This is an open letter addressing the discrimination against Pickup Truck owners and the outrageously rude temperament of Priority Parking staff to customers. (There's a few foul words in the following piece.)
-
On Sunday, Jun 16, I was in San Francisco for the Wipro Marathon. When I head to that town, I know I'm going to get ripped off with outrageous parking fees. Somehow, there's a monopoly on parking in that town. Aside from that, I had no idea I was going to be blatantly discriminated against because I drive a pick-up truck. Or treated like shit by the parking attendants on duty.
It was a few hours before the Wipro San Francisco Marathon was coming to a close, and I had arrived near the finish line. I've known from previous years that parking is expensive and in many folks eyes, as one peer puts it, they have you over a barrel. Last year you could see they slapped up higher prices over the regular prices for the weekend of the event.
But this year I was emotionally prepared... I thought.
When I arrived I read the notes at the entrance regarding the price of parking.
Cars, Weekend, all day long: $20.
Full Size Pick-up: $40
etc., etc..
I drive a standard cab, short-bed Ford F-150. It is not a full-sized pick up. In fact the wheel base diameter of my truck is smaller than some cars. But that's neither here nor there at the moment. So I deduced that since I was not a "full-sized" pick up, that I pay for the rate of a car.
Cha-ching! That was a quick $20.
I parked and while I was prepping my pack to go down to the finish line, an attendant walks up, points to my ticket and says I need a full-sized pick-up ticket.
I said "This isn't a full-sized pick-up truck. It's a short bed."
He repeated that I needed a full-sized pick-up ticket.
I repeated that it's a short bed.
Now don't laugh, stop drinking anything you might be ingesting. You need to prepare yourself for this next incredible wave of completely illogical stupidity:
He points to the "F" of my F-150 logo on the side of my truck and says, "Full sized."
My jaw dropped and I realized that no amount of logical conversation was going to get me anywhere. And since I paid $20 already, leaving this place to find another spot somewhere else would be costly.
I instantly decided I needed to work with the system, but I wasn't sure if I needed to actually fork over an additional $40 for a "full-sized" pick-up ticket, or if I could just pay an addition $20 to have it all add up to $40. (No, I would not have paid an additional $40.)
The parking attendant had started walking away, but in the spirit of working with the system, I wanted to ask how I can remedy this.
"Excuse me, I have a quick question."
He continued to walk away, blatantly ignoring me.
"Excuse me!" At twice the volume. He continued to ignore me.
"HEY, WAIT A MINUTE, EXCUSE ME!!!" This was LOUD and echoed off the buildings around us. And yes, he continued to ignore me, if you could believe that.
He gets into his truck, and I ask him, "How do I fix this?"
"But a ticket." And he starts to drive off.
"Wait!" I yell, and he stops.
"Do I get a refund for this one and buy a truck ticket?" He starts to drive off, saying buy a ticket.
It seems he was trying to get me to pay for a brand new $40 ticket, while being a complete asshole to me.
I yell, "Wait!" again. He stops again.
I say, "I'm trying to sort this out, don't leave."
This goes back and forth, where I ask something, he answers and starts to pull away.
I finally get it out of him that I can buy a second $20 ticket and I would be fine.
But it took an incredible amount of abusive behavior from the parking attendant to get that information out of him.
And that, was not necessary.
-
It must be nice to be able to monopolize the parking situation in downtown San Francisco. It's amazing how much they get away with, charging for a piece of concrete to sit your vehicle on. Any other business run this way would get blasted by the BBB!
And it's bad enough how they put you over a barrel with these fees, but then to treat the customers like shit, seems rather abusive of their monopoly.
-
-
On Sunday, Jun 16, I was in San Francisco for the Wipro Marathon. When I head to that town, I know I'm going to get ripped off with outrageous parking fees. Somehow, there's a monopoly on parking in that town. Aside from that, I had no idea I was going to be blatantly discriminated against because I drive a pick-up truck. Or treated like shit by the parking attendants on duty.
It was a few hours before the Wipro San Francisco Marathon was coming to a close, and I had arrived near the finish line. I've known from previous years that parking is expensive and in many folks eyes, as one peer puts it, they have you over a barrel. Last year you could see they slapped up higher prices over the regular prices for the weekend of the event.
But this year I was emotionally prepared... I thought.
When I arrived I read the notes at the entrance regarding the price of parking.
Cars, Weekend, all day long: $20.
Full Size Pick-up: $40
etc., etc..
I drive a standard cab, short-bed Ford F-150. It is not a full-sized pick up. In fact the wheel base diameter of my truck is smaller than some cars. But that's neither here nor there at the moment. So I deduced that since I was not a "full-sized" pick up, that I pay for the rate of a car.
Cha-ching! That was a quick $20.
I parked and while I was prepping my pack to go down to the finish line, an attendant walks up, points to my ticket and says I need a full-sized pick-up ticket.
I said "This isn't a full-sized pick-up truck. It's a short bed."
He repeated that I needed a full-sized pick-up ticket.
I repeated that it's a short bed.
Now don't laugh, stop drinking anything you might be ingesting. You need to prepare yourself for this next incredible wave of completely illogical stupidity:
He points to the "F" of my F-150 logo on the side of my truck and says, "Full sized."
My jaw dropped and I realized that no amount of logical conversation was going to get me anywhere. And since I paid $20 already, leaving this place to find another spot somewhere else would be costly.
I instantly decided I needed to work with the system, but I wasn't sure if I needed to actually fork over an additional $40 for a "full-sized" pick-up ticket, or if I could just pay an addition $20 to have it all add up to $40. (No, I would not have paid an additional $40.)
The parking attendant had started walking away, but in the spirit of working with the system, I wanted to ask how I can remedy this.
"Excuse me, I have a quick question."
He continued to walk away, blatantly ignoring me.
"Excuse me!" At twice the volume. He continued to ignore me.
"HEY, WAIT A MINUTE, EXCUSE ME!!!" This was LOUD and echoed off the buildings around us. And yes, he continued to ignore me, if you could believe that.
He gets into his truck, and I ask him, "How do I fix this?"
"But a ticket." And he starts to drive off.
"Wait!" I yell, and he stops.
"Do I get a refund for this one and buy a truck ticket?" He starts to drive off, saying buy a ticket.
It seems he was trying to get me to pay for a brand new $40 ticket, while being a complete asshole to me.
I yell, "Wait!" again. He stops again.
I say, "I'm trying to sort this out, don't leave."
This goes back and forth, where I ask something, he answers and starts to pull away.
I finally get it out of him that I can buy a second $20 ticket and I would be fine.
But it took an incredible amount of abusive behavior from the parking attendant to get that information out of him.
And that, was not necessary.
-
It must be nice to be able to monopolize the parking situation in downtown San Francisco. It's amazing how much they get away with, charging for a piece of concrete to sit your vehicle on. Any other business run this way would get blasted by the BBB!
And it's bad enough how they put you over a barrel with these fees, but then to treat the customers like shit, seems rather abusive of their monopoly.
-
So that was my Sunday experience with Priority Parking! How was yours?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Comments
Post a Comment