When you live in a busier area, there are always going to be parking conflicts.

What would you do if there was someone loading up their car in a fire lane when you got home, and they refused to get out of the way so you could park?

That is what happened to the young lady in this story, so she confronted them and ended up getting into a crazy shouting match.

Read through the full story below and see what you think of how she handled it.

Entitled family thinks fire lane is their parking space

My parking space has a fire lane immediately behind it. People like to park in the fire lane to load/unload which I’m usually fine with, but it does block me from entering or exiting my space if someone is there.

You need depth perception for driving.

It’s important to note that I’m legally blind in my left eye. My depth perception is terrible. People with two functioning eyes could probably still access my space with someone parked in the fire lane, but it would be very tight and it’s impossible for me.

So, I come home at night and see a family parked in the fire lane. It’s a young couple, their 4yr old, and they appear to be saying goodbye to an elderly woman who lives in the complex (I will refer to her as grandma.)

Honestly, not everyone would know why she flashed her lights.

Since they’re blocking me, I stop my car about 25ft behind them and wait a full minute for them to move. They don’t, and I assume they’re unaware I’m waiting for them to leave, so I quickly flash my lights twice (the universal way of politely getting another driver’s attention).

Both the mom & dad look at me, make eye contact, then just casually go back to their conversation with grandma as though I’m not there.

They are definitely taking their time.

I thought this was rude, but didn’t want to make a big deal and figured they just needed another minute. So, I wait. I watch mom put their daughter in the back, husband gets in drivers seat, so I think we’re about done.

But no, mom has exited the passenger seat to talk to little girl in the back, then little girl gets out to give another big hug to grandma (this is like the 3rd goodbye hug between the two so far), and then mom proceeds to chat up grandma again.

Keep in mind, they don’t know she is blind. They likely thought there was plenty of room.

I’m done being overly polite at this point. I get out and shout to them “you’re parked in a fire lane and blocking me from my space. Can you move?”

Mom & Grandma: Just go around! (You can tell from their tone they were annoyed at me, as tho I’d been the rude one this whole time by rushing them or something).

Me: I’m legally blind, I can’t get in without scraping your car.

Good, they are finally moving.

Mom: Well you can just wait! (To her credit, grandma no longer joined her and started looking a little sheepish)

Me: That’s literally what I’m already doing, but since you’re inconsiderate, you haven’t noticed.

Mom doesn’t respond and huffily gets in her car and they all back out (hooray!).

She isn’t trying to escalate the situation.

As they leave, grandma is still waving goodbye so I politely approach her (for context I’m 37F, dressed in business casual. I’m not threatening or large. I keep a normal distance between us. I’m not trying to intimidate an old lady). I tell her, “listen, I don’t want to get the HOA involved. Can you please just ask her not to park here?”

Before she can answer, we both hear the squeal of tires and see the headlights of her daughter’s car returning.

Mom jumps out of the car as though I just punched her mom (grandma) in the face, and storms up to me shouting (and this is 100% true): IS IT GIVING OR IS IT TAKING?!?

Well, this isn’t productive.

She repeats this question twice. I have literally no idea what in the brain rot Tik Tok speak she is talking about. So, I lose my remaining patience and, tell her “You can **** all the way off with that bull****.”

Apparently swearing is the worst thing all three of them have ever encountered. They literally all gasped. It devolved into a screaming match at that point. Some fun highlights:

Why would you get in a shouting match like this?

Mom: the lane isn’t even painted red! (the red paint was warn thin, but you could still clearly tell it was a fire lane and said “no parking”)

Me (speaking to grandma): Did you not teach her to read?

Husband: Whatever lady, you’re old.

She isn’t de-escalating at all.

Me: You can join us adults when you finish growing your beard. Until then, why don’t you join your daughter since you left her alone in a running car THAT IS STILL PARKED IN THE FIRE LANE!

Grandma: Do you rent or own here? (She asks this 3x in a row since everyone’s is yelling at the same time.)

Me: I bought my unit 10 years ago, I don’t know what kind of classist attitude you think matters here, but it’d still be a fire lane and your daughter would still be a jerk even if I were renting.

Just drive away; why engage with these people?

Everyone but me gasps again.

Mom: Are you even a mother?!?

Me: I literally burst out loud laughing at this point. “No, I’m not a mother, and you being one doesn’t mean this is your parking space. You’re just an entitled brat. “

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Finally, she left.

And then I went inside and drank cocoa with my old cat.

If I knew how much trouble this space would become, I genuinely would have paid more for a different unit 🙃

Everyone in this story behaved immaturely and was in the wrong. Honestly, everyone seems quite entitled, including the blind woman.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

This is a good suggestion.

It wasn’t that they didn’t know it was a fire lane.

This is one way to handle it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about people who have to go to court to get their land back after their neighbor sells it.

Parking in a fire lane is never ok.

This person thinks she handled it well.

Sure, they should have moved, but nobody was handling the situation properly. People need to realize that talking things through calmly is a much more effective way to get what you want.

Of course, dealing with issues like an adult doesn’t make for a good story.