Holding Carpark Space with Your Body

LFier2 on 23/09/2022 - 21:16
Last edited 25/09/2022 - 12:10 by 2 other users

So, went to Floriade Canberra today and they got a public carpark attach to it. We went around and were about to leave as there were no free carpark when we saw this car leaving. Drove up and then this lady came and just stand in the middle of the free space when we were already blinking.

Asked her to move aside and her next line was she is reserving the space for her family car!! Like wtf??? Is that really something in Australia where you reserve a carpark by standing in it?!! Especially in a public space?!! Like every single car were doing the right thing by going around and looking for a space and this lady who by the way speak really well English just walk up to the car space and stand there saying she is reserving it! Told her there are not such thing in Australia and she still didn't move. We gave up and just thought some people does not know the rule of the country they are living in.

Later on, i was enjoying the flowers display with my family and she came to harass me and threatened my family inside Floriade as she didn't appreciate I told her that no one do that in Australia! It might be a thing in India or Asia but not here (as I'm Asian myself and saw it there)! So, now I'm just wondering if this is a new rule and if I should do the same next time as it's seems that covid have make people totally out of mind?!!

Automotive Parking

Comments

    • MorriJ on 25/09/2022 - 22:30
      +2

      yw OP.

      It wasn't necessary to sign your message off with "you whitey OP", let's leave the racial slurs at the door …

  • millhouse on 25/09/2022 - 21:37

    Should have waited for her to go, and key the door.

    Unless it's a Telsa.

    Then touch it, and moon the camera.

    • ntt on 26/09/2022 - 10:19

      Unless it's a Telsa.

      Carist!!

  • Bing0 on 25/09/2022 - 22:10
    +2

    Just reverse in, if you go frontwards the eye contact is awkward.

    • Xistn on 26/09/2022 - 15:45

      Not unless you enjoy driving over people….

  • MorriJ on 25/09/2022 - 22:35
    +2

    This happens all the time in some car parks, it's not all that uncommon. I just start reversing in. I then stop, get out, pull up the windscreen wiper jets so they spray over the back of the car and then proceed to soak the person until they move.

  • HASS on 26/09/2022 - 02:11

    Was that lady an Indian? must be culturally accepted in India

    • nwa on 26/09/2022 - 12:32

      I don't think it's accepted anywhere, it's just thats natural instincts of Indians especially if they grew up there with a billion people and are instilled to fight for everything right or wrong. So back in India things would even out as the otherside would equally fight and not just let this go.

  • polarq on 26/09/2022 - 09:06

    would it be reasonable to call the cops if they dont move at all?

  • Duckie2hh on 26/09/2022 - 09:11

    Props to the OP for keeping his cool. If it was me, I wouldn't have moved the car and called the cops.

    • wtfnodeal on 26/09/2022 - 10:52
      +1

      Cops won’t care unless someone is hurt or dead. No kidding.

      • Xistn on 26/09/2022 - 15:46

        "this person keeps trying to get me to drive over them with my car, I feel unsafe please send halp"

        works everytime

  • Kamsi on 26/09/2022 - 11:12
    -2

    It not worth it to have an argument on car space, but to be harassed in the park is extraordinary bad behavior. I'm not blaming the Australia emigration policy but certain changes need to take places. I see so many time of some migrants doing something that they shouldn't be doing.

    • wtfnodeal on 26/09/2022 - 11:46
      +1

      Not just the new immigrants even some locally born Australian also selfishly push in queues.

  • istoleyourid2 on 26/09/2022 - 11:56
    +2

    If you force them to move, they'll come back and key your car. So easy solution, drive off, park elsewhere, come back and key theirs instead /s

    • nwa on 26/09/2022 - 12:48

      usually I wouldn't condone such action, but in this case its justified especially if you spoke to them nicely, told them it was wrong and asked them to move and they don't. Just make sure its right car.

  • sarahlump on 26/09/2022 - 12:03

    You just met an (profanity)

  • JKM on 26/09/2022 - 12:44
    +3

    It sucks that you were accosted whilst enjoying flowers, but you could have driven on rather than trying to tell someone what is and isn't acceptable behaviour in Australia. There is always a choice to engage or not, and you chose to and with this always carries consequences unfortunately.

    It's interesting here to note that you did notice she was Indian and decided to tell her what we do in Australia - the assumption that only people of colour do these things and then to attempt to educate her on the way of life here, which is by the way, only based on your perception - is a form of racism. It's ok to be told this, and it's also okay to accept that you were racist - the question is what are you going to do to learn from this teachable experience? We all make mistakes, it's what you do with it to learn that is what can make this incident a learning experience rather than just another pointless incident inspired by pointless anger.

    I'm sure I am not the only one who has seen people of races and colours hold a car park with their bodies and it's fine if that's how they want to hold a space. I'd be more concerned about them being hit by a car, to be honest. If you see this next time, just don't engage and drive on.

  • [Deactivated] on 26/09/2022 - 14:39
    -4

    Not sure why them being "foreign" or speaking good english has anything related to the situation.

