'Never again would I have to pay the $45': Guy floods the parking enforcement office with busy work, making himself immune to late fees while wreaking havoc

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jul 11, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

Nobody likes the meter maids downtown. Dashing chalk on the tires as they pass unsuspecting cars, it's as if these parking enforcement officers are just lurking and waiting for the most minute of mistakes to cash in on someone else's poor planning. They're just professional tattletales!

So when a guy figures out how to out-petty the pettiest of government workers, I see that as a huge win. 

The person in our next story worked downtown a lot and was forced to park in 2-hour maximum metered parking on a regular basis. Since their work would occasionally take longer than 2 hours, they found themselves wracking up a number of $15 parking tickets. The tickets were never the problem though, since the original poster of this story considered this a minor inconvenience and a work expense. The real petty revenge started because the bureaucracy in charge of handling ticket payment was outdated, foolishly designed, and incurred enormous late fees if you didn't follow the rules to a T.

For this petty Redditor, this was the perfect opportunity to give the parking enforcement office a heavy dose of their own medicine…

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  • 01
    REMITTANCE TANCE ENCLOSED ENVELOPE SEALED PARKING NOTICE ENCLOSED "I guess this caused quite the headache for the parking department"
    via canva
  • 02
    Parking Payment Compliance S This was quite a few years ago. I worked downtown where there wasn't any long-term parking within two blocks of my building. There were two-hour meters I would use for short
    via tahota
  • 03
    stops at the office maybe three or four times a week. Inevitably once a month or so, I would get a ticket because something came up at the office and I couldn't get back to my car in-time. The tickets are only $15,
    via tahota
  • 04
    but you only have a week to pay and then they would be $45. At the time, there was no option for online or web payment, so a check had to be mailed in. Most of the time I would get it paid in time, but I hated it when the fee would triple. I basically just
    via tahota
  • 05
    considered this the cost of doing business downtown. I was also very frustrated that there was such short timeframe for payment and response on my part, but most interactions from the city took months for the city to respond/resolve (my job involved
    via tahota
  • 06
    working with the city regularly). I had previously asked if I could just set up an account and keep a running balance, but they said no. After about 5 years of this, I decided to set up an auto bill pay with my two vehicle license plates in the memo
    via tahota
  • 07
    line and it would send every two weeks to ensure that if I accidentally got two in a month, I was covered. Never again would I have to pay the $45. I guess this caused quite the headache for the parking department.
    via tahota
  • 08
    After about four months of automatic bill payments, and them sending me back the checks that did not have any ticket to apply, I got a phone call requesting that I stop as it required a lot of research on their part and a commissioner had to sign for each
    via tahota
  • 09
    check they had to send back. I asked again if I could have an ongoing 'account' to avoid the accidental $45 fee, and they said I could not. So I continued sending them automatic payments for about three years after that until I changed jobs.
    via tahota
  • 10
    Coolbeanschilly • 17h ago They set the payment department up like this on purpose to create extra revenue from late parking payments. Good on you for making it cost more than it was worth, at least for your case.
    via Coolbeanschilly
  • 11
    Photodan24 • 16h ago Brilliant. If they won't make it easier for you, don't make it easier for them.
    via Photodan24
  • 12
    TechnOght 13h ago They liked the short window to triple the fee and wave their hands "nothing we can do". Surprised the commissioner didn't change things to get this off his desk.
    via TechnOght
  • 13
    tonythetigershark • 14h ago You should have shared this idea with everyone who worked at your company.
    via tonythetigershark
  • 14
    Dragons_Shadow • 12h ago I love that they complained expecting you to help them out, and yet refused to help you
    via Dragons_Shadow
  • 15
    card_bordeaux ⚫ 15h ago Congratulations on red-taping the red-tapers.
    via card_bordeaux
  • 16
    pgm928 17h ago Guess that was easier than having a checkbook, envelopes and stamps in your car to write it and mail it right away.
    via pgm928
  • 17
    shavedratscrotum • 14h ago The Postal rule or Posting rule should have covered this surely. That would have been malicious.
    via shavedratscrotum

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relatable memes parking ticket revenge reddit story petty revenge petty lol downtown Reddit funny parking parking enforcement
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