Imagine going to the grocery store with your family. If you saw a driver who was by himself park in a parking spot that was supposed to be for families with small children, would you call him out on it, or would you ignore the situation?

In this story, one dad is really upset when a rude driver takes the parking spot intended for families, but when he confronts the driver, he tells a lie that makes the situation even worse.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

Don’t lie about leaving kids in your car in the Texas heat to get a parking spot

A few years ago, during COVID, I had the pregnant wife and three kids with me as we stopped to get groceries at HEB.

Not an ideal situation to have the entire “circus” together for grocery shopping, but I was what it was.

It’s summer, it’s Texas, and it’s hot. Think 95F in the sun and 135F+ in a car with the windows up.

Gotta hate drivers like that.

As we look for a spot in the very busy parking lot, a guy coming down the isle in the other direction cuts in front of us and parks in the “Expectant Mother or With Children” parking. Giant Dork.

We park, a lot, further down the isle and as we’re walking towards the store, this guy gets out of his car (car off, windows up) and starts walking in front of us to get to the store.

I’m not sure why it took him 5 minutes to get out of his car after being in such a hurry to park, but I figure it’s consistent with the narcissistic personality.

The rude driver made it even worse.

I say to him while pushing the stroller, “Hey, that parking is really for pregnant women and for families with small children.”

He says, “Yes, the . . . the kids are in the car” in a very dismissive way making it very clear he thought that was an OK thing to say.

But I decide to play along with his BS and reply, “It’s too hot for anyone to be left in a car without air conditioning. That’s not safe”.

We’re getting close to the front of the store. He waives me off and says, “They’ll be fine, don’t worry about it”.

Time for some payback!

I decide he has just warranted some payback as my wife and I are trying to keep two kids (4 yrs. & 2 yrs.) from running in front of cars for 300′ further in a very busy parking lot, while pushing another in a stroller, than we would have if he had not taken the space.

Almost as if those spaces have a purpose.

As we enter the store, there is a manager near the front and I approach her and tell her word-for-word what this gentleman said to me and point him out. I tell her I didn’t see any kids in the car, but I didn’t look closely. I thought someone should know about the exchange.

All he was doing was his civic duty.

This grocery store chain ranks just below a religious institution in Texas and they take their community involvement, sports celebrity commercials, PR, and image seriously. They are not going to ignore a possible life-threatening issue.

Kids and pets in cars in Texas summers can die in less than 15 minutes.

The store typically has a police presence on-site, more for peace-of mind and criminal deterrence than anything else.

If this guy actually did have kids in the car, I have a responsibility to report it. My belief of whether or not what he said was true is, frankly, inconsequential.

Now, it’s up to the manager.

All I had to do was repeat exactly what he said to the right person, and his words would be his own undoing.

Manager says, “Thank you, we will look right into it” and I decide whatever happens, I’ve only repeated exactly what he said to me and was honest that I didn’t see any kids in the car.

We finish our shopping, about 25 minutes after entering, and as we are walking to our car – Giant Dork is standing next to his car and animatedly speaking to a constable that has very a disapproving look on his face.

I smile and think to myself, “He’ll be fine, don’t worry about it”.

Wow! Lying really backfired for that horribly rude driver!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

That would make sense too, but usually there’s a place to put carts near the entrance as well.

This is funny!

This person is impressed at how quickly they were in and out of that store!

Another person finds it unbelievable how quickly they were out of the store.

I’ve been lucky enough to go to HEB when in Texas. I’m still dreaming about the butter tortillas.

Lying will only get you in bigger trouble.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.