You know when you get off work and you’re exhausted and just can’t wait to get home and fall into bed? That’s usually how I feel after a day at work and so when that moment of happiness is ruined by something, whether it be having to stay a bit longer to get something done or having to make a stop at the supermarket- I’m not a happy camper. However, this particular day was not ruined by such events, instead, it was ruined by the bright orange color that is representative of a New York City parking ticket.

I’d just walked up to my car, ignorant to the fact that I had gotten a ticket until I had sat down in the car and saw the bright orange color staring me in the face. I thought, of course, someone was playing a trick on me; I’d paid the meter and arrived before it was up, surely it was a mistake. Alas, it was not, and I hadn’t noticed that there was street cleaning occurring that day and the sign that stood tall and daunting right outside my car door. How had I missed it?

What kind of trickery allowed me to put money in the meter, despite the fact that there was no parking at that time? Why hadn’t the person sitting in the car behind me alert me as I walked away? Why hadn’t I read the sign? How did I get so lucky? Why isn’t there a student discount for parking tickets?

I won’t hold it against the traffic cop who wrote the ticket, but against the city for inadvertently tricking those who aren’t having an all there kind of day, or those who just don’t know any better. The traffic cop was just doing the job they were told to do and for that reason, my anger and disappointment are not with them but with the system that has governed them in this way. I suppose I have myself to blame as well, for not knowing a Wednesday from a Thursday cleaning day, but I’m much too stubborn to admit fault against being wronged.