The Conspiracy Behind Narrow Parking Spaces

Because of my neurotic predisposition, parking within narrow spaces irks me, the same way typos burn my eyes like friction.  Like grammar, my parking has to be perfect, even within a narrow space.  Otherwise, it is an eyesore to see my car’s tires lightly touching the space’s boundary.

Lately, I have been parking at the all-day lot on the hill overlooking the Mattress Building, whenever there is no parking available at the Tacoma Dome Station where parking is free.  The parking spaces on the hill are quite odd.  They are very narrow, barely wide enough for my 2002 Ford Mustang (no, not a “compact” car, but fits all standard size parking spaces), yet they are very long, as if they’re sized exclusively for SUVs.  It is always a pain exiting my vehicle, thinking I had parked within the white boundaries, and then seeing the two wheels on the passenger side on top of the left boundary, even if it’s just covering part of it.

Narrow parking spaces annoy me because I am a perfectionist. I like parking within the white lines because it looks neat.  Like I had said, I am very neurotic.

But could there be some sort of conspiracy associated with narrow parking spaces?

Another understandable reason why I like to park perfectly within the white boundaries is because I do not want to get ticketed for double parking.  Seemingly, the people who constructed the parking lots made the spaces narrow to accommodate for as many vehicles as possible.  But there is the possibility that the parking spaces were painted with narrow boundaries to give drivers tickets and make lots of money.

Like I have said, I also park my car at the Tacoma Dome Station because parking is free; I can then take the Link, which is a short ride to campus and is also free.  A few weeks ago, the boundaries of the parking spaces on the upper-levels exposed to the sky have been given new lines of paint, much clearer than before.

Although the upper levels of the Tacoma Dome Station had to close earlier back then for construction purpose, disallowing me to leave my car later than usual, I am happy that the boundaries got repainted.  The only setback about parking at the Tacoma Dome Station is–ironically–that it is free, meaning that I will have to wake up very early to get a good parking space to beat the other drivers.  When I arrive at the station, only the upper level has open spaces.

However, in the past, because of the rainy climate, the boundaries of the parking spaces on the upper levels of the Tacoma Dome Station were faded and very undistinguishable.  What is worst about parking on the upper levels of the Tacoma Dome Station in the past when compared to the parking lot overlooking the Mattress Building is the boundaries of the parking spaces on the hill are at least visible.  At the Tacoma Dome Station, I couldn’t see the boundaries, agitating my neurotic state of mind that I will get a ticket for double parking over boundaries I could not see or get an angry letter clipped onto my windshield from the owner of the vehicle next to mine, saying that I had parked to close to his or her car.

If there are no parking spaces at the Tacoma Dome Station, then I have to park on the hill overlooking the Mattress Building, which I hate, not because it cost $7.00, but because the spaces are too narrow, a risk not worth taking in terms of possibly double parking.