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Car Park Shenanigans

G

Ger

Devoted Cultist
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
195
Hi all, not been on for a while but just thought I would share this.Sorry bit long_winded. Christmas Eve, trip to local Tesco. Remember planning to park to right of trolley park (1 of 3).
Running around a bit stressed looked at car thinking MUST lock it. Quick shop, come out to leave...However, when I get to where I parked. no car .
My first thought was No!!... must not have locked it ?! Was pretty sure where it was parked, but thought I will look around in case . Couldn't see car. Went to security for help.Chap came and walked around with me( cameras don't cover that area) .Told him where it should be......white car present but not MY white car .Walked around 3 times.No joy. I KNEW it was next to one of the 3 covered areas. Reported it. I was eventually leaving by foot and phoned my other half. As we were talking I thought ,just one more check. . .YEP, Car present...Exactly where I thought I parked it and showed security chap. ?! No problem with it . Most of you I am sure will think I just forgot where it was,I did myself .But it was SO STRANGE that it appeared to not be next to any of the 3 trolley parks when checking . I KNEW where to find it ...and eventually that IS where I found it. I know it must happen to people all the time but I was left feeling that little " Hugo " and myself had spent about 20 minutes in alternate universes" ...So if anyone else's car disappeared tea-time on that day, I know where it was LOL
 
Thing is in a sea of what appears to be identical modern cars no matter what the manufacturer in a very large car park, it's very easy to lose track of your car. One offspring of mine takes a location photo when he parks up in gigantic car parks to avoid what you experienced.
 
Ger said:
Hi all, not been on for a while but just thought I would share this.Sorry bit long_winded. Christmas Eve, trip to local Tesco. Remember planning to park to right of trolley park (1 of 3).
Running around a bit stressed looked at car thinking MUST lock it. Quick shop, come out to leave...However, when I get to where I parked. no car .
My first thought was No!!... must not have locked it ?! Was pretty sure where it was parked, but thought I will look around in case . Couldn't see car. Went to security for help.Chap came and walked around with me( cameras don't cover that area) .Told him where it should be......white car present but not MY white car .Walked around 3 times.No joy. I KNEW it was next to one of the 3 covered areas. Reported it. I was eventually leaving by foot and phoned my other half. As we were talking I thought ,just one more check. . .YEP, Car present...Exactly where I thought I parked it and showed security chap. ?! No problem with it . Most of you I am sure will think I just forgot where it was,I did myself .But it was SO STRANGE that it appeared to not be next to any of the 3 trolley parks when checking . I KNEW where to find it ...and eventually that IS where I found it. I know it must happen to people all the time but I was left feeling that little " Hugo " and myself had spent about 20 minutes in alternate universes" ...So if anyone else's car disappeared tea-time on that day, I know where it was LOL
Click to expand...
Maybe have a look at the carpark on google earth (ie from above) and see if you can work out what happened?
 
PeteS said:
Thing is in a sea of what appears to be identical modern cars no matter what the manufacturer in a very large car park, it's very easy to lose track of your car. One offspring of mine takes a location photo when he parks up in gigantic car parks to avoid what you experienced.
Click to expand...
You can also get Find My Car-type apps. Seem to remember having one of those myself.
Or typing a ribbon to the car aerial so you can pick it out.
 
People get things wrong. If they're convinced they're right, the only explanation is that everyone else is wrong.

Had this when I worked in gyms. Staff would sometimes find members panicking, claiming their locker had been opened and emptied.

The locker rooms were large with several bays that all looked the same. The member had usually neglected to take note of their locker number and walked into the wrong area; their property was safe, twenty feet away.

A variation was a complaint that their padlock didn't work. They'd bought it at the gym, like 70% of the others in view.
We'd tell them they most likely had the wrong locker and suggest they try the key in nearby padlocks. They usually found theirs in short order.
Sometimes they'd insist they were NOT wrong and demand we cut the lock off, which we'd do, enjoying the trouble it caused when the actual owner came back and kicked off.

