Imagine having a disabled placard on your vehicle so that you can legally park in handicapped parking spots, but there’s only one disabled parking spot available at the grocery store. If you saw a van heading towards the same spot, would you swoop in to take it, or would you let the van have the spot since there might be someone in a wheelchair inside?

In this story, one woman is in this situation, and she chooses the second option, but then an entitled driver who doesn’t have a disabled placard on her vehicle swoops in and steels the spot from both of them.

The van driver made a phone call, which the other driver assumed was to the police. That was kind of correct, but the van driver actually had a connection that made the situation worse for the illegally parked driver.

Let’s read all about it.

Steal a parking spot from a disabled person? Pay up, Karen!

Not my (28M) story, but my mom’s (58F).

Last week, I went to Costco to run some errands. I have a GI condition which allows me to park in the disabled parking space so I start the parking in one of the only spots until I see a van which also has a disability placard hanging from their mirror.

I figured since they have a van they must have a person in need of a wheelchair inside, so I figured “I can walk a few more feet, so they deserve this spot more than me.” I started backing out my car when all of a sudden…

ENTER ENTITLED KAREN.

How rude!

As I backed out to give the van space to park, a woman in a pristine Cadillac sedan (without a disabled parking placard) whips in between my car and the van to park in the disabled parking spot.

Both the driver in that van and I were mad (understandably so), but she was the only one who got out of her car and let the lady have it (I’m usually the “pick your own battles” type of person so I backed off, but still watched from a distance).

Karen starts going off on her (probably projecting, I couldn’t hear everything that was being said but knew no matter what it was you couldn’t defend her actions).

I did notice that on her bumper was a Canadian license place (we live in Florida). This will come into play a bit later, but at the time I thought it was funny given the fact that people stereotype Canadians as being overtly friendly (which was the polar opposite of this lady’s demeanor).

The police arrived really quickly.

So Canada Karen storms off inside to do her shopping or whatever and the van lady picked up her phone and started calling someone (probably the police).

I’d wanted to tell her that she’d be better off getting an employee because it’d take a long time for dispatch to send someone here (since honestly our PD is usually lazy as hell) and Karen would already have been gone by then. But very strangely enough, it didn’t even take more than FIVE minutes for one of the patrol units to show up!

Canada Karen didn’t even arrive back at her car until a few minutes after the cop showed up.

This time I was outside giving the police officer my side of the story considering I was a witness. Canada Karen (CK), of course, got into a tiff and here is how it went…

Karen is either lying or completely misunderstood the situation.

Officer: “Ma’am, you do understand that 1) you almost hit these two vehicles, and 2) you cannot park in a disabled parking spot if you are not authorized or don’t have a placard.”

CK: “Oh no! You’re entirely misreading the situation! These two were fighting over the spot and while they were, I just pulled in! No harm done, right?“

(ugh…the gaslighting)

OP: “Uh…no. I was letting her park because she needed the spot more than I did.” (while I motioned over at van lady’s grandson to hopefully give her a hint; he had cerebral palsy and is wheelchair-bound)

The questions continue.

CK: “(scoffs) CLEARLY! You don’t even LOOK disabled! (ah yes, a typical Karen phrase) “If she could park here, then why can’t I park here too?”

Officer: “Ma’am…I noticed you have Ontario plates. How long have you been here in the states?”

(Canada Karen starts sweating bullets. She probably thought he was going to question her legal status or something.)

CK: “Umm…well, you see, I moved in with my husband! He’s American and-”

It’s getting worse for Karen.

Officer: “Ma’am, this car is registered to you, not your husband. And you haven’t answered my question. How long have YOU lived here in the states?”

CK: “Oh…about a year.”

BIG. MISTAKE.

Officer: “Ma’am, you understand that according to Florida law, any non-U.S. citizen living in the state longer than a 6-month period must register their vehicle within 10 days of entering the country. Correct?”

Karen was not happy.

If Karen’s jaw dropped any lower at that moment, it would’ve fallen off.

Officer: “I’m afraid I will have to write you up on a $500 fine for inability to register within 10 days of entry. And additionally a $250 fine for unauthorized parking in a disability parking space.”

When they handed Canada Karen her ticket, she snatched it out of his hand and stormed back into her car, still angry but now more embarrassed.

Before I left the scene to (finally) go shopping, I went up to van lady and asked her if she needed any more help. She said she was alright and thanked me.

It turns out there was a good reason the police arrived so quickly.

I told her it was amazing how quickly the cops showed up, and then she laid THIS on me:

Apparently, she didn’t dial 911. She called her son who was the POLICE CHIEF of our town, who just so happened to be her grandson’s (the boy with cerebral palsy) father!

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As a mom who has a son on the spectrum, I know this more than anything: Hell hath no fury like a parent when their child with special needs is mistreated!

Here’s what really happened.

Once he heard that this crazy lady stole a parking spot from his own son who needed that spot and wasn’t able to defend himself, he IMMEDIATELY had a squad car sent out to hopefully deescalate the situation (and our police station was just up the road).

Luckily once Karen left (with a $750 A-hole tax in tow), van lady and her grandson were able to park in the spot and continue on with their day and me with mine.

Moral of the Story: don’t create drama if you don’t want karma.

Wow. Canadian Karen is Floridian Karen now, and she needs to play by the rules!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an apartment tenant who is being called petty for blocking her parking space with trash cans.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This might be the case.

One person likes a particular line from the story.

Another person thinks the parking violation should be more expensive.

This is a good point.

It’s true that if the van driver didn’t know the police chief, the police never would’ve arrived before the entitled and illegally parked driver left. While that may be unfair that so many people get away with parking illegally, at least in this case, the driver got what she deserved.

I can only imagine just how upset the police chief really was. I can’t help but wonder if his mom has called him about this same issue before.

Hopefully, that driver learned her lesson.