It looks like it's gonna be a snowy one. We've already had a foot and a half, and there's atleast half a foot on the way, and it isnt even the first day of winter, officially.
Chicago has lots of little winter quirks. One of them is marking your territory. As soon as it snows, people dig out a spot, and when they move out of the parking spot, they put chairs there. Now, while I understand if you labor over the spot, you might not want to dig out another. But some people dont even dig snow at. And they milk it until every centimeter of snow is gone. And if you park in their spot, then you get your window smashed in or your tires slashed.
Now, I would understand this, perhaps, if we were talking property owners. They pay the taxes, It's their little stretch of cement for all intents and purposes. But we arent. These are all multi-unit buildings. Basically, it's no different than pissing to mark your territory...if you just happened to be the first one home from work when it snowed, voila! A spot for the next four months. And it has nothing to do with snow. It's just an excuse because this city sucks for parking.
I really cant grasp the concept of what kind of person it takes to vandalize a person's vehicle simply because they're in your spot. I mean it's a fucking spot. And it comes down to this: if you think it's your god given right to park somewhere, on a public street, by virtue of having spent ten minutes with a shovel, there's a simple solution: move to the damned suburbs. Seriously, go to a place where you'll have your own parking spot. Hell, go to a place with a garage! The city is bad enough, we don't need the suburban prima donna mentality, where one will attempt to create major strife in someone's life for an inconvenience that lasted maybe, five or ten minutes.
Of course, just
to prove that I know that my shit stinks too, I'm going to share a little
tale of my own winter short fuse. (Hey, gotta keep warm somehow...) Okay,
now maybe it's cause I grew up on the east coast or maybe it's cause I'm
surly and misanthropic, but I was at Cozy Corner today. I had a lot of
frustrations complicating things and was having a very irritating phone
call. After having a couple toothless, wino bastards give me the up and
down (which when you're cold, cranky and starving and are in the midst
of a misunderstanding via telephone is not what you need) and muttering
comments about buying a Kodak camera, some scary white trash women were
coming into the restaraunt. One of them kept holding the door open and
not going in, just conversing.
"Shut the damned
door,"I said, trying to shut it. The one woman got pissed and tried to
hold it open. It was freezing out, with wind and snow.Now, I figure either
go inside and talk to your friend or stay outside with the door shut. Dont
flood the damned restaraunt with cold and snow."Shut the fucking door!"
I said and slammed it shut, calling her a moron as I did.
But you know, I feel better. I mean, maybe it isnt any nicer than breaking someone's windshield wiper. Maybe she's traumatized for life, but I doubt it. This is a city for fuck's sake. If you dont want surly, don't live here. Maybe if more people were surly to morons, they wouldnt go so batshit crazy that they slash your tires over a parking spot.