Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
On my walk to work today, I passed a parking lot that's near the haunted mansion that I want to buy. It's the only possible employee parking in the area, and the weird thing is that it's permit-only, but there's no contact information anywhere about how to get a permit. So I've never been able to do any research.
Today when I walked by, lo and behold there was a guy working at the little box where you deposit money. (And no, I don't know why this box exists if it's permit only.) So I walked over to him and the following conversation ensued.
Me: Hi, it looks like you work at this lot.
Him (in foreign accent, some kind of Balkan country, I think): Yes, I own it.
Me: How much does it cost to park here?
Him: Look at the sign.
Me: (Looking at sign.) Yeah, there's no pricing on the sign.
Him: (Coming around box to point at sign.) It's permit only. You have to have a permit.
Me: Yeah, I see that. How much does it cost?
Him: You have to have a permit.
Me: How do I get a permit?
Him: You have to call and get one.
Me: Who do I call?
Him: Look at the sign.
Me: There's no contact information on the sign.
Him: (Pointing around.) The lot's full.
Me: I don't need it now. I'm talking about later.
Him: You have to have a permit.
Me: Who do I call to get a permit?
Him: Me.
Me: Can I have your phone number?
Him: It's on the sign.
Me: I swear to you, it's not.
Him: (Looking at sign.) Huh.
How in the world does this guy have a full parking lot? There's no way to contact him at all. There's no way to pay. There's no way to figure out how to pay. It's weird.
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reminds me of this story
From The London Times:
A Well-Planned Retirement
Outside England 's Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and buses. For 25 years, its
parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant. The fees were £1 for cars ($1.40),
£5 for busses (about $7).
Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the Zoo
Management called the City Council and asked it to send them another parking agent.
The Council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the Zoo's own responsibility. The Zoo advised the Council that the attendant was a City employee.
The City Council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the City payroll.
Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain
(or some such scenario), is a man who'd apparently had a ticket machine installed completely on his own; and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing
to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day -- for 25 years.
Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over $7 million dollars!
And no one even knows his name.