Parking solution

[Coco]

This morning we delivered in Piscataway NJ. After delivery we parked at a small shopping center that had a laundrymat, grocery store and a Target, all of which we needed.


Prompty after parking a cute little Asian security guard approached us in his SUV proudly marked "Public Saftey" and began rattling off parking restrictions in broken English.

"You no park big truck here! You no park big truck, no, no, no!"

"OK, but I need to use the laundry get some groceries and shop at the Target store" I replied.

"How long? How long you park big truck?" he demanded

I explained to him again what I needed to do and about how long I thought it would take me.

"He studied the length of the straight truck, rubbed his face, and stroked the back of his neck and finally said, "OK, 10:00 you leave, 10:00.

At that moment I spied a Fashion Bug and then told him I wanted to shop there also and asked what time they opened. To make a long story short, we determined and agreed that they opened at 10:00.
At 10:05 he approached the truck again and honked his horn several times. I went to the window with my coat on and purse in hand to tell him I was headed to Fashion Bug.

"No, no, no you park big truck in back of building!" he shouted.

Taken back a bit I reminded him of our agreement in regard to Fashion Bug.

"Ummmm, no, you park big truck in back."

I looked around and saw no cars in the out lot where we were parked. I turned to him and said. "Do you require all customers to park in the back?"

"I write you ticket! See here, I write you ticket! This ticket has you name on it!"

"Whoa, now wait a minute. Who owns this lot? Do you have a phone number?" I inquired.

"Yes, I talk to him, you move big truck."

He reached into a pouch to get a business card then hesitated and said "No, I not give you number, he bug me about it"

Giving up, I moved the truck behind the center. Gathered up my $60 in groceries, put them in a cart and headed to the grocery store.

"I want to return these groceries"

"What, excuse me, is there a problem" the clerk asked

"Yes there is, it seems your security guard does not want me to park in your lot. Therefore I do not want to shop in your store."

Of course, she called her manager and we discussed the matter. He made a mysterious phone call and returned and said it was OK to park in the lot. I returned the groceries anyway.

But I'm not finished. I went to Fashion Bug shopped for about and hour and took $200 of clothing to the counter. I asked the salesgirl not to ring them up but instead to let me talk to her manager. I explained the situation to her and then apoligized for not completing my transaction."

As I walked out of the store I could feel both of them staring at me and wondering if i would return with a gun or do domething something crazy. As if this wasn't crazy enough.

Never once did I raised my voice to anyone. I acted politely #####. You know the drill, ladies.

And believe me if there was a way I could undo my laundry I would!

Do you think the same problem would exist if I were in a 40ft motor home?

I included in my discussion with both managers that truck drivers have been known to eat and shop. We are humans that have needs and wants. And, that sterotyping can be harmful to their bottom line. The grocery store manager completely agree and sympathized with me. The Fashion Bug manager didn't have a clue and acted as if she didn't want to see her clothing line on the back of a lady trucker.

All of this put a bigger burden on me than it did the vendors. We will stop at the next Super WalMart and and try to remember what I purchased as I left my shopping list in the cart. With it I left an impression. I'm not going back to get either one.

 

[aquawarrior7]

YOU GO GIRL.
Hand it to em.
Some where I heard that it was the property owners themselves with these stupid rules though and the stores have to obey whatever their stupid rules are. Surprised you didn't come back to an open parking space and an asain dude with a phone number to call to get your truck towed back to you as I have heard as well. I have seen a list even of walmarts that don't allow RV'S in their parking lot if ya can believe that.

We parked next to this one RV that was camping out at a walmart. The guy had his shirt off and their awning was out and all.

But I say if they think they have a problem with us being to filthy and pile trash over the parking lot then mabye they should put in a trash can so I can throw away all the boxes from my $30 worth of TV dinners and such. They claim its cause we are all nasty. I always ask the managers if we can park in like resturants like Applebees. They always say yes as long as we arent in the way. I never am in the way as once I parked to close to a walmart and it took a long time to un stick myself from the space cause all the cars boxed me in.

 

[x06col]

One time I purchased a riding lawn mower, to the tune of 5K or, a little better from a fella in one of those mall areas. When I went to pick it up with my liftgate truck, a store owner in the same complex was parking as I pulled up (we were at the far edge of the lot) the boy cranked me hard about not wanting trucks in "his" parking lot. So I left. The fella called one day wonder'in when I was gonna pick my mower up, told him I had been there and got run of by Joe, in the widget store. Already had anuther mower by then, and, I imagine there was some discussion about truck parking after that. Dunno, never been back. No problem.

 

[pelicn]

Alright Coco!!!

 

[Mcarriers]

CoCo: your totally awesome!!! Even though it sounds like a real hassle it had to be FUN at the same time. Way to go, it's not like you were a Big Truck, like you said I bet the don't run off the campers. Glad to here someone try to prove a point that we professional drivers are real people with the same needs as "regular people".

Mello
FedEX

 

[LDB]

An excellent way to get the point across. Hopefully it will do some good. Good for you.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[geo]

few year's ago in kmart in newport news, va they had a truck that loaded at weapons station in yorktown, with some empty container, and pulled in to kmart parking lot to very end of, it and when end to store to shop and came out with a tow truck was hook up to truck getting ready to tow it , and manager was there , driver was ask did you see sign no truck only customer shopping and said yes , but did you see me shopping in your store spendting money , no
let be put this in the truck a sec and turn on his clink and hit panic button and type truck is being hijack with gov't load on it
the police came a running and shut down the area and had the tow truck driver on the ground along with the storemanger to
there is no longer a sign saying no trucks and tow truck driver won't touch a truck unless the owner of truck calls
as they had the surronding area shut down for over hour at rush hour

 

[babs3361]

Mello what do you mean by you were not a big truck. See You are stero typing to we also are human and have the same needs as you. What to go Coco I give you OOIDA's Rose award and the lot owner the Raspberry award.