    Always playing that "race card" to pigeon hole "foreigners" like as if you are above them.

    I was going to side with you, but due to you bringing racism into play, you probably deserve to be kept from that space.

    And you being an Asian yourself, should know better.

    • Makaveli99 on 27/09/2022 - 22:06
      +1

      @ehardaway yes I agree. Apart from last sentence.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 26/09/2022 - 15:06
    +2

    This is why you should always have a screwdriver in your car.

    Relent and give up the carspace. Wait for them to go about their business then let the air out of all their tyres in a safe manner.

    • nwa on 26/09/2022 - 16:47

      You must be talking about the tyre deflator tool ?

    • Kamsi on 26/09/2022 - 18:16

      This is why you don't want to have an argument on car space :)

  • dcash on 26/09/2022 - 16:13
    +1

    The problem is that if you had pressed the issue and gotten the spot, she probably would have keyed your car or slashed your tyres. There's a lot of grubs in Australia, and frankly it's getting worse, but all you can really do is move on and not let it get to you (difficult, I know).

    • MorriJ on 26/09/2022 - 17:42
      +2

      she probably would have keyed your car or slashed your tyres.

      As she was the one who should be worrying about her car being keyed or tyres let down, I would have just used that to perturb her.

      When she came up to me to harass me, I would have calmly mention that I felt really bad for her when I noticed walking past her car that the paint had been scratched and her tyres let down …

  • Ace26 on 26/09/2022 - 16:39

    Happened to me in Strathfield once, had a similar feeling to OP. Not worth it move on. He/she will soon learn Aussie way of life.

    • tonka on 01/10/2022 - 15:26

      Aussies have been doing this for 50 years that I know of. It's just most of us are not that motivated and maybe the shopper in the family is more likely to also be a driver so more single occupant vehicles.

  • Cave Fire on 26/09/2022 - 17:43

    Sounds like they are new to the country and don't know the laws. Not exactly sure about ACT, but you can film people in a public space. As to the woman slashing tyres, she looks like a 40 - 50 year old mum and it's a flower show…

    • Hangryuman on 27/09/2022 - 10:09
      +1

      'new to the country and don't know the laws'

      reminds me of one time a car was parked outside our home when the horn started honking regularly - and not just quick beeps but held down for longer times - it was very offensive so I went out to see

      as I approached I saw a middle-aged man of South Asian appearance sitting in the driver's seat holding a similar toddler on his lap - he was letting the toddler press and hold down the horn for entertainment

      I said to the man 'excuse me that's disturbing the peace - can you please stop that'

      he immediately got angry and refused shouting 'he can do whatever he wants !'

      I said no it's disturbing the peace and I can call the police if you like - he said go ahead - but he still stopped soon after.

      • timhn on 27/09/2022 - 12:55

        That's pretty dumb to let kid playing like that. I hate to see what his kid grow up to be.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/09/2022 - 06:10

    Was this you at 2:14? Lol.
    Jokes aside, irrespective of where they were from, eventually people like this run into someone with nothing to lose and learn to assimilate real fast. Especially if they were stupid enough to approach peoples families and kids unnecessarily.

  • baj on 27/09/2022 - 08:46

    It won’t be long before this becomes a thing in Australia.

    I find other methods which are quite common here which shouldn’t be practiced regularly but it still happens. For example, I’ve seen people just waiting in the aisle for shoppers to come out of the centre, this is essentially blocking the aisle and as such illegal parking behaviour.

    Following people from the entrance doors to their car as well seems not the right way to find a space according to me.

    You enter the car park, move around to find a space and if there is nothing available, exit the car park or do another round.

    • wtfnodeal on 27/09/2022 - 13:04

      “Following people from the entrance doors to their cars”, there is nothing wrong with it as it is a gamble that you might end up following people don’t even have any cars parked in the car park but simply walking to bus stops to catch buses home or they simply wanted put something or grab something from their cars without intention to leave LOL.

  • Hangryuman on 27/09/2022 - 10:02
    -2

    without reading the whole thread and interpreting that the person blocking the space was of Indian (South Asian) appearance - which could include Pakistani or Sri Lankan (I'll exclude Bangladeshi who in my experience tend to be lovely) - one of my frequent comments from experience (including several visits to India) is that 'Indians like to argue'

    I'll posit that as R Soul behaviour - the OPs car could easily shunt the person out of the way despite their protestations - but that risks coming back to your car later to find it key-scratched along the side

    OTOH - inverse R Soul behaviour - would be to let them have the space - and 'accidentally' return that favour to their parked car

    as for Asian - I understand that in the UK 'Asian' is generally used to mean people of Indian appearance or 'South Asian' with derogatory terms like 'Paki' for such from the South Asian ex-colonies

    whereas in Australia 'Asian' is generally used to mean people of Chinese appearance or 'East Asian' - derogatory terms have generally fallen out of favour since awareness that Chinese were here before most Anglo/Europeans - I've even read that the cook on Captain Cook's boat exploring Australia's East coast in 1770 may have been Chinese. See also 1850's Gold Rush and similarly early non-indigenous settlement of Northern Territory.

