Plan and Park

The planet becomes a much more interesting place when things don't go as planned. This morning's plan was to come to work on time. It was a simple plan, the type of plan that is easy to execute on a good night's sleep and a cup of coffee. A more difficult plan would be coming to work early.

The plan was going well until I reached the parking lot next to the office, which is located downtown. In downtown, parking is limited. That's not true. Parking is plentiful. It's just not free. As a convenience to its workers, the company leases a number of parking stalls from the adjacent lot and provides each employee with an access card.

I've used the card a handful of times since coming to the new office last month. I insert it into the card reader, the reader beeps, I remove the card, the gate rises and I park. It works wonderfully. Correction. It worked wonderfully. It stopped working yesterday.

When I inserted the card, the reader did nothing. It did nothing multiple times as I inserted and removed the card repeatedly. It did nothing as a line of impatient cars formed behind mine. The attendant finally came over to see what was holding things up and gave me a look. I gave him the card.

"When was the last time you used it?" he asked, wagging the card.

At first, I thought it was a trick question. I wanted to say, "Just about three seconds ago. Didn't you see me?" I sensed sarcasm would be the wrong approach, so I went with, "Last week."

He tried the card in the reader. Half of me wanted it to work. It would have meant user error and a fair dose of embarrassment, but at least I would've been able to park. The line had grown longer and more impatient. Half of me though, the proud half, was quite happy when the card failed.

The attendant gave me another look (actually, the same one as before) and I sent him a subliminal message, "Please be nice."

"I'm going to be nice and let you park today," he said. "Talk to your company and get this straightened out." I thanked him and he used a key to activate the gate so I could park.

I spoke with somebody in administration later in the day. She said a few people had experienced the same problem, but the company had squared everything away. "The card should work fine tomorrow," she assured me.

That sentence echoed in my head as I experienced déjà vu at the parking lot this morning. Same card, same reader, same attendant, different line of cars, but same impatience.

"When was the last time you used it?" the attendant asked as he gave me the look.

"Yesterday. It didn't work then either. I talked with my company and they said everything was squared away." As I spoke, I sent him another subliminal "be nice" message.

He apparently missed it (or I forgot to subliminally say please) because he said, "I see. Well, it appears your company doesn't want you parking here. I'm going to raise the gate. You have a choice. You can turn around and leave or you can pay five dollars and park."

Now, I realize I pay money to come to work every weekday, either at the gas pump or at the train station, but I don't like the idea of paying to park at work. I also realize that many people do, but that just seems wrong, as wrong as metered sitting (occupy a cubicle for $1.00 per hour, 12 hours maximum per day, all major credit cards accepted).

I knew I was straying from the plan, but I wasn't going to spend mocha money to park. I made a new plan on the spot: come to work late. I said to the attendant, "I'll just turn around. Thank you." I ended up parking at a Park & Ride lot two miles away and taking the light rail to the office. The free parking cost me twenty minutes, but the peppermint mocha I plan to have in just a few moments will be totally worth it.