The parking stories that are posted, such as this one, were submitted to BU Now as part of our Parking Horror Stories contest.
By Alisha Winter
My story has two parts to it. So, I’m a poor, lowly, commuting, incoming freshman. I register my car on STINF, and am eagerly (or maybe not) awaiting the first day of classes.
On the first day of classes, I am lucky enough to get a parking spot on the second level of the tri-level parking garage, where it clearly says “purple decal”. Now, when I registered on STINF, it said I couldn’t pick up my decal until the third day of classes. I, of course, assumed that because of this, the police wouldn’t be ticketing until then.
Imagine my surprise when, after a long day of classes, I come back to my car to find a yellow ticket, claiming that I’m not authorized to park in that spot because I don’t have a decal. Fast forward to the next day. I park in the tri-level again, this time with a sign on my windshield stating, “I am an incoming freshman with a purple decal that I can’t pick up until Wednesday, the 27th”.
I hoped the University Police would understand… Wrong again. During a break in my classes, I went to the administration building and told the girl there of my predicament. She took care of the ticket from the day before.
When I went back to my car after that and there was another ticket on my windshield, I was, to say the least, upset. How could I hope to appease these people when my decal wasn’t available until the next day?! So I went back to Waller. There was a different girl this time, and she told me that I would have to appeal the ticket.
As it also turns out, the tri-level was no longer purple decal parking, THE SIGN JUST SAID IT STILL WAS. As an incoming freshman, how was I supposed to know? My telepathy was on the fritz that day, sorry. So I appealed the ticket, and they denied my appeal.
Apparently the fact that they still had the sign up and that I couldn’t get my decal until two days after the start of the term was not an excuse. Oh yeah, even better. Less than a week later, the sign on the second level of the tri-level parking garage said black decal and faculty only.
