The Parking Lot Monitor (a typical moment in my life)

I work in an office that’s a warehouse converted into a cubical farm. Since it was build to house wares and not people, there are a limited number of parking spaces.

The portion of the parking lot closest to my desk has maaaaaaybe 20 “real” spaces and several loading zones that aren’t technically spaces, but since a car can fit in them, we park our cars in them when the other spaces are full. (There’s another 15 or so “reserved” spaces that we aren’t allowed to park in, even though no one ever parks in them.) Did I mention that 200+ people work in this building? Yeah. Most have to park in another company’s lot out back and walk around the building. This is intimidating if it’s dark out, since we work in a sketchy area.

Anyhoo, one of my coworkers is our self-appointed Parking Lot Monitor. Whenever someone parks in a reserved space or loading zone, PLM ensures that justice is served.

Yesterday was recycling day, so all the bins were out in the parking lot. They're conveniently placed on the ramp so as to (mostly) not impede the walkway or block anyone from parking.

Around noon, I went out to get lunch. Not unsurprisingly, when I returned a mere 10 minutes later with my food, there were no “real” parking spaces open (someone snagged mine really quickly!).

(CRAP!)

So, I parked in a loading zone, since it was the only space I could find.

When I left the office two hours later, this is what I found:

Yes. PLM saw my car parked in the ONLY AVAILABLE SPACE in the ENTIRE parking lot, got pissed that I was in a loading zone, and took the time to move the recycling bins so they blocked my car in.

It wasn’t hard to move them back out of the way, but WTF?