    • dcash on 27/09/2022 - 14:53

      At the risk of being downvoted and labelled racist, I will say that I do find that Indians can often be quite 'aggressive' when it comes to such things as parking spaces, queuing, and the like. I don't believe it's because they are 'bad' people, but simply because they come from ridiculously overpopulated regions of India, where you simply have to be aggressive or you miss out. The more time they spend in Australia, no doubt the more they will realise that the behaviour is not necessary here.

  • Euphemistic on 27/09/2022 - 14:49

    Can I hold a body in a carpark space, or do I need to keep it wrapped and in the boot?

    • wtfnodeal on 27/09/2022 - 15:22

      No. You only need to leave something that is yours on the parking space to reserve it much like animals urinate to mark their territories.

  • echizen on 27/09/2022 - 16:23
    -1

    Easy solution, let them have it then go back and get even! This way everyone is happy…. until the idiot finds the……..

    • conza on 27/09/2022 - 19:55

      That's disgusting behaviour, I hope you don't do it, but if you do, I hope you're* caught.

      • bobolo on 27/09/2022 - 20:46

        No less disgusting than hogging a parking space in that manner then confronting the victim after the fact

  • MrKnowItAll on 27/09/2022 - 16:40
    +1

    Gonna cop some flack for this, we had to do this recently when going to Crown for my wife's birthday. There was a game on at the stadium (literally next door) AND a disney on ice thing at crown as well (the stadium is the worst thing to happen for parking at crown). We literally circled the carpark for 30 minutes (I wish I was exaggerating, but i'm not). As we were cruising past one of the rows we saw someone get to their car. While I was still rolling along at ~10kph, my wife flung the door open, leapt out of the car and made a mad dash for the person that was leaving.. once I figured out what had happened, I then looped round the next row to get back to her standing smack bang in the centre of the park with her hands out in her pretend car haha.. I typically despise people who do this, especially when you've been there forever and they just got there, but sometimes you just have to do it otherwise you'll be there forever. Fortunately no-one noticed or was inconvenienced. When we left a few hours later, a car followed us from the door all the way to our car in the furthermost corner to take the spot, it was still really really bad.

  • conza on 27/09/2022 - 19:55

    I think it depends how far away the car is, but conditionally, this (reserving the car temporarily by standing to indicate you have a car coming) I think is actually acceptable behaviour.

    My scenario is, you're driving around and can't find one, a passenger gets out, goes and finds a spot, calling over the car so they can park there. In the 1-2 minutes until the car they came from arrives, standing in the spot to indicate you're saving it for a car, I would've just kept driving.

    IF I had seen her stand in the spot as I was turning into it… I'd make sure I was clearly on CCTV as I'm likely entering a confrontation where my car may be damaged, and if I wasn't willing to sue someone for keying my car, I'd probably just move on.

    • wtfnodeal on 27/09/2022 - 22:14

      You meant you accept a human to jump in a ‘car queue’ by using it body to block the nearest car from occupying the empty parking spot for 1-2 minutes? You know in some countries there is this kind of ‘car parking business’ run by gangsters who use their bodies to reserve public parking bays for ‘lucky drivers’ in exchange for fees?

    • smartazz104 on 28/09/2022 - 09:13

      I think is actually acceptable behaviour.

      No, it's only socially acceptable to find a space whilst driving your car; we live in a society after all.

  • bobolo on 27/09/2022 - 20:44
    +1

    If this happens again, all you have to do is roll down the window and politely say one of three things;

    1. It would be a shame if your tyres got slashed
    2. It would be a shame if your window was smashed
    3. It would be a shame if your car was scratched

    Then slowly drive away and park somewhere of a distance.

    Your ability to live in their head rent free and affect their enjoyment during their time at the venue will be far more rewarding than getting into a brief physical/verbal altercation

    • Makaveli99 on 27/09/2022 - 22:10

      That interesting non violet? Somewhat good karma approach. Also you avoid, minimising your own anger, stress etc.

  • Fredfloresjr on 29/09/2022 - 15:31

    THIS is disgusting and obviously something that person with NO MANNER would do.

  • nswnotill on 29/09/2022 - 16:54
    -1

    Here is the official motor traffic act regulation.
    https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/is-it-legal-to-save-a-par…

  • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 01/10/2022 - 11:03

    A Transport for NSW spokesperson told us much the same thing, explaining: "Rule 236 of the Road Rules provides that it is an offence for a pedestrian to unreasonably obstruct the path of any driver or another pedestrian. This may include offences committed in a public car park.

    "The offence currently carries a penalty notice fine of $81.

    https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/is-it-legal-to-save-a-par…

  • tonka on 01/10/2022 - 15:18

    It's always been a thing here. Rare but more common at Christmas. But you still need to be the first one there. Hard to say if she was, you said you were waiting for them to reverse out, maybe she was too. You also need to be an aggressive entitled sort that doesn't care if you pee people off.

  • lovetodiscuss on 28/10/2022 - 19:26

    Yes, that's a very Asian thing… :(

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