Craigslist
A Boston-area man who shoveled several feet of snow to clear a parking space for his car was irate when he found another driver’s car in the spot, so he reacted in perfect fashion: He put the snow back.
In a now-deleted Craigslist post (the shoveler told Boston.com that he later decided he wanted to stay anonymous for fear of retribution), he outlined the incredibly frustrating — albeit hilarious from an outside perspective — ordeal:
Craigslist
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/33316/thumb)
“I shoveled the spot, so it’s mine for 48 hours?” Never heard of that one.
How the hell do you enforce that? How do other motorists know how long it’s been ‘theirs’?
Is everyone on the same “it stopped snowing” clock?
Do other cities do this?
I think it was something the mayor probably made up on the spot? I’m in Pittsburgh, and people put folding chairs out where they shoveled parking spots, but legally that doesn’t mean shit and you park wherever you want, marker or not.
I’m not sure the city has an actual policy, but yeah, this is assumed to be part of the social contract: you shovel a spot you mark it, you can keep it. It’s a dick move to take someone’s parking space like this.
This has been a rule in boston for years (maybe decades?). You shovel your spot, and you put a “marker” in place, usually a lawn chair or something ridiculous (ive seen beat up old tvs, ect)
I’m reasonably sure in Boston he was trying to keep people from killing each other–it’s just sad he actually had to state it out loud. This will be what, the fifth or sixth time people have had to shovel their cars out from under a shitload of snow? I imagine some real property damage and threats of bodily harm have already happened…
I think he put a bookcase in place. So somebody got out of their car, moved a bookcase out of the way & parked in his place.
Bostonian here!
So, we received a winter guide pamphlet from our Mayor last fall. In it, he states that you may reserve a parking spot for yourself for up to 48 hours after a storm.
Here’s the thing, not everyone is following this, and tensions are a bit high considering how reduced parking is at the moment. I’ve been getting particularly frustrated when someone takes a spot I spent hours shoveling out and puts a saver in it when they’re gone. Needless to say, those savers don’t do them much good in this instance.
This winter sure is showing everyone’s true colors though. I might have anger issues.
“I shoveled the spot, so it’s mine for 48 hours?” Never heard of that one.
Pretty standard across the Northeast. It’s a ton of work to do, especially in a storm like this, and presumably, every car on the road had to be shoveled out of somewhere and has somewhere to go back to. It’s the asshole who grabs someone else’s spot who fucks it up.
Personally, I’d have poured water all over the car after the snow.
” It’s the asshole who grabs someone else’s spot who fucks it up.”
See, this can cause problems too. By definition if that asshole is out on the road, he shoveled his car out from somewhere. So what if he’s coming back from work, and some different asshole took the spot he shoveled out? He’s got to park his car somewhere. I’ve shoveled my car out, gone to work, come home and seen someone else’s lawn chair in it. The city spot-marker system is complete chaos.
Next time use a 2×4 with 16 penny nails in it as a marker.
I mean, I don’t disagree that the spot stealer is a dickhead, but I lol’d at “social contract”. Evidently he never signed it
This is bullshit. In Chicago, people “save” spaces which often results in their shit getting stolen or someone getting shot. Point is, you park in a public spot you have no rights to that spot. You don’t want this to be a problem then pay for a spot. Simples.
People get shot over this kind of “perfect revenge.”
Probably deserve it, too.
Nice try, guy that takes other people’s spots…
People get shot over stealing something in the first damn place. You’re definitely somebody who would steal a spot someone else shoveled.
So a douche from Boston being a douche to a douche from New York is news?
the only thing perfect about this is that the shoveler is a perfect asswipe
“It’s the Circle of Diiiiiiicks…”
Man, where’s Elton John when you need him?
If he is happy, he is in a circle of dicks right now.
Col. Angus wins.
When I lived in Brooklyn people did the lawn chairs in front of their house. There were more than a few cases of having of cracked windshield if someone ignored it.
Basically this guy got off cheap.
Hold up. Would that be the Jeff Gordon special Monte Carlo? Because that would make it even more amazing.
bostonian here, and this IS pretty good but i’ve seen people coat cars in water from the hose to encapsulate them in snow.