 

[nightcreacher]

>few year's ago in kmart in newport news, va they had a truck
>that loaded at weapons station in yorktown, with some empty
>container, and pulled in to kmart parking lot to very end
>of, it and when end to store to shop and came out with a
>tow truck was hook up to truck getting ready to tow it , and
>manager was there , driver was ask did you see sign no truck
>only customer shopping and said yes , but did you see me
>shopping in your store spendting money , no
>let be put this in the truck a sec and turn on his clink and
>hit panic button and type truck is being hijack with gov't
>load on it
>the police came a running and shut down the area and had the
>tow truck driver on the ground along with the storemanger to
>there is no longer a sign saying no trucks and tow truck
>driver won't touch a truck unless the owner of truck calls
>as they had the surronding area shut down for over hour at
>rush hour

co driver must have been in shock,most loads I've taken from the weapons station were ddps,especially if panic button was in operation
guess he didnt feel the truck lifting,or was he shopping too? lol
great story anyway,would have loved to been there.
had my trailer towed once in nj,very expensive lesson

 

[silverdollar]

CoCo, if you had of held your breath and grunted real hard you might have undone your laundry.:+

 

[slfisher45]

Excellent response. I have been prepared to do the same. Never had too. I try to park out of the way when I am in a mall area. Behind stores is often my option, because that is less offensive. Believe me a truck in a parking lot is offensive to some. They don't understand what we do. Even tho' trucks bring their products to their stores.

Another reason trucks are ticketed or towed in malls is the city coucil. In their infinite wisdom, they have voted into record a city ordinance making it a violation to park any commercial vehicle in all lots if the vehicle weight is over "x" amount of GVW, , unless making a delivery.

Very sad..........

Keep in mind, some truckers are irresposible and dump their trash on the lot grounds, mindless and senseless..............

 

[pelicn]

>Keep in mind, some truckers are irresposible and dump their
>trash on the lot grounds, mindless and
>senseless..............

We were sitting in a Walmart parking lot yesterday afternoon (after shopping of course) and I watched a family in a full size van, open the side door, dump out their trash, close the door and leave. It's not just truck drivers it's trashy PEOPLE.

 

[Coco]

I understand and appreciate all your comments. My point here is even though someone else owns the buildings and lots, this type of retaliation may be brought to the attention of such person or persons by the retail personel. If that happens, we may be loked at from another angle.

The "public saftey" reresentitive offered no explanation or reason why I should have to move. I understand weight limits on certain surfaces. We chose a location that was out of the way of all other vehicles, not just for their concern but for ours also. We have many times been blocked by vehicles whose drivers can't comprehend that we need r-o-o-m to move.

footnote:
Yesterday in NJ it was 9 degrees and snowing. Parking in the back of the complex required a hefty walk around the large buildings with no sidewalk. However, being a female of that tender age of 52 may have had a bearing on my determination to get that grocery cart to that store. (Tod, knowing I was on a mission, remained in the sleeper and let me handle the situation. LOL!

 

[slfisher45]

Pelicn ( two out of three vowels) I agree it isn't just truckers. The thread was about trucks in lots and I was referring to incidents I have witnessed through the years.
There are many cans of worms to fish with.

 

[LDB]

>It's not just truck drivers it's trashy PEOPLE.

When I was in school in the 60/70's we had a huge dictionary in the library. I wish I had noted the exact volume of it. I would track one down. It was apparently the last of the non-liberal edited for PC dictionaries. The first definition listed for the N word was "a trashy person". It said nothing about color or race, just trash. That is the same definition my parent's brought me up with. Color means nothing and actions mean everything. It is the trashy people who cause us all grief, regardless of vehicle driven, skin color or any other irrelevant factor.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[Jack_Berry]

its not just trucks. many shopping centers do not like school buses either. its anything that takes up 2-4 spaces and blocks the view of the stores from the road. me and my schoolbus were kicked out of a couple places when i needed a place to park during charters.



Jack Berry

 

[ihamner]

Oh Coco, how I wish I had been there!! They would have had to deal with two of us!!! You go, girl! I am so proud of you!!! What a horrible experience! Some of these security guards have WAY too much power in the first place! india


India Hamner
[font color="purple"] FEDEX [/font][font color="blue"]Custom Critical[/font]
D Unit
No one is so old as the one who has outlived enthusiasm.

 

[cheri1122]

I totally agree: if I am treated as an "undesireable", then I take my money somewhere else. On that principle, I refuse to patronize gas stations that lock the doors at night, and take money through a window.

 

[lanier1]

I, too, applaude your stance and actions Coco.

I got tossed off a Wal-Mart for the first time last week in Louisville by a police officer summoned by a security lady in a little Ranger truck. He explained it was not the store but the security firm demanding I leave because of local ordinance against "camping". I had been there all day and they woke me at midnight.

 

[davekc]

totally agree: if I am treated as an "undesireable", then I take my money somewhere else. On that principle, I refuse to patronize gas stations that lock the doors at night, and take money through a window.
=======================================
Thats a tough one. You don't know if they think everyone is undesirable, or trying to protect their lone employee for just that one undesirable.


BTW.......Way to go Coco! Handled like a true professional.










Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator