Author Topic: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool  (Read 10176 times)

strider3700

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Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« on: April 25, 2014, 10:10:54 AM »
The preschool that my youngest attends is in the same building as one of the local private schools.   Normally you don't see anything spectacular when it comes to excess at the private school. The only thing I had ever really noticed was that lots of the parents vehicles in the parking lot are covered in business decals.  I'm guessing that lots of the kids going there have parents that own their own business.   

Yesterday and today however there was something that stood out.   A grandma drops off the kids each morning.   To make this easier she went out and bought a new vehicle.  It's one of these
http://www.thesprinter.ca/en/build-and-equip/passenger-van/27#byoAppearance;   in a nice blue color.   Interior is 4 leather captains chairs in the back and 2 in the front.  She was discussing how great it is to have a bunch of space for groceries in it...  I'm guessing she could easily fit full sheets of plywood if she took out the back 2 chairs. 

The parking lot at the school is relatively small.  The couple of times I drove my truck there (1ton longbox) it's impossible to park in the small spaces so I parked out by the road and walked in the extra hundred feet.  Her van is at least as large as my truck but she's found a parking solution.   The handicapped spot right next to the door is easy to get into and is long enough to fit in if she bumps up onto the sidewalk in front of her...

She's dropping off 2 kids both under 8 years old and none of them are handicapped.

ketchup

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2014, 10:50:02 AM »
She was discussing how great it is to have a bunch of space for groceries in it
Sheesh, is she grocery shopping for an army?  I have never once thought "I wish this car had more space for groceries." and I've driven some damn small cars.  I even brought home 140lbs of beef in my GF's sister's Prius C.

elaine amj

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2014, 11:27:23 AM »
a little ....overkill?

A friend of mine has a full sized van. They love it when they need to haul a lot of stuff but they avoid driving it because "Big Blue" sucks up so much gas. I've drooled a few times but have managed to keep myself in check - bad enough I drive a minivan to get myself to work every day!

Engineer_Erik

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2014, 04:39:22 PM »
I LOVE those Sprinter vans!  I dream of buying one to travel/live in when I retire.  But sometimes I feel they may be a little excessive for even that.

greenmimama

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2014, 05:47:32 PM »
Oh yeah those are sweet vans, my friends have one, but they are preggo with #7, so they have a large family.

A Sprinter to drop off your 2 grandkids at school twice a week, Wow, wonder why she wanted it so badly?

chucklesmcgee

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2014, 08:05:00 PM »
A Sprinter to drop off your 2 grandkids at school twice a week, Wow, wonder why she wanted it so badly?

Maybe she's a terrible geriatric driver and wanted something that could take a beating.

paddedhat

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2014, 09:49:50 AM »
As a pretty committed RVer, I have spent plenty of time with folks who own these things. Bottom line is that, when the are good, they're great. When they are having issues, which is far from unusual, you're pretty screwed. They are an extremely complex, fairly delicate Mercedes product. I recently was pumping diesel into my old Cummins engine powered RV when I was approached by a new sprinter owner. He was nearly out of fuel, we are in BF Iowa, and he is specifically forbidden to put any bio-blend diesel in his 2014 Sprinter. The locals told him he was screwed, since that's all that was available. Mercedes told him to find a tow truck.  They have know issues that can be mind-blowingly expensive to repair, and competent repair facilities are few and far between.
As for the rationality of dropping 50K to drive two small spawn to school, well that's a whole other level of idiocy.

MrsPete

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2014, 04:14:56 PM »
My opinion:  What an ugly vehicle.  It looks like those 15-passenger vans owned by schools and churches.  Even if money were no object in any way, I wouldn't want that thing.

Clover

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2014, 04:24:43 PM »
I get irrationally angry when people abuse handicap parking. 

Bigote

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2014, 05:03:58 PM »
I've never seen or even heard of a van like that.    Wow.

ScienceSexSavings

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2014, 06:08:00 PM »
She was discussing how great it is to have a bunch of space for groceries in it
Sheesh, is she grocery shopping for an army?  I have never once thought "I wish this car had more space for groceries." and I've driven some damn small cars.  I even brought home 140lbs of beef in my GF's sister's Prius C.

I was wondering the same thing. I used to drive a Saturn sedan, and supplies for my job occupied most or all of the trunk. The back doors were a little sticky, so 99% of the time, the front seat was all I ever used for cargo!