(There were two exceptions. Once was when a member complained that her locker had been raided as described above, but on investigation we found it intact except for the lock hanging open. That one puzzled me.
Perhaps she subconsciously remembered not closing the padlock and then went to the wrong locker.

Another, which I didn't have to deal with as it happened in the male locker area, was when car thieves followed members from their Mercedes or whatever in the car park, noted which locker they used, waited until the member went off for their workout and then broke into their locker for their car keys.)
 
On arriving at Melbourne airport I'd been 24 hours without sleep. Was met by Daughter 2 who then couldn't find the car. So there's me, towing an enormous suitcase on wheels, absolutely exhausted, and my daughter, who'd come to meet me straight from work, both of us trying to find her car. She was convinced she knew where it was, only for us to see that it very much wasn't and we circled the area for about twenty minutes before she pressed the button to call the Parking Guy, who found her car on camera. In the other section of the car park, which is a mirror image of the one where she thought the car was. So she was right, kind of, she was parked in the region she thought she was, just in another car park.

I had to work hard to hold on to my sense of humour that day, I can tell you that.
 
It's very hard to miss KAra in a carpark, in a sea of mainly white, and silver-grey cars. A bonus being that you'd have to be pretty desperate to TWOC her.

ReinKAnation.JPG
 
By sheer coincidence I had the "can't find my car thing" only yesterday. Parked up on a main road on one leg of a Y junction. It was hammering down with rain so legged it up the road into the shop and, coming out, looked across the road and saw the car missing. First reaction was ah well saves me the trouble of scrapping it on Monday. It took a minute or two to realise that I'd parked on the other leg of the junction. On reflection it would probably have looked very suspicious if I'd reported a theft when the MOT runs out on Monday when it is due for the crusher!
 
escargot said:
People get things wrong. If they're convinced they're right, the only explanation is that everyone else is wrong.
Click to expand...
On a similar tack. If you lose your car keys or whatever and you KNOW where you last left them, it's really hard to search efficiently - a quirk of thinking causes one to keep either mentally or physically going back to where they MUST be. Cos you put them there.

Except, this time, you didn't.
 
Timble2 said:
It's very hard to miss KAra in a carpark, in a sea of mainly white, and silver-grey cars. A bonus being that you'd have to be pretty desperate to TWOC her.

View attachment 72679
Click to expand...
Fond as I am of my Saab, Name of Zoë, it's a convertible, and I live in a location that is wet even by Welsh standards, and I have no garage. So it now looks somewhat like a mobile compost heap where all sorts of moulds have taken root on the hood. Coupled with the fact that you can't take it through a carwash and that it does have the odd dent and ding it is both easily detectable in a car park and thiefproof.

There is, however, an eventual risk that it will evolve into a lifeform and go off by itself, probably to mate with one of the many semi-derelict tractors that abound in this area.
 
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Ger said:
Hi all, not been on for a while but just thought I would share this.Sorry bit long_winded. Christmas Eve, trip to local Tesco. Remember planning to park to right of trolley park (1 of 3).
Running around a bit stressed looked at car thinking MUST lock it. Quick shop, come out to leave...However, when I get to where I parked. no car .
My first thought was No!!... must not have locked it ?! Was pretty sure where it was parked, but thought I will look around in case . Couldn't see car. Went to security for help.Chap came and walked around with me( cameras don't cover that area) .Told him where it should be......white car present but not MY white car .Walked around 3 times.No joy. I KNEW it was next to one of the 3 covered areas. Reported it. I was eventually leaving by foot and phoned my other half. As we were talking I thought ,just one more check. . .YEP, Car present...Exactly where I thought I parked it and showed security chap. ?! No problem with it . Most of you I am sure will think I just forgot where it was,I did myself .But it was SO STRANGE that it appeared to not be next to any of the 3 trolley parks when checking . I KNEW where to find it ...and eventually that IS where I found it. I know it must happen to people all the time but I was left feeling that little " Hugo " and myself had spent about 20 minutes in alternate universes" ...So if anyone else's car disappeared tea-time on that day, I know where it was LOL
Click to expand...
Which Tesco please? Be good to research what used to be at that location in the past
 
Timble2 said:
It's very hard to miss KAra in a carpark, in a sea of mainly white, and silver-grey cars. A bonus being that you'd have to be pretty desperate to TWOC her.

