Jan 18th, 2013 by Jennifer Lynn
This week, I cringe to admit, M. received another parking ticket. I swear to god, between both of our cars, the parking tickets we have received since moving into the city together a year and a half ago has morphed into an absolutely ridiculous amount.
Hello, what the hell is wrong with us?
And it is common to receive multiple tickets throughout the night, so between, say, 6 p.m. and 7 a.m., you can find two tickets smugly flapping on the windshield before you even have a chance to realize you forgot to do the proper alternate parking from the previous night.
Feh.
Generally I will pay all of my parking tickets immediately. M., on the other hand, will allow them all to pile up and fester in some obscure corner of our apartment. Here is how that conversation usually goes.
Me: Did you pay that parking ticket?
M.: I will. (Weeks go by.) Oops. I forgot to pay that damn ticket and the fine has now increased.
Me: Are you crazy? They can issue a bench warrant for unpaid parking tickets, you know. And if you find yourself in that type of sticky wicket, I am not bailing you out of jail.
M: (A few weeks later; M. opens his mail.) Shit, that parking ticket amount now has tripled.
(Fast forward another couple of weeks. M. comes home clutching yet another neon-orange parking ticket.)
Me: Pay that. Now. Right now. Not after you do whatever. Right the hell now.
Ugh.
In an effort to track where our valuable dollars get siphoned off to, besides excessive parking ticket fines, that is, here is a quick spending recap for this week. Thank god it’s the weekend.
Monday
No spend day!
Tuesday
-$32.00 parking ticket 
Grumble.
Wednesday
No spend day!
Thursday
-$1.63 drive-thru medium coffee, with cream and sugar.
Friday
$120 groceries and weekend entertainment.
Total affliction: $153.63
Last year, I finished the year off not reading much due to time constraints, and I resolved to change that. Here is what I have in my stash for some relaxing weekend reading:
- Hot (broke) Messes: How to have your latte and drink it too by Nancy Trejos
- Pound Foolish: Exposing the dark side of the financial industry by Helaine Olen
TGIF, folks. What do you have planned for the weekend?
=^..^=
ouch, I hate tickets. Isn’t there a further discount if you pay them promptly? Pretty low spending overall, well done!
The only parking ticket I ever received was at college when I parked in an employee spot during break. I submitted a 2 page appeal explaining that the spot was unused during breaks and the only reason I was on campus that day was because I was working!
I think they dropped the ticket just to avoid reading the massive missive!
“Total affliction” cracks me up. Fantastic words.
The town I moved from was speed trap central. I barely ever had speeding tickets before moving there, then had to have an attorney friend help me save my license! Now that I’ve moved away? Four years, life back to normal.
Parking tickets seem to be in fashion – John got one last weekend as well. Let me know whether Pound Foolish is any good?
OUCH! I am trying so hard not to give the state any more money via tickets. I got 3 in two days the last time I got them. I was livid! So ever since, its a pet peeve. Fortunately I don’t live where I have to pay for parking though. Ugh! Smug tickets would really *iss me off the most!
Parking tickets and any kind of tickets are such a money suck. I’ve gotten more than my fair share. As for weekend plans, I plan on decluttering and packing for my move next weekend.
Oh, man. The boyfriend recently got one, too. The worst part is that he got it for not paying for parking when he did, but he didn’t get a dang receipt. Ours have sat for too long before, too. But we’ve learned our lesson. It took a while, though. :p
That was one of my biggest pet peeves about living in the city was the parking tickets. They claim the reason for the alternate side parking was for easy snow removal, but I swear it was just so they could give out tickets when people forgot to move!
Sorry about the parking tickets. Greg used to live in Chicago and it was damn near impossible to find a place to park. I think he got a few tickets during that time!!
UGH, I hate parking tickets. They feel so … insulting..! We’ve gotten a couple this past year and I was shaking my fist so hard. One of them was issued in the TWO MINUTES we were parked on the wrong side of the street because PiC wanted to take Doggle out of the car and forgot.
And how can you get double ticketed for the same place? I didn’t know that was allowed…
I hope, like the flu, this season is over. But doesn’t come back!
All I can say is OUCH.
I used to get a lot of parking tickets. When my wife and I were dating, there was no extra parking, so I would get tickets frequently.
Thankfully, we moved in before too long, it saved me a fair bit! *grin*
So every time you get a parking ticket it will cost you $32 or does it differ wherever you park. We are lucky to have ample parking we are but in the city it’s ridiculous. People park all over the bloody place and you have to pay, pay, pay everywhere. Sometimes it’s no wonder people just take the bus or subway to work.
Ouch. I am sorry that parking is such a pain in the A. I don’t live in the city, so I don’t have to deal with it, but it would piss me off if my wife or I would get tickets and then not pay them, just to watch the fine increase.
One of my clients at work recently came to my office to inform he he has a bench warrant and the police might be stopping by to try to find him. Awesome. His was NOT for parking tickets but something much much worse
Tickets are no fun. I got one last year, though it was for an expired license plate sticker. I actually bought the renewal sticker, just hadn’t applied it that exact day. Sure enough, I got a ticket!
I immediately went straight to the city clerk’s office, petitioned it, and documented all of my reasons as to why I didn’t deserve to get a ticket. I paid for the renewal, but I didn’t feel like I should have been punished just because I hadn’t taken a moment to apply the new sticker.
In mail came the judgement…ticket dismissed! Which was the right thing for them to do. It helps to push back sometimes!
I hate parking tickets and petty fines.
I once got done for disorderly conduct (I believe you guys call it J walking?) for walking across the road at a red man despite the man turning green about 3 steps into my crossing the road.
Very infuriating.
You don’t want to have to keep paying $32 every time, it could get expensive quickly.