Today I parked in a small carpark and were a few cars waiting for spaces. One came up next to me by the entrance so I went into it. Once I pulled into a space someone came from around the corner and sat with their window down staring into my car. When I didn’t acknowledge them they then got out the car and asked if I saw them waiting for this space. I said no and they then said that they had been waiting for this space and I was going to have to find somewhere else to park as they had a disabled person in the car (it was not a disabled space, there were some in the carpark however they were taken by other cars). After a back and forth of the lady being stood at my car window telling me to move I eventually did as she did have someone elderly in her car, however I don’t think it would’ve been wrong for me to refuse. Should I have moved straight away? Or was she just being patronising as I am visibly young?
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Today I parked in a small carpark and were a few cars waiting for spaces. One came up next to me by the entrance so I went into it. Once I pulled into a space someone came from around the corner and sat with their window down staring into my car. When I didn’t acknowledge them they then got out the car and asked if I saw them waiting for this space. I said no and they then said that they had been waiting for this space and I was going to have to find somewhere else to park as they had a disabled person in the car (it was not a disabled space, there were some in the carpark however they were taken by other cars). After a back and forth of the lady being stood at my car window telling me to move I eventually did as she did have someone elderly in her car, however I don’t think it would’ve been wrong for me to refuse. Should I have moved straight away? Or was she just being patronising as I am visibly young?
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> 1. I parked in a space in a carpark and someone told me I needed to move as they had supposedly been waiting for this space and had a disabled person in the car
2. It might make me the asshole as I had a back and forth with the lady demanding I move for her and didn’t move as soon as I heard she had someone disabled in the car
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. If it wasn’t a disabled spot you have no duty to move. If they had asked nicely I probably would have moved, but if they demanded I would have stood my ground.
If you’d stayed, you would be NTA. You were under no obligation at all.
That being said, I think moving, for the reasons that you moved, was a good thing to do.
NTA because you moved. Even if it wasn’t a handicapped space, it was close to the door and that means it would benefit a disabled / elderly person. Unless you yourself are physically disabled, you don’t need that space more than someone else. (And before anyone is like, “but OP wasn’t obligated to!” — this sub isn’t about deciding what OP is obligated to do. This sub is about deciding whether OP is an asshole or not. And taking up a space that someone else needs more is in fact asshole behavior.)
That said, the way the woman handled it was poor, but I can also understand why she was so insistent, given the disabled elderly person she was traveling with. They really did need the space.
You were not obligated to move because she demanded that you do so. When it comes to parking spots, first come, first gets it, unless it is a handicapped and only one of you has a disability tag. I don’t know how she could be waiting for the same spot but you didn’t see her. Where was she waiting? Or did she just claim that she had her eye on it, but you legitimately got there first?
I do think it was considerate and kind that you chose to move, and I hope she appreciated it. But you were not obligated to do so since you parked there first.
I do have a disability and a tag to use those spots legally, but I would never try to make someone else leave their spot just because it was more convenient for me.
You did the right thing by giving up the space. NTA.
NTA if you legitimately didn’t see them. But I’ve been in that position, sitting and waiting for a space just a few spots ahead of where I’m stopped, with my turn signal on t o indicate I’m taking the space to the left or right, only to have someone come along, completely ignore me and take it anyway. So if THAT was you then you’d definitely be an asshole.
Yeah it’s not like you were blocking an entrance or exit. I was at a cancer center undergoing testing earlier this year and was trying to leave the parking garage and this prick parked his car in the middle of the lane that I needed to drive down to get to the exit. I honked at him and he wouldn’t even look up from his phone. I did this for like 10 minutes and then he’d just honk back so I had to drive around and find another way out. THAT is an asshole. And I hope he got some bad karma that day because I’m still mad thinking about it lol.
NTA because you moved
It is an asshole move to pull into a space when someone just got out of it when someone is waiting for it already. When you see someone pull out of a parking spot and another person is waiting until that spot is empty, you shouldn’t even pull in front of them
And it is a little worrying that you weren’t aware of your surroundings to see them.
And when the disabled spots are taken, sometimes some human decency to just help someone, is just how you should treat people
So good that you moved, you would’ve been an asshole if you didn’t
NTA and you wouldn’t have been if you didn’t move either. You said she came around the corner so she wasn’t “waiting” for the spot. It was nice of you to love for the disabled person in her car, if there even was one. Elderly is not disabled. She lied about the waiting so who knows.
NTA. What?! No. You should have told her highness to fuck right on off. She wasn’t “waiting for that space” if she was around the corner from it. And having a disabled passenger doesn’t give her the right to claim parking spaces already occupied.
You’re NTA especially since you moved.
NTA. You had every right to park there, as it wasn’t a reserved spot. Although it was very kind of you to move eventually, you didn’t have to.
Sounds like someone was having a really bad day. You moving saved them going over the edge. Nothing wrong with being kind. Go you!