AITA For Asking a Parent Not to Park in my Spot?

A Redditor shared an encounter involving a reserved parking spot at their workplace, which shares a lot with a daycare. When a parent picking up a sick child briefly parked in one of their paid-for spots, the Redditor asked them not to park there in the future. The parent explained the urgency of their situation but left upset after being confronted. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA For Asking a Parent Not to Park in my Spot?’

The place I work shares a parking lot with a daycare. We have three reserved spots that we pay for. Otherwise, parking is a nightmare. I came back from lunch this afternoon and two of our three reserved spots were taken.

Right after I parked a guy comes out of the daycare with a grumpy looking toddler and starts getting into one of the cars parked in one of our spots. I asked him to park somewhere else next time.

He responded that his kid had a fever and needed to be picked up and that he had been inside for 30 seconds. I said this has nothing to do with your kid, we pay for these spots because we need them. He just got in his car and left. Am I the a**hole here?

See what others had to share with OP:

magicmom17 −  NTA- you paid for it, you get it. We used to own a condo with a small parking lot that had just enough spots for the condo owners. Those spots cost at least 10k a piece to own. One time, a friend of one of the other owners gave us s**t because “it wasn’t cool” that we couldn’t just let him use it for a few hours.

We msged the owners who were hosting that guest and the owners told him to get out of the spot ASAP. It was a 5 unit building and they didn’t want to mess with the peace that we had all enjoyed since living there.

butterflycole −  NTA-you pay for your spot and it is for you. I would say that he was probably frazzled and stressed and didn’t expect to be in the spot for very long so it probably wasn’t malicious. He should have apologized and went on his way. Didn’t need to become a whole thing. Maybe get a little traffic cone or something to stick in the middle of your spot when you run off to lunch next time.

pixie-ann −  NTA people always think they have a need greater than yours when they decide to take something that doesn’t belong to them.

Beach_Babe10 −  Used to live across from an elementary school…never again. After school was a nightmare. Parents would park in, or actually block our driveway “just to run in”. Some of the parents got pretty n**ty to when I confronted them.

Sorry, not sorry MY HOUSE!!! Unfortunately, they don’t care about your inconvenience, only what’s convenient for them. He knew he wasn’t suppose to park there, but did it anyway. I’d talk to the daycare, just so it doesn’t get outta hand.

BurdTurgler222 −  NTA. There’s a daycare center on my block, the parents always block our drive when it’s pickup time, no matter how much we complain to the daycare. We also had to put a trash can in front of our house because parents empty the trash outta their cars into the street while they’re waiting. Again, the daycare does nothing.

anitarielleliphe −  Absolutely you are not the a-hole. It is that guy and every other person with the same “I-was-only-in-that-spot-for-five-minutes” attitude that inconvenience the disabled and people who pay money for their spots, like you, that are the real a-holes.

SoMuchMoreEagle −  Info: are the spots marked? Also, have you tried talking to the daycare management and ask them to tell their clients not to park in those spaces?

jeffprop −  NTA. Your boss should send a letter to the daycare to inform them that their clients are parking in spots reserved for your company, and they need to warn their clients that parking in them can get their car towed.

secondrat −  Put a $200 fine for parking in these spots sign up. If someone is in your spot park them in then demand $200. I bet it stops quickly. Or start charging the daycare. They will tell the parents quickly.

ExistenceRaisin −  NTA. You paid for the spots and you are entitled to use them. Hopefully this was a one-off situation

Was the Redditor justified in reminding the parent about the reserved spot, or should they have shown more empathy given the situation? How would you balance enforcing rules with compassion in this scenario? Share your perspective below!