My new 'Out of Office' message

Not a walk in the park!

Now this is definitely one of my pet hates but does not manifest itself quite as sadisticly as some of my colleagues tend to prefer.
The issue at hand is the daily fight for parking bays that most of us have been embroiled in at some point or another. Why is it that people repeatedly choose to ignore the huge, bright fucking signs indicating the fact that the bays in question are private and reserved and if you do not work for the company indicated, please refrain from parking in them.

Now unlike the above mentioned colleagues, I do have some modicum of sympathy for visitors who inadvertently park there for a short while, however the regular perpetrators are a breed apart. Our neighbouring firm (large banking group) appear to have a shortage of bays therefore the sudden increase parkus transgressus.

What started off as kind notes under wiperblades informing the driver that these bays are reserved has evolved into semi-ambush warfare/ semi-office sports.

To avoid conflict, we did raise this issue with the building manager for said neighbour who assured us that one of their security guards would be posted there in the morning to monitor the parking lot. Well guess what these twats have been doing - they've been making sure no-one else parks in any of their bays but appear to have completely ignored those parking is our bays.

So what happens now - people get clamped and fined (causes major tension), our staff now just park across the bays preventing the other vehicle from leaving ( this causes even more tension as these guys tend to fininsh work at 4:00pm and we generally work til 6-7:00pm.
The office sadists now prefer this method and conveniently find themselves in meetings until 6:00pm). I've seen some poor soul sitting in their car at 5:00pm waiting patiently for the obstructor to return to their vehicle.

Now add to this the poor lost visitor who popped in and got noted, parked-in and clamped. They have no idea of whom to approach to resolve this situation. Been there myself recently, so I appreciate the predicament. Is there no way to resolve this tension without resorting to drastic measure and getting everyones backs up.

Ultimately you find that the heighten stress levels and the accompanying road rage has started before the driver has even left the parking bay.
Now how fucked is that.

(Please note that no vehicles have been damaged in the writing of this post)

All Flights Grounded

The War on Terror!

So what exactly is the effect of the current socio-political situation on our mating habits?