View attachment 72679
Click to expand...
Thing is though, unless you're tall (which I'm not) you might not pick out a small car from a distance unless you walk along the rows.
I certainly couldn't spot that one if it were behind about 20 others.
 
Coming out of Tesco's myself on Friday, I knew where the car was, but there were two ladies wandering along the bit where I had parked saying, "I thought it was here? Maybe we were over by the trolley bay?" :willy:
 
I sometimes deploy the cunning tactic of parking away from the supermarket entrance in an empty area. Can see t'banger from a mile away, until a load of other shoppers decide to cluster around it. Never fails.
 
escargot said:
I sometimes deploy the cunning tactic of parking away from the supermarket entrance in an empty area. Can see t'banger from a mile away, until a load of other shoppers decide to cluster around it. Never fails.
Click to expand...
I always park away from the doors.
 
My most recent car does not have the remote alarm, so I have to pay attention to where I park.

I occasionally do still wander around a couple of rows trying to figure out where I parked.

I always park in the same area of the mall I go to daily for my coffee and within 3 rows.

I do know I forget when I have had a long day, am tired and just want a coffee. I park without really thinking and walk into the mall. An hour or so later, having recovered with my coffee, I come to the lot and realize I don't know where I parked.

Since I park in the same 3 rows, I just wander around a little, trying to not look like the little old lady who doesn't know where the f her car is.

The other trick is when I think I am going to park in a specific spot and then pull straight through so that I don't have to back out. That's also when I don't correctly register where I parked.

Larger car parks that I'm not familiar with, I have to pick a landmark.
 
PeteS said:
... saw the car missing. First reaction was ah well saves me the trouble of scrapping it on Monday... It would probably have looked very suspicious if I'd reported a theft when the MOT runs out on Monday when it is due for the crusher!
Click to expand...

If you know that the car is going to fail its MOT and will be scrapped, that means it's unroadworthy now, and you shouldn't really be driving it at all. I shan't tell, though, not as the test is in a couple of days! And anyway, your fears might not come true. I've had old cars pleasantly surprise me at MOT time (then again, I've had some nasty shocks as well!).

Back on topic, I managed to avoid a similar situation to the OP today. I had to make a flying visit to an unfamiliar city over 150 miles from home, and naturally had to park my car and walk out of sight of it. I made sure to take a picture of the street, noting its name, and in the end, managed to find my way back without a problem. Not a particularly interesting story, but true...
 
Grocery stores in the area stopped having their employees carry your purchases to your car a long time ago except for one U.S. chain named Publix.

The carry out clerks told my wife and I so many people do forget where they park and they spend a lot of time wondering around with the shopper looking for their car.

It seems it happens more than you think.
 
Peripart said:
If you know that the car is going to fail its MOT and will be scrapped, that means it's unroadworthy now, and you shouldn't really be driving it at all. I shan't tell, though, not as the test is in a couple of days! And anyway, your fears might not come true. I've had old cars pleasantly surprise me at MOT time (then again, I've had some nasty shocks as well!).

Back on topic, I managed to avoid a similar situation to the OP today. I had to make a flying visit to an unfamiliar city over 150 miles from home, and naturally had to park my car and walk out of sight of it. I made sure to take a picture of the street, noting its name, and in the end, managed to find my way back without a problem. Not a particularly interesting story, but true...
Click to expand...
,Ah no, the car would have passed it's MOT without any problem. I decided to scrap it months ago, high mileage, not really worth much, got too many cars and I couldn't be arsed advertising it and having to deal with the timewasters. I know a dismantler and will get as much for it from him than advertising it.
 
