Having to explain the responsibilities of your job to an outsider can be tricky, and it only gets more so when you have to explain a job that isn’t yours at all!

How would you handle regularly getting misconstrued as someone you’re not? Even worse, as parking enforcement?

One guy recently shared his exact experience of this with Reddit, to some hilarious results.

I don’t even LOOK like parking enforcement

I used to work as a motorcycle courier, riding around delivering stuff.

Some things to understand about parking enforcement, they don’t ride motorcycles, they don’t wear helmets, motorcycle jackets, draggin jeans or even hi viz.

Still, I would occasionally get mistaken for parking enforcement.

Must be the vibe he gives off.

A typical encounter would go something like this:

Clueless Parker is CP and Me is me

CP: “Hi, can I park over there?”

Me: “Um, not sure, you’d have to check the signs”

In fairness, those signs are confusing.

This would usually be followed by a confused look then they’d take an actual look at what I was wearing and apologize and walk away.

I’d usually realize just as they were walking away that they thought I was parking enforcement.

Which arguably makes it funnier.

One particularly memorable occasion I was approached by Angry Busrider, or AB.

AB: [raised voice] “Are you going to do something about that truck?”

AB points to truck parked in bus zone that is blocking a bus trying to collect passengers.

Super annoying, but not this guy’s problem.

I don’t immediately realize he thinks I’m parking enforcement and that day had been a frustrating day so my response is one I’m not particularly proud of:

Me: “What the @#$% do you expect ME to do about it?”

Me: *storms off*

Not the most mature, but he was cornered after all.

Then there’s the time someone approached me just as I parked my bike behind their car.

CP: “Hello, I need to vote and this area is supposed to have special provisions for the election”

I’m unaware of any election which means it must be a local government election rather than a state election and as far as I know, elections don’t happen on week days.

As usual, dense me hasn’t figured out they think I’m about to write them a parking ticket.

Understandable that this would take some time to get used to.

Me:”Um, I don’t know anything about that”.

CP: “Well it’s an election and I just want to vote”

I’m not sure how to respond to this and look at her blankly until she continues.

CP: “Could you just not ticket me please?”

Bold to ask this directly.

Me: “Oh! I’m not parking enforcement”

Clueless parker seems embarrassed and walks away without further comment.

Seems like it’s a more common mistake than people realize.

But the funniest one went like this:

CP: “I need to park for 2 hours, do you think I could leave my car there?”

I happen to know that area as it’s 1/2 hour parking, which is a rare and priceless convenience to motorcycle couriers who aren’t supposed to park in loading zones.

Me: “That area is 1/2 hour parking, I’m pretty sure that parking enforcement would nail you long before you got back.”

CP: “… Oh, sorry, I thought you were parking enforcement!”

This man might as well apply there for a full-time gig. Let’s see if Reddit agrees.

Some people remained confused about the distinction.

Others seemed to have it all figured out.

One person shared their own parking enforcement experience.

A few made attempted witty banter.

And one person just demanded to know the truth!

If only he could write a ticket for every time this happened.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.