When delivering something to a business, it can be hard to find a good parking spot.

What would you do if you had to deliver a bunch of food to a law firm, but the parking attendant got upset with you when you parked in the spaces of the law firm employees?

That is what happened to the delivery guy in this story, but the head attorney stepped in and hired the delivery guy on the spot and gave him a parking pass. Once he was done delivering the food, he fired him and took the pass back. The parking attendant wasn’t happy about it, but there was nothing he could do.

I love the way that the lawyer handled this annoying situation, and that he tipped him well, too. Read through the full story to see what you think.

The day I was hired and fired by a law firm.

So, this is about five years ago. I worked as a chef at a bakery.

This sounds like a good job if you like baking.

It was my job to make everything but the baked goods. Every morning the Baker and I would walk in at about 4 AM and knock out all the food needed for the day.

This would leave me ready to go home around 10 AM or so. This put us at the perfect time to deliver online orders.

Catering jobs can be very lucrative.

It was common for companies or other entities to place large catering orders with us. The baker and I would split them down the middle and deliver them on our way home.

The delivery in question was for Bob, Dick, and Harry, Attorneys at law. I have never delivered to BD&H before, but they were a regular of sorts.

That is a big order.

Every financial quarter, they would hold a huge meeting. This meeting would require roughly $700 of bagels and bagel accessories.

This spread included eight dozen bagels, all ten of our flavors of cream cheese, pastries, brownies, and enough coffee to power a college dorm though finals week.

The law firm should be paying for their parking.

My passenger seat, entire back seat, and entire trunk are filled with food. Now BD&H is located on the ninth floor of a commercial skyscraper, deep in an industrial complex downtown.

Parking was non-existent. There were meters outside the building, but I knew I would need close to ten trips to deliver all this food, and didn’t have a lot of change on me.

Ok, that’s an interesting way to handle it, but it works.

Company policy was to just pay whatever fines I needed to park and then turn in my receipts. The money would end up on my next paycheck.

So, the building has its own parking garage, so I pull on in. The security guard, lets call him Sam, stops me and says that the parking garage is for employees only.

Fair enough; he will get reimbursed.

I happily show him my delivery invoice, and offer him a bribery bagel, (never leave the store without at least two.)

Sam refuses the bagel and says I can park in one of the guest spots on the bottom floor. The fee is $5 for every 30 minutes, minimum $10. I thank him and head to the bottom floor of the garage.

Perfect, he found a spot that will work.

So, there are a total of six guest parking spaces. Just six. All of them are taken. I head back up to talk to Sam, when I see an open parking spot reserved for Bob, Dick and Harry, Attorneys at Law.

There are cars in every spot, with many spots being reserved for employees by name. The last spot is empty, and is reserved for “Guest of BD&H”.

He will be exhausted.

Perfect. I pull on in. I grab the most important part of the delivery (the coffee) and head to the stairwell. I get into the elevator and hit the button for floor nine.

The elevator asks for my employee ID card. Well… crud. So, I try the lobby. That works. From there its nine flights of stairs until I am outside the law firm of Bob, Dick, and Harry.

Calm down, man. The guest spots were full.

After introducing myself, I am shown to the room where the meeting will take place. A table is set aside for me. I set down the coffee and head for trip number two.

That is when I see Sam talking to the receptionist. He runs over and starts shouting at me. “I am putting a boot on your car. I told you to park in guest on the bottom floor!”

Good, now the issue will get resolved.

I don’t get a word in before he launches into a speech about security and how I could be hurting his building or people. That is when a very well dressed man walks over. It so happens to be Bob, the Bob of Bob, Dick and Harry’s.

Bob asks what is the problem and soon the two are arguing.

Let’s see how this conversation goes.

Bob: OP is delivering food for my meeting. He is allowed to use my parking spots.

Sam: Those parking spots belong to the building. You are leasing them like you lease this floor. I am the one who says who can park there. He isn’t an employee, so he isn’t parking!

Bob is a creative problem solver.

Bob: Then I am making him an employee!

Sam: You can’t do that!

Bob: … … … You know what. You are right. Harry! Harry! get over here.

His employees are used to his behavior.

Harry walks over with an amused look on his face.

Bob: Harry here is the head of our HR department. Harry, hire this boy.

Harry pulls out a piece of paper and scribbles, “NAME is now a member of Bob, Dick, and Harry’s” and signs it, then asks me to sign as well. I do so.

There you go, problem solved.

Bob reaches over to the receptionist, who is already grabbing some things.

Bob: Here is your employee badge, your -PARKING PERMIT- and your elevator key card. Now please, do the job I have -HIRED- you to do, and deliver my bagels.

Some people seem to be on power trips all the time.

Sam looks on in utter fury as I ride the elevator down to my car.

Seven sweet sweet elevator rides later, all the food is delivered. Bob and Harry meet me at the table.

A nice tip on the way out the door.

Bob: NAME, you have made great strides in this company and I am proud of your work, but I feel it is time for us to part ways. Here is your final check.

Bob then hands me a crisp $50 bill.

Nice, more tips.

Harry: And your severance package. Now please be sure to return your badge and card on the way out.

Harry hands me a $20 and sends me on my way. The receptionist is sure to validate the parking ticket that Sam gave me, and I head on out.

Sam didn’t like not getting his way.

On the way out, Sam grins at me and asks for my ticket. I place it in the machine in his station. It sees the validation I got, and lets me out for free.

Sam glares at me as I drive off into the late morning sun.

While following policy is a good idea in practice, there are exceptions to every rule, and that is what Sam didn’t seem to understand. Fortunately, the lawyers knew they held all the power.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

This is a great entry on his resume.

For once, the lawyers are the good guys.

As if he really controls anything.

Here is an attorney who loved the story.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a researcher who complained about being excluded from a trip only to watch the university cancel the whole thing.

This is very annoying, but it happens all the time.

He thought he would go on a power trip, but he got put in his place instead. This is a great example of someone using their real power for the good of others.

Plus, I love how he tipped well at the end. I’m sure it made the parking attendant mad, though.