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2014, 11:37:20 AM »
I get irrationally angry when people abuse handicap parking.

oh me too. I don't know that it's irrational, though. those people are fucking assholes. one time I was hanging out on my friend's apartment balcony when we noticed a distraught girl in her car down below. turns out the girl was in a wheelchair and someone fucking PARKED in that slashed-off "spot" adjacent to the handicapped spot that is for handicapped people to unload/get out of their cars. so there was NOWHERE she could legally park AND have room to get out of her car. we asked if there was anything we could do to help and she said no, I'm not sure if she had to call to get the car towed or what. but seriously, what the FUCK?!? god that would piss me off so bad! you know those days when you're like, I just REALLY want to get the fuck home and relax and not talk to people... and then imagine that happening!!! UGH.

tmac

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #12 on: April 28, 2014, 12:05:02 PM »
That pisses me off to no end. I was driving through a fast-food parking lot a few weeks back and saw a guy who had parked diagonally across the only two handicapped parking spots in the whole place. And what was so important? He was cleaning out and washing -- WASHING! -- his fucking car. He had a full bucket and a sponge. I stopped at the nearby police station on my way home and told them about it. The cop hightailed it over there, so I hope that asshole got what was coming to him.

sheepstache

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2014, 12:13:10 PM »
Well to be fair, though, if you're right there with the car, or if you're just dropping people off, then you're not stopping the handicapped from using it.  I'd be willing to give people the benefit of the doubt that they'd move out of the space in a second if someone who actually needed it pulled up.  It's like the handicapped stall in the bathroom.  People who need it should get first dibs as soon as they show up, but there's no reason for the rest of us to wait in line if it's empty.

GuitarStv

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #14 on: April 29, 2014, 07:45:18 AM »
My dad lost his right leg below the knee in a motorcycle accident when I was a little kid.  He's had a permit to park in handicapped areas for more than 20 years.  I don't think I've ever seen him use it.  I asked him about it once, and he said that he was worried that someone who really needs the spot would be blocked if he used it.

I don't care how quick you're planning on being.  You don't need to park in the handicapped spot if you're not handicapped.

kyanamerinas

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #15 on: April 29, 2014, 07:57:15 AM »
Well to be fair, though, if you're right there with the car, or if you're just dropping people off, then you're not stopping the handicapped from using it.  I'd be willing to give people the benefit of the doubt that they'd move out of the space in a second if someone who actually needed it pulled up.  It's like the handicapped stall in the bathroom.  People who need it should get first dibs as soon as they show up, but there's no reason for the rest of us to wait in line if it's empty.

i'm sorry but this isn't necessarily helpful for disabled people. how will you know it's someone who needs the disabled spot? you can't always from the vehicle outside so that presumes they'll get out and ask. which they might but this may be a real hassle for them (limited mobility) just so someone else can avoid a walk of a few yards. plus, they may not assume you are using the spot wrongly and therefore may not even ask.
i'll give you a little more leeway on the toilet front but there still may well be times when it's pretty urgent for them to get to a bathroom for whatever reason and having to wait may be uncomfortable and even humiliating (think incontinence issues or similar).

paddedhat

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #16 on: April 29, 2014, 05:29:58 PM »
  It's like the handicapped stall in the bathroom.  People who need it should get first dibs as soon as they show up, but there's no reason for the rest of us to wait in line if it's empty.

My wife is totally paralyzed on her left side, due to a nearly fatal stroke. She walks with a cane, but cannot safely use a standard, non-accessible stall.  I have seen several times where she was either denied the use of a public bathroom, or spent an extraordinary amount  time waiting in line as dozens of fully abled women cycled through the normal stalls, and some asshole camped out in the lone handicap stall for 10-15 minutes. Just because it's empty when you enter the bathroom ,doesn't mean it's available to you, or that you are not denying access to somebody that really needs it.  Not trying to be a prick, but I have seen her suffer because somebody thought they deserved the biggest stall in the place.
While I'm on a rant, I'm amazed at the lazy pieces of shit that will show up with a car full of healthy young adults, and use a HC parking space with a tag that obviously belongs to somebody else. Yea, you really beat the system when you and half a dozen other twenty something lard asses waddle out of your grand mother's Buick, and giggle while your hanging her HC pass on the mirror.

strider3700

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #17 on: April 29, 2014, 06:36:39 PM »
they were back today.   Grandpa was driving and parked by the road instead of in handicapped.   Someone else was in handicapped (also no sticker)   What I did notice today that I hadn't really noticed before was the height of the damn thing.  It has to be near 7' tall.  All nicely blacked out rear windows and everything on it.  I have a crewcab longbox f350 4x4 and even I look at that thing and go Damn that's big.

sol

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #18 on: April 29, 2014, 06:52:39 PM »
Yea, you really beat the system when you and half a dozen other twenty something lard asses waddle out of your grand mother's Buick, and giggle while your hanging her HC pass on the mirror.

