to stop during this meeting and say to the parents, "I apologize, I realize you are crying hysterically, but I need to leave for 15 minutes to avoid getting a parking ticket." Ya... that can't happen. So instead, I wait till after the family has left, grab my keys, and head out to my car. Then, I see this awful awful sight... that STUPID white and orange piece of paper printed out on my windshield telling me that if I had made it out there just 15 minutes prior, I would have avoided a parking ticket... UGHHH.I.HATE.PARKING.ENFORCEMENT. I might as well just start giving them back the paychecks they give me every 2 weeks, because now it feels as though I am actually paying the City of Alexandria to go work for them.