Lawyering Through Life

The Curiousness of Human Behavior

On Friday night, I had two experiences that left me shaking my head at the curiousness of human behavior. After a rather long week of work, I sat on my front porch, with a glass of chardonnay and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. A bit of background: I live in a residential neighborhood that is considered to be *prime real estate*. My house is only a few blocks from bars and restaurants that are extremely popular. People who don't live in my neighborhood drive to said neighborhood, park their cars in front of my house, and then walk to the nearby nightlife. While this is frustrating due to the amount of parking garages that surround my neighborhood, I have accepted that some people are just too cheap to pay $3 for parking. The problem is that my street on the weekends becomes miserably crowded. I come home and have to circle my block looking for a parking spot. Keep in mind, I don't live in the city. I realize sometimes I won't score a parking spot right in front of my house but parking 8 houses down, or worse yet, on an entirely different block gets old, especially late at night when I am coming home by myself.

Across the street from my house is a rather large and fancy house that sold for over $700,000. I wasn't kidding about the prime real estate - my landlord is sitting on a gold mine and making me pay for it. Next to this house, is a long, single lane driveway that could accomodate up to four cars. Which is good, since these neighbors of mine have three cars. What is frustrating is that they oftentimes only keep one car in the driveway. And so I sat on my porch on Friday night, watching people drive to my neighborhood and abandon their cars in search of food and drink. My across the street neighbors emerged from their house and caught my attention. One family member pulled a SUV out of the driveway and parked it in front of my house, directly in front of their other SUV. They then all piled into the remaining car in the driveway and left for the evening. This irked me a great deal. Rather than park your car on the street, why not pull it into your fancy schmancy driveway? I realize playing musical cars can be an annoying game but look around! There are barely any parking spots on our street. I realize I have no legal claim to stand on; it is just an issue of neighborly request. So, I drafted a note to these neighbors, pointing out to them the parking nightmare that our street has become, and respectfully requesting that they utilize their driveway when they can. I thought my note was firm but kind. I just find it curious that you would park your overpriced SUV with the rest of the proliteriat on the street where it could succumb to poor parallel parking and errant cyclists. Keep it safe in the confines on your property. You paid enough money for that house. Sheesh.

The real kicker came later that same evening. Roommate and I decided to go see The Break-up on Friday night at a popular downtown theater. We were a few minutes late because Roommate needed gas. Since I wouldn't give up the parking spot I had obtained halfway down the street, she needed to drive. Bottom line - we were about 10 minutes late getting into the theater. We looked around and saw that it was rather crowded. Scattered throughout the theater were empty seats, but never more than one. We saw two seats on either side of a couple and figured we could simply request they move down. They were going to have to sit next to people regardless. Moving is slightly annoying but what can you do? It is Friday night, at 9:30 and you are seeing a popular movie. Roommate whispers to the couple and motions for them to move down. As I look on incredously, the woman of the couple says "No, your friend can go sit on the other side." Slighlty perplexed, Roommate whispers "Excuse me" and the woman repeats herself, more firmly this time, "Your friend can go sit on the other side."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? You can't move down ONE SEAT?? You would rather make two friends who came together sit on either side of you?? So, now, I am at a date movie, surrounded by couples and I can't even sit next to Roommate and tell her how much I love Vince Vaughn. Yes, moving is distracting to the people behind you but but so am I climbing over you, when you simply could have scooted down one seat. Plus it was a preview for A Devil Wears Prada!! Which will probably be a funny movie but we aren't talking Oscar worthy film clip. When the movie ended, I quickly escorted Roommate out of the theater before she could give the couple a piece of her mind. I too felt the need to say something but I honestly believe people who would refuse a request such as ours to simply move down are beyond saving.

posted by jersey @ 10:31 AM