Manners maketh the parking: Ask yourself, will others be upset with my parking job?

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I nosed my Mini in behind an SUV. I was lucky to find parking on Queen Street East near the Fox Theatre in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood, where we were seeing a film. I locked the car and took a quick look; the movie was set to begin shortly. It was a terrible parking job. There was more than a metre of empty space in front of my car and two metres in the back. It was bad. It was the parking equivalent of leaving a public bathroom stall strewn with soaked toilet paper and waste matter and then writing “You’re welcome” on the wall.

I turned to my wife. “What do you think?”

She studied my effort. “It’s not your best work.”

Thus admonished, I got back in my car, pulled out onto Queen St. and then paralleled back into the spot. This time I left enough space for the vehicle in front of me to easily get out and enough behind for a large motorcycle. Once the car behind me left, there would be enough space for someone to park. We still made the movie (Wicked Little Lies, which, by the way, is excellent).

It takes a big man to admit he’s wrong. And it takes an even bigger man to admit that his wife is right.

Parking, parking everywhere, but not a spot to take

Do I deserve a medal? Do I deserve a statue?

No. We should all practice good “parking manners.” Each time you park your vehicle you should pause for a moment and evaluate your park. Ask yourself:

• Is there enough space for other vehicles? (Taking up two spots is selfish.)
• Am I riding one of the lines? (Can others get in and out of adjacent spaces?)
• Am I too close to the curb? Or too far? (You’re encroaching on the sidewalk or road.)
• Did I straighten my wheels? (Not a crime, but unsightly, unless on a hill where it is recommended.)
• Did I drive my SUV up onto two other vehicles while attempting to park at a fitness centre parking lot or park so close that I left only millimetres of space? (No one can get in or out.)
• Am I so bad at parking that Belfast resident Ciarán Shannon and his friends enjoy watching me park more than a close rugby match and wind up giving me a profanity-riddled ovation when I finally finish after 30 minutes and then post a video on YouTube called “World’s Worst Attempt At Parallel Parking, Enjoy!” that collects more than seven million views?

If you answer “yes” to these or any similar questions you:

A) Shouldn’t drive.

B) Should get out of your car and check your parking.

How you park says a lot about who you are as a person. We all have moments when we do a less-than-perfect job, but these moments are exceptions rather than the rule. Show me someone with bad parking manners, someone who routinely takes up two spaces, who leaves six inches on the passenger side or who leaves half an inch between the bumper, and I’ll show you someone who treats the people around them as if they were badly paid extras in a movie; someone who is rude and dismissive.

There is an answer to uniting Canadians and fighting illegal parkers - The Barnacle

They’re the kind of people who announce that they like to treat people the way they would like to be treated, failing to understand that this should be a given. Treating people other than how you would like to be treated should not be one of the options you contemplate when deciding how you lead your life. You shouldn’t weigh its pros and cons. You wouldn’t tell somebody, “You know, I thought about treating you in a way other than I would like to be treated, but upon consideration decided to treat you the way I would like to be treated.”

Similarly, you should park the way you would like others to park, or not park the way you would like others not to park. Pick your sentiment; the result is the same.

When you park your car, take a moment and check your work. If you’ve done a bad job, fix it. Practice good parking manners.