Parking problems on campus.
Created | Updated Jun 6, 2003
So, it's the first of the year, and I arrive at Ball State University with my car looking for a place to park. Unfortunately, all the places to park are taken on campus, or the ones that are available have funny little signs telling me to bug off, I don't belong unless I have the sticker!
So I go to the building that sells the sticker, only to find that they don't have any of the particular sticker I am looking for at Housing lot #6, and would I like to buy a sticker to park in the stadium lot. The stadium lot it is, I say foolishly, selling my soul for a packet of peanuts. I find out, eventually, that the stadium lot is about the amount north of campus that one would find uncomfortable to walk, which is about an hour. The shuttle bus isn't any better, since it only comes once every 20 minutes, but at least I don't have to walk.
Then I find out they are selling extra stickers to lots around where I live. They go on sale every Friday at 7:30am. So I mark it in my calender, and hope I can get a good lot. At 8pm Thursday, I notice a good party starting down the road, and want to check it out. It's not a party on closer inspection. It is 20 or so people camping out for stickers in front of the parking building. Not that desperate, I set my alarm for 6am, hoping to hop into line, and get my sticker.
The next morning, the line is now a mile long. I hop in it anyway. In front of me is a girl I just met the previous day, Jessie, and I strike up a conversation, hoping that if I don't get a sticker, at least my time won't be wasted. As I get closer to the front of the line, more and more lots are announced as full. But the lot I wanted is still free, so I wait.
At the front of the line, only Jessie is left in front of me, and every other lot has been sold out, every lot but the one I want. Jessie goes to the desk, and buys her sticker. Then I hear the words I've dreaded all morning. "Housing lot number 6 sold out! H6 sold out!" Depressed, I go back to my room to cry, wondering if I will ever see my car again.
The next week, I am prepared. At 4am, I pounce on the line, and can at least see the end of it. I have brought snacks, a CD player, and homework. When I get to the front of the line, H6 is sold out, but H4 is still available, and they even let me buy it, although I don't live at H4. This is a vast improvement, and to celebrate, I fill the tank of my car with premium.
Back at lot H6, I see something strange. A lot of empty spaces. I wonder aloud if there might be a sticker available, and go to the building at 7:30 to check. None are available. Thinking this odd, I ask why there are so many spots available, and they say they sold the stickers, so there are no spots. Frustrated, I leave, knowing I am doomed to park away from my dorm for the rest of my college career.
Back at the H6 lot, it fills up as the day goes on, and I realize that the commuters have bought up all the spots. I park in the lot anyway, and hope the worst doesn't happen, that the parking God will frown on me and throw little pieces of paper on my windshield signifying a great vacuum will soon be opening in my wallet.
Well, the dreaded day comes. A little piece of paper is found on my car signifying my unwillingness to come to terms with the parking rules and I have to pay a $20 fine for parking out of zone. Well, I plan to give them a piece of my mind. I am an adult. I payed an enormous sum to be at college, and I live in the Hall H6 was designated for. No more petty, childish games. So I storm down there, only to be informed there is a form for complaints. So they give me one, and I leave, quietly. After filling out the form I have no more fire left in my bones, and decide that storming in there wasn't such a great idea after all. I do get the date new stickers can be bought, since people will be leaving at the end of semester, and I wait to spring my devious plan . . .
To be continued.
So I go to the building that sells the sticker, only to find that they don't have any of the particular sticker I am looking for at Housing lot #6, and would I like to buy a sticker to park in the stadium lot. The stadium lot it is, I say foolishly, selling my soul for a packet of peanuts. I find out, eventually, that the stadium lot is about the amount north of campus that one would find uncomfortable to walk, which is about an hour. The shuttle bus isn't any better, since it only comes once every 20 minutes, but at least I don't have to walk.
Then I find out they are selling extra stickers to lots around where I live. They go on sale every Friday at 7:30am. So I mark it in my calender, and hope I can get a good lot. At 8pm Thursday, I notice a good party starting down the road, and want to check it out. It's not a party on closer inspection. It is 20 or so people camping out for stickers in front of the parking building. Not that desperate, I set my alarm for 6am, hoping to hop into line, and get my sticker.
The next morning, the line is now a mile long. I hop in it anyway. In front of me is a girl I just met the previous day, Jessie, and I strike up a conversation, hoping that if I don't get a sticker, at least my time won't be wasted. As I get closer to the front of the line, more and more lots are announced as full. But the lot I wanted is still free, so I wait.
At the front of the line, only Jessie is left in front of me, and every other lot has been sold out, every lot but the one I want. Jessie goes to the desk, and buys her sticker. Then I hear the words I've dreaded all morning. "Housing lot number 6 sold out! H6 sold out!" Depressed, I go back to my room to cry, wondering if I will ever see my car again.
The next week, I am prepared. At 4am, I pounce on the line, and can at least see the end of it. I have brought snacks, a CD player, and homework. When I get to the front of the line, H6 is sold out, but H4 is still available, and they even let me buy it, although I don't live at H4. This is a vast improvement, and to celebrate, I fill the tank of my car with premium.
Back at lot H6, I see something strange. A lot of empty spaces. I wonder aloud if there might be a sticker available, and go to the building at 7:30 to check. None are available. Thinking this odd, I ask why there are so many spots available, and they say they sold the stickers, so there are no spots. Frustrated, I leave, knowing I am doomed to park away from my dorm for the rest of my college career.
Back at the H6 lot, it fills up as the day goes on, and I realize that the commuters have bought up all the spots. I park in the lot anyway, and hope the worst doesn't happen, that the parking God will frown on me and throw little pieces of paper on my windshield signifying a great vacuum will soon be opening in my wallet.
Well, the dreaded day comes. A little piece of paper is found on my car signifying my unwillingness to come to terms with the parking rules and I have to pay a $20 fine for parking out of zone. Well, I plan to give them a piece of my mind. I am an adult. I payed an enormous sum to be at college, and I live in the Hall H6 was designated for. No more petty, childish games. So I storm down there, only to be informed there is a form for complaints. So they give me one, and I leave, quietly. After filling out the form I have no more fire left in my bones, and decide that storming in there wasn't such a great idea after all. I do get the date new stickers can be bought, since people will be leaving at the end of semester, and I wait to spring my devious plan . . .
To be continued.