Timble2 said:
It's very hard to miss KAra in a carpark, in a sea of mainly white, and silver-grey cars. A bonus being that you'd have to be pretty desperate to TWOC her.

View attachment 72679
Click to expand...
This puts me in mind of a slightly mysterious phenomenon that has taken place in the last - fifteen? twenty? - years, and that is the decolourisation of the automobile.

I'm not sure when this happened exactly but I can well recall that well into the early Noughties people's cars came in a range of colours, the whole spectrum, and car buyers would even choose a car with it's colour in mind. It also made the finding of parked cars - and the identifcation of people's cars generally - that much easier.

Now look outside your window (unless you live out in the sticks, that is) and do a raincheck of the colours of cars that you see. These days you can have any colour as long as it's white, silver, grey or black. (The above quoted post being a notable exception to the rule nowadays).

When did this decolourisation of the private automobile happen and why? Were we consulted? I'm not a driver so maybe I never got the memo - but it seems to me that this is one of those period markers that just happen without anyone really noticing or caring - and without obvious explanantion (in the same way, perhaps, as people suddenly stopped wearing hats sometime towards the end of the Edwardian period).
 
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Zeke Newbold said:
This puts me in mind of a slightly mysterious phenomenon that has taken place in the last - fifteen? twenty? - years, and that is the decolourisation of the automobile.

I'm not sure when this happened exactly but I can well recall that well into the early Noughties people's cars came in a range of colours, the whole spectrum, and car buyers would even choose a car with it's colour in mind. It also made the finding of parked cars - and the identifcation of people's cars generally - that much easier.

Now look outside your window (unless you live out in the sticks, that is) and do a raincheck of the colours of cars that you see. These days you can have any colour as long as it's white, silver, grey or black. (The above quoted post being a notable exception to the rule nowadays).

When did this decolourisation of the private automobile happen and why? Were we consulted? I'm not a driver so maybe I never got the memo - but it seems to me that this is one of those period markers that just happen without anyone really noticing or caring - and without obvious explanantion (in the same way, perhaps, as people suddenly stopped wearing hats sometime towards the end of the Edwardian period).
Click to expand...
Yes- I've noticed this too for a good while now.
 
Zeke Newbold said:
Now look outside your window (unless you live out in the sticks, that is) and do a raincheck of the colours of cars that you see. These days you can have any colour as long as it's white, silver, grey or black. (The above quoted post being a notable exception to the rule nowadays).
Click to expand...
Yes, this is one of the reasons why I bought a car that is a lovely shade of metallic orange.
I wanted to be able to find it easily.
In the car park at work, there are only about 4 cars that have colours that stand out.
 
Zeke Newbold said:
This puts me in mind of a slightly mysterious phenomenon that has taken place in the last - fifteen? twenty? - years, and that is the decolourisation of the automobile.

I'm not sure when this happened exactly but I can well recall that well into the early Noughties people's cars came in a range of colours, the whole spectrum, and car buyers would even choose a car with it's colour in mind. It also made the finding of parked cars - and the identifcation of people's cars generally - that much easier.
Click to expand...
Resale. You shrink the number of potential buyers who simply don’t like the colour. For example, I wouldn’t consider anything Burgundy - except to burn it and return it to Satan.
I’ve noticed the new grey paint jobs on some of the more expensive cars coming out recently. I call it Nazi Grey which gives me a smug yet false feeling of superiority when I see they’re driving something the price of a house deposit around and taking up two parking spaces.
 
Floyd1 said:
I always park away from the doors.
Click to expand...
My favourite local supermarket parking spot, when I'm expecting to be picking up a trolleyfull, is next to a rumble strip that I can wedge the trolley against. :bthumbup:

This is near the entrance and also adjacent to the deceptive wall which I once jumped over and landed on a trolley.
 
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