Good Parking Karma

Yesterday I had to drive to work as I have been doing twice a week for the last few weeks.  The other days of the week I take the bus which I prefer because it is better for the enviornment, less stressful, and on days I take the bus I don't need to worry about parking.

Parking near were I work is at a premium. There is a waiting list for spots and it is expensive. Paying for a spot for only two days a week would be a huge waste. So I usually park at the lot down the street which cost $5.50 a day.

A lot of people that I work with park in the tow zone right outside the building even though they do occassionaly tow or ticket cars and despite the fact that they can park in the lot.

Yeserday I arrived a few minutes later than usual and the lot was full. I drove around looking for a legal spot and couldn't find one. I did what I could to park legally and decided I didn't have another option and would park in the tow zone. The only remaining problem was that there were no spots left in the tow zone either. Now what? A few minutes more of driving around and I found a section of the street, a bus stop length away from all the illegally parked cars, that was visitor parking for a nearby apartment building.
The sign said you needed to have a permit or a parking pass and that this was also a tow zone but I had no choice. I pulled up behind the one car that was there, check to see if they had a permit or pass which they didn't and headed in to work.

After a few hours at work I figured I would go check on the car and see if a legal spot openned up somewhere. I arrived at the car to find a tow truck but today was lucky day. He was towing the car in front of me and the car in front of him that must have arrived shortly after me. I was next for sure and a few more minutes and this post would have a different name for sure. 

Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you don't.    

Bad Parking Karma

When I worked in the recording studio in LA I started as a running. A runner is a person that is trying to work his way into the industry and is responsible for all the work that noboby in their right mind or that has been there for awhile would ever do. Resposibilties start off with the most important task: feeding people. The studio uses this task of being a waiter at 400 Hollywood restaurants as a test to see if you are capable of handeling some actual studio responsibilities. "If you can't get my hamburger right how can I trust you to not erase the vocals" is a phrase often used* by people working on a session.  Being a waiter at 400 restaurants requires a lot of driving around town which means a lot of parking.

I always tried to park legally while on runs. It just wasn't worth the risk of getting a ticket on my crappy salary (minimum wage) and since you do visit the same places all the time you learn the parking tricks near each restaurant.

It was a hot summer day and the studio was very busy. It was a Saturday and it was lunch time. We were short a runner and the runs were piling up. I was in an extremely cranky mood.

Studio D rang up to the front desk after I had just completed the last lunch run and needed a runner. I headed back to the studio took their order and headed off to Melrose ave. where the closest Jamba Juice is.  Melrose is a shopping hang out. A hip and trendy place were parking spaces are given out less often then those stars on the sidewalk and it was a Saturday.

Great.

After 25 minutes of driving around in the heat I decided to park in the bus zone directly out side of Jamba. Really, how long could it take to make 5 fruit smoothies.
I ran in, placed my order and kept my eye on the car. As they were making the band's smoothies I decided to order a smoothie for myself, after all it was hot and I was annoyed enough that I thought the band should buy me a smoothie whether they knew it or not.  As they were making my smoothie I glanced over to my car just as the parking maid pulled up behind it.

I ran out and was halfway in the car before he was even out of his car when I heard him scream "it's too late".
He handed me my ticket.  Annoyed, I figured I would leave the car there while I picked up the smoothies, what was he going to do, give me another ticket?

It wasn't until I got back in the car that I noticed how much the ticket was for: $270.00!

$270.00 was a lot to pay for a free smoothie.  Lesson learned.  Park legally.  Don't buy smoothies on the record labels dime.

Sometimes you get lucky.  Sometimes you don't.