I’m not proud of this but last year i simply removed the windshield wiper blades from some ass hat who stole my spot.
I felt real bad about it for about a month
ICE not snow! Dammit
Then there’s the ever-present tire-slasher.
Lesson: Move out of Boston.
You win sir.
From the voice of experience: Live a life that avoids entering Boston for any reason at any time.
Actually, the lesson is “Don’t own a car in Boston.”
Sorry, but this guy is an idiot. To assume that the driver knew when he shoveled the spot out and started his 48 hour clock is ridiculous. As a Minnesotan that lives in the city, we shovel spots all the time. If you shovel a spot and don’t put your car there, it’s no ones fault but your own. It’s public property.
48 hour clock starts when the snow storm is over, or is supposed to at least.
This guy is an idiot, and I hate space savers.
That said, if you’re on a residential street and there’s nearly 100″ of snow on the ground, it’s obvious parking is at a premium in a city where there’s little parking to begin with? You go to a lot and you walk.
I live in Minneapolis. We get a metric sh*t-ton more snow than any of these places. There is no such thing as “dibs,” here. Does the city not plow streets? Yes, you have to clean the snow off your car when you go outside. But, no you do not get to claim a public spot on a city street as your personal spot. I am baffled by this insanity. I’m also baffled that someone would shovel a spot to and from their spot. It’s a city street, of course anyone will park there.
The issue here is that most cities in the North East are much older and were not planned with the volume of vehicles we currently have. So yes, the cities plow, but with the amount of snow there and barely 2 way street becomes a barely 1 way street.
as a former native minnesotan i can say this was a huge culture shock to me.
people are complete assholes here its just the way it is
A few points:
1) [snowstats.boston.gov] Just go look at those numbers for a minute. The city had, during the last storm, plow guys who had been on the road 24 hours.
2) Boston and Minneapolis actually get roughly equivalent average snowfall, for what I can determine.
3) The problem is geography and city design. Minneapolis is relatively flat and relatively new. Boston is relatively hilly and relatively old. Parking is lousy in the city in the height of summer; when you’ve got 95″ of snow and nowhere to put it, it becomes non-existent.
4) Most of this space saver stuff is actually illegal, but I’ve seen enough stolen parking spots to understand why it happens.
So, I checked the average annual snowfall in Minneapolis. It’s 45 inches. So far this year we have had 95 inches. Side streets are nearly impassable, the MBTA cannot keep up with clearing the tracks and breakdowns, it’s wild. With each snow fall being at least a foot, hitting every couple of days, there is no way to keep up with it all. You cannot get to your car until the plows go through. And then when they go through, it doubles what you have to shovel out. I live in an apartment complex, so our lot is continually plowed…although it grows small with each storm. But in Boston, parking on a street? You can bet if I spent hours digging out and saved my space only to have someone steal it I would be pissed. The guy got off lucky. The others are right…a bucket of water under that snow pile would have done wonders.
Your space? Did you pay for it? If not you have no right to claim it.
This social contract is all bullshit. it’s all about people caring only about themselves. Same reason fuckers double park in order to keep their cars from getting dinged.
You dig yourself out you have to accept the fact your spot might not be there. You feel like fucking with the car (or the person) feel free but know that you are actually no committing a crime. While that more than likely could have no ramifications, you’d feel pretty fucking stupid if you end up fighting a destruction of property/vandalism charge simply to avoid 20 minutes of work.
20 minutes of work? lol have you ever tried to shovel that much snow?
@SuperGrover Wow, you’re an extraordinary douchebag. Like, congrats on repeatedly going way out of your way to demonstrate that.
This guy deserved it. I probably would have done worse.
As someone who grew up in NYC and moved to Boston, this whole “this space is mine because I moved some snow” shit cracks me up. If someone put a piece of trash in a parking spot in New York expecting it to save their spot, they’d come home sorely mistaken 100% of the time.
And if it took the guy “a long time clearing out this spot”, wouldn’t it have taken him forever to put all the snow back? What a waste of time and effort. Dealing with this much snow sucks, sure would be nice if people focused on trying to be positive in the situation, instead of just being dicks.
This is something you’d see on [www.peopleofcraigslist.org]