almost heaven...i do the same thing. It really does help add the extra steps a day. I use to not...but once, i had to take my hubby's prized car shopping and someone put a nice ding in it..i felt crappy...ever since then i just park far out..its also because honestly...i am impatient...i'd rather walk a little father than wait and circle the parking lot to get that perfect spot....

and while we'er on parking lots...what about the morons who park in front of a busy store while another person "runs in" to get something...and usually there,s a front parking space. I see this all the time at the starbucks i go to...wtf people are you too lazy to walk the extra 10 steps from the parking space that is only 4 feet from where you are already parked...and btw...your holding up the traffic and making it difficult for others...ugghh!

My stepfather is one. A retired marine, he lost part of his leg in Vietman and wears a brace that fits over his calf (providing support for the missing flesh/muscle) and attaches firmly to his shoe. He is sensitive about his brace and nearly always wears long pants to hide it. He normally walks without any limp (unless he's tired or done too much walking that day) so he looks "fine" when he gets out of his car. His leg causes him a great deal of pain and he really needs handicapped spots.

I would never judge anybody in a handicapped parking place - they either need the spot or they have to live with themselves taking a spot from someone that does.

i agree with you glory..never judge a person, some people have disguised handicaps...its funny however, my dad recently had knee surgery and was incapciated and had limited motion for his leg, so the dr gave him a temp handicap tag for a few months while his knee healed..after about 1 wk..he stopped parking it in..i think he hated to feel as if he was handicap. However the funny thing is, it didn't bother him when he was parking in the hadicap space when my grandma (who is also handicap) was in the car. I guess he didn't mind if it was grandma...but didn't want to accept the fact he was handicapped...even if it was only for a short time period.

Actually Browneyed girl- My husband is a car mechanic and he doesn't get all of that money that you get charged for. The mechanics don't get all of that "labor" money that you get charged for especially at a dealership. I don't know how it works at an individually run shop. For example for one specific job and depending on how labor intensive the job is-how much time and how difficult it will be- there are a variety of pay scales that my husband's job uses. If my husband has to do work on a transmission that's usually a big job right there and you will get charged $200 an hour for labor but my husband will only see $50 of that, the shop pockets the rest of the money for part costs and of course to make a profit. Also at most places if there are no cars or not enough cars coming in to keep all the mechanics busy, then they usually take turns of who gets the single car that is there for the day and it's a bit like my husband works on commission as well. If there's no cars coming in then he doesn't make money period. It is so irritating at times because lots of people think mechanics make awesome money and I have to constantly deal with nosy questions from people as to why we don't have our own house yet and why we seem to be poor and blah blah since "mechanics" make good money or if it isn't that I have to deal with people constantly asking us can my husband fix their cars for free when he already works 12 hour days usually to support us 6 days a week so that I can work part time and go to college and I have a complete scholarship that covers all of my college costs thank goodness and before that my husband was also working Sundays as well. But I do understand the light bulb thing, I would say you're being overcharged.

Ok I am going to jump in. For any service industry there can be huge charges, car, vet, market, goomer, hair salon etc, resturaunt....the point is that there are ovehead costs, equipment maitainance,food cost, lab cost etc and profit.
We use