Punishing Logic
It’s nice to see people out and about, feeding the meters, generating revenue for the city, enjoying all the city has to offer. It’s also nice to see people paying ahead for their parking. Specially when they are out for the evening and don’t want to interrupt their activity to run out and feed the meter every hour or so.
One such person is Todd Dunford. Todd went out for a few hours and paid for his parking from 5:30 -6pm and paid an additional amount to cover the flat rate from 6 onward.
That turns out to be a mistake! Take a look at the picture of the sign for the pay-and-display; read Todd’s story, then let us know in the comments section if you would have done this differently.
“So, I’m a big believer in logic, which is why what just happened to me still has me shaking my head a couple of hours later…I got a parking ticket a few weeks back and had a hearing today to appeal it.Based on the posted sign, when I arrived at 5:30 pm I put in a toonie, which paid me until 7pm and a second toonie, to cover the ‘flat rate’ after 6pm. You can imagine my disbelief when we returned to the car after an awesome evening to find a ticket.I very politely explained all of this to the lady hearing my case. she agreed that the sign could be somewhat misleading and also that I was not trying to cheat the system. she even pointed out that I had, in fact, paid too much.”
However, and this is where suspension of logic must come into play, because I paid that second two dollars before 6pm and not after, the ticket still applies and that payment in full must be made.
What…WHAT??!!
I honestly had a hard time keeping a straight face. I could not believe what I’d just heard. I just stood in front of her staring for what was probably an uncomfortably longer time than I realized, but I seriously thought she would replay what had just gone on and smile and agree that this defies logic…But no, she proceeded to rubber stamp a couple of forms for me to sign…which I did with “this sucks, Todd”She did, however, offer to extend the due date two weeks for me if I needed time to come up with the $17, which I thought was quite generous.Is it just me?”
No Todd, it isn’t just you! Common sense is no longer common and reasoning skills are becoming skewed.
~ Todd Dunford
October 8, 2015, Windsor, Ontario
Source
twisted logic, parking tickets, skewed judgments