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Entitled, Inconsiderate, Illogical, Name-Dropping Trespassers… - General

Entitled, Inconsiderate, Illogical, Name-Dropping Trespassers…
by Marketman may 12,2017

Entitled : “believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment”
Inconsiderate : “thoughtlessly causing inconvenience to others”
Illogical : “lacking sense or clear, sound reasoning”
Name-Dropping : “the practice of casually mentioning the names of famous people one knows or claims to know in order to impress others”
Trespasser : “a person entering someone’s land or property without permission”

This is a rant. A rare, now once-in-a-blue-moon rant. So don’t read it if you don’t like rants.

This morning, I drove to the office at our Yakal Street Zubuchon outlet and arrived before 10am. I was surprised to see 3 cars already in the parking lot even before the restaurant opened, and on inquiry, was told that the cars appear to have parked there as early as 630am, one later at 7am and another yellow car, later still. Our guard was away from the parking lot when they snuck in to park. We have CCTV cameras so we can pinpoint the exact time if we had to. This is clearly a private parking lot of a private business, and it is for the use of our dine-in customers, when they are actually dining in. We have some 16 spaces that are much coveted in parking-scarce Makati, and during busy Friday lunches, we could even use another 10 more. So suffice it to say that our parking spaces are essential to our customers who are dining in. So I made sure that the drivers were not actually in the restaurant (they couldn’t be as we were closed) and by 11am, when the parking lot was filling up with cars of customers, it was clear that these three cars were just plain “trespassing” and using our parking lot as though they were entitled to it, regardless of the fact that they were inconveniencing others, couldn’t possibly have a legitimate logical explanation for why they were there, and worse, they were just plain trespassing.

So at about 1130 am, I taped this sign to each of the three windshields of the cars, now some 4+ hours illegally parked in our parking lot:

“THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY.

PARKING IS ONLY FOR ZUBUCHON CUSTOMERS THAT ARE CURRENTLY DINING IN (NOT BEFORE OR AFTER).

ILLEGALLY PARKED CARS WILL BE TOWED OR FINED PHP300 PER HOUR FOR INCONVENIENCE CAUSED.”

In addition, I then parked my car directly behind two of the cars and effectively blocked them in until the point that the parking lot otherwise emptied out and they could get out with little difficulty. My purpose was to make sure they knew that what they had done was unacceptable. If we had another car, I would have blocked the third car as well. Meanwhile, over 250+ guests (in at least 60+ cars and by foot) arrived for lunch, and parking was pandemonium. We could have very easily used the 3 spaces currently occupied by “mystery early morning parkers”. I looked up towing companies, but they tend to tow from public streets only. I thought about calling the police, but why bother with the hassle just yet.

I attended some meetings, then met my brother and sister-in-law for a long lunch at Zubuchon. Two p.m. goes by, then at roughly 3 p.m. the driver of the yellow car that was unblocked, took off my taped notice and told our manager it was offensive and he drove off, unchallenged (I was still eating dessert). “OFFENSIVE???” are you kidding me? What a #$%%**#(!! IDIOT. Under what possible explanation could you justify parking in a private parking lot, for some 7 hours, while others could very easily have needed it, and you think it is US that is OFFENSIVE? He also claimed he asked permission, even though the restaurant was closed, and when we pointed to two CCTV cameras overhead he just skedaddled out of there like a bat out of hell. I regret not taking a photo of his plate number but I remember the car, and I know it has tried the same tactic once before but I happened to be in the parking lot delivering flowers early one morning so I asked the guard to politely request that they find other parking arrangements.

A few minutes later, the drivers of the two other blocked cars arrived, and our guard just told them to wait until the blocking car was moved, since they weren’t supposed to park there anyway. Basically, I made them wait until we were finished, some 30 minutes later. In retrospect, I should have just let them wait until 11 pm, or 8 hours for their unauthorized use of the spots for 8 hours. No confrontation, no hassle. But instead I went outside and asked them this simple question “what makes you think you have the right to trespass on private property, park your car, leave it for nearly 8 hours while inconveniencing dozens of other people, and think they were acting appropriately???”




PARKING OFFENDER #1 : A LADY DRIVER

The gist of her reply was this, not verbatim “sorry, I parked before 7am, and I eat here EVERYDAY so sorry nalang, but can you move your car now?” to which I replied, “you did not eat here today, and you left the car for almost 8 hours, and you are basically trespassing… If I leave my car there for 8 more hours so you can’t move yours, until 11 pm, then you will know what kind of inconvenience you have caused others…” To which the reply was “kasi, I have to leave now, I have no yaya, I left my child who is at home, I have to leave now.” Still no acknowledgement of any wrongdoing, no admission of her completely defenseless position, and followed up with the “my husband works for the PNP…” to which I answered, “then even more reason you should be aware what the laws are and why we should follow them.” Honestly, now, PNP-husband, child left-at-home alone? What does that have to do with anything??