This issue really irks my (not-disabled) retired FIL, so he got a volunteer job with the local sheriff's office specifically to deal with these people.  They gave him a uniform and a ticket book and for a set amount of hours every month he cruises around his town giving out tickets to people using handicapped parking without tags.

He has a variety of volunteer jobs in his retirement, and at this one he takes a lot of abuse from pricks who are breaking the law so I don't think he enjoys it very much, but to him it's sort of a civic duty kind of thing.  These people suck, and he's made it a personal priority to remind them of that with $25 parking tickets.

Every time I see him he has some new story about some idiot who tried to tell him they were only breaking the law "for a few minutes" and so shouldn't get a ticket.  He never has trouble emptying his ticket book in a month.

If people who abuse handicap parking are one of your top pet peeves, consider it as a retirement gig option.

Forcus

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #19 on: April 30, 2014, 11:07:50 AM »
That pisses me off to no end. I was driving through a fast-food parking lot a few weeks back and saw a guy who had parked diagonally across the only two handicapped parking spots in the whole place. And what was so important? He was cleaning out and washing -- WASHING! -- his fucking car. He had a full bucket and a sponge. I stopped at the nearby police station on my way home and told them about it. The cop hightailed it over there, so I hope that asshole got what was coming to him.

Seems to me if he was parked across two spots he should get two tickets. And at $350+ each, that might teach him a lesson.

Ashyukun

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #20 on: April 30, 2014, 11:10:58 AM »
Yea, you really beat the system when you and half a dozen other twenty something lard asses waddle out of your grand mother's Buick, and giggle while your hanging her HC pass on the mirror.

This issue really irks my (not-disabled) retired FIL, so he got a volunteer job with the local sheriff's office specifically to deal with these people.  They gave him a uniform and a ticket book and for a set amount of hours every month he cruises around his town giving out tickets to people using handicapped parking without tags.

He has a variety of volunteer jobs in his retirement, and at this one he takes a lot of abuse from pricks who are breaking the law so I don't think he enjoys it very much, but to him it's sort of a civic duty kind of thing.  These people suck, and he's made it a personal priority to remind them of that with $25 parking tickets.

Every time I see him he has some new story about some idiot who tried to tell him they were only breaking the law "for a few minutes" and so shouldn't get a ticket.  He never has trouble emptying his ticket book in a month.

If people who abuse handicap parking are one of your top pet peeves, consider it as a retirement gig option.
That's kind of awesome- kudos to him.

dragoncar

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #21 on: April 30, 2014, 12:51:36 PM »
I LOVE those Sprinter vans!  I dream of buying one to travel/live in when I retire.  But sometimes I feel they may be a little excessive for even that.

Me too!  Except I decided long ago that they are definitely excessive for any use.  It's like buying a $120 John Boos cutting board.  Good stuff but no ROI.

CarDude

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #22 on: May 02, 2014, 08:56:59 PM »
As a pretty committed RVer, I have spent plenty of time with folks who own these things. Bottom line is that, when the are good, they're great. When they are having issues, which is far from unusual, you're pretty screwed. They are an extremely complex, fairly delicate Mercedes product. I recently was pumping diesel into my old Cummins engine powered RV when I was approached by a new sprinter owner. He was nearly out of fuel, we are in BF Iowa, and he is specifically forbidden to put any bio-blend diesel in his 2014 Sprinter. The locals told him he was screwed, since that's all that was available. Mercedes told him to find a tow truck.  They have know issues that can be mind-blowingly expensive to repair, and competent repair facilities are few and far between.
As for the rationality of dropping 50K to drive two small spawn to school, well that's a whole other level of idiocy.

Yeah, maintenance was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that they were made by Mercedes.

frugalnacho

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Re: Saw a new vehicle in the parking lot of my kids preschool
« Reply #23 on: May 08, 2014, 01:48:39 PM »
This seems like an appropriate image: