We’re in the process of painting senior parking spots where you pay $75 and you get to paint a reserved spot. It’s a fundraiser.
We made the mistake with my first kid that we paid extra for a prime, thinking it would be ready to go, but realistically the paint can peel so bad afterward that if you want the paint to stick, you need to scrape and prep the spot yourself. So with our second one’s spot I bought a battery powered power washer that can run off of a bucket to do the work. I worked on it last night until my two batteries died and when my kid came home later they said they saw that the primers were out there priming the spots (voluntold kids doing fundraising) and there were also professional power washers cleaning a few spots.
Today I showed up 7AM and there was a lady with a girl across from our spot putting down masking tape. The painting event is 7-12 on Saturday and Sunday but you can tell people who’ve done this before try to get an early start. I told the lady that based on last night, my water will likely run towards their spot and I advised them that it may cause a problem for them if they chose to paint. Of all the 150 senior spots they were the only ones there to paint and theirs was the one right in the line of gravity.
The lady got miffed, said “She doesn’t have all day to wait” and this is going to be a problem. I went to fill my cooler with water and started my process. She said she just talked to her son-in-law who said “you should put down some towels” to which I said “No, YOU should put down some towels, if I had towels I’d help you but I don’t”.
I went through a couple more buckets of water, then all of a sudden a giant SUV pulls up almost into our spot, a dude jumps out and starts calling me a “fucking inconsiderate piece of shit”. He kicks my power washer and demands that I stop. I told him as calmly as possible that while I empathize with their situation, I’m going to continue to work on my spot. He kept walking into my face and just being a general dick and telling me several times that I’m a F’ing POS.
I asked if he brought towels instead of the yelling and he said he did. So I said looks like problem solved. Then as I was leaving to get more water I heard him say to the lady and kid “I’ll be back, I’ll bring some towels”. He clearly came up to fight not to problem solve.
I went through one more bucket of water and as I returned with my last bucket the dude was back and the assistant principal walked up and asked for me to seize the power washing operation. I complied, blow dried the spot and left.
The assistant principal was super cordial and chill and given the circumstance he did what anyone would have or could have done to de-escalate the situation. I mentioned to him that:
1) There was absolutely no indication or documentation that power washing was not cool/allowed
2) There was actual professional power washing the night before
3) There was no official painting time at this time
AITA?
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We’re in the process of painting senior parking spots where you pay $75 and you get to paint a reserved spot. It’s a fundraiser.
We made the mistake with my first kid that we paid extra for a prime, thinking it would be ready to go, but realistically the paint can peel so bad afterward that if you want the paint to stick, you need to scrape and prep the spot yourself. So with our second one’s spot I bought a battery powered power washer that can run off of a bucket to do the work. I worked on it last night until my two batteries died and when my kid came home later they said they saw that the primers were out there priming the spots (voluntold kids doing fundraising) and there were also professional power washers cleaning a few spots.
Today I showed up 7AM and there was a lady with a girl across from our spot putting down masking tape. The painting event is 7-12 on Saturday and Sunday but you can tell people who’ve done this before try to get an early start. I told the lady that based on last night, my water will likely run towards their spot and I advised them that it may cause a problem for them if they chose to paint. Of all the 150 senior spots they were the only ones there to paint and theirs was the one right in the line of gravity.
The lady got miffed, said “She doesn’t have all day to wait” and this is going to be a problem. I went to fill my cooler with water and started my process. She said she just talked to her son-in-law who said “you should put down some towels” to which I said “No, YOU should put down some towels, if I had towels I’d help you but I don’t”.
I went through a couple more buckets of water, then all of a sudden a giant SUV pulls up almost into our spot, a dude jumps out and starts calling me a “fucking inconsiderate piece of shit”. He kicks my power washer and demands that I stop. I told him as calmly as possible that while I empathize with their situation, I’m going to continue to work on my spot. He kept walking into my face and just being a general dick and telling me several times that I’m a F’ing POS.
I asked if he brought towels instead of the yelling and he said he did. So I said looks like problem solved. Then as I was leaving to get more water I heard him say to the lady and kid “I’ll be back, I’ll bring some towels”. He clearly came up to fight not to problem solve.
I went through one more bucket of water and as I returned with my last bucket the dude was back and the assistant principal walked up and asked for me to seize the power washing operation. I complied, blow dried the spot and left.
The assistant principal was super cordial and chill and given the circumstance he did what anyone would have or could have done to de-escalate the situation. I mentioned to him that:
There was absolutely no indication or documentation that power washing was not cool/allowed
There was actual professional power washing the night before
There was no official painting time at this time
AITA?
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I may be the asshole since I started power washing knowing it would impede their paint process. I also failed to bring towels myself to stop the water runoff and put the burden onto them.
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
YTA, you had no right to spray water such that it would invade somebody else’s spot. You should have suppled the towels or come back another time. They had every right to be annoyed.
NTA, You followed the rules, they didn’t.
YMBTAH. I’m a little confused as to whether it was Saturday morning when you returned to continue your prep. If so, you’re the AH because you knew painting would begin at the same time you returned to continue prepping and you needed to be done before that time.
YTA
First of all, not sure what kind of paint you’re using but my daughter did this when she was a going into her senior year and the paint lasted the entire school year.
Second thing, if you plan to do work on your child’s spot, that will ultimately affect someone else’s spot, then it is YOUR responsibility to plan for that and make sure you don’t get water everywhere.
You sound incredibly narcissistic and believe that only your kids PERFECT parking spot needs to be dealt with. You need to chill!! Its’ just a parking spot!