As the beginning of the school year comes around and everyone is moving back onto campus, the time comes for last minute parking permits to be bought. There are so many things that come with selling the parking permits for a college campus.
As welcome week begins, the office gets flooded with new students, parents and returning students searching for parking permits. There are so many conversations that occur when you are helping someone get their parking permit for the year -- from which permit is still available to which ones are sold out. It sometimes is not a fun conversation to have with people. Trust me, I don't like telling you the only thing left is a garage far from your dorm and it costs $150. I feel bad when I have to, but there is only so much I can do when I don't make the prices. Also, we only sell for the amount of spots we have, so when it sells out it's gone.
Another thing that can be hard is when you talk with parents. There have been so many times when I have had to have discussions with parents about why their kid has a ticket or why they can't park right by their dorm. Parents, I am a student myself. I am sorry, but there is only so much I can do and we are required to have rules for parking. There are so many conversations that are very similar to this that occur during Welcome Week.
Most of the week everyone who needs help getting a parking permit is pretty nice, but there is that handful that argues or gets super upset with you -- those make the days just a little bit longer. Even when the week seems to be getting long, trust me, we understand. We get how you feel. We get that you are upset.
Personally, in my time working in the parking office, I have pretty much dealt with every situation that you can image -- whether it be a simple license plate change or getting a boot taken off of your car. I have done it all, but believe me when I say this: those of us in the office are students just like you. We deal with the same things you do. We understand that you are frustrated about parking, getting a ticket, or not getting the permit that you wanted. We get it, we have all dealt with it before too. We don't like having to tell you bad news about parking just as much as you don't like to hear it.
In the end, please remember, we are students just like you and we deal with the same things. You also have to remember that we have a job to do as well. We may not like telling you the bad news, but it is what we have to do because it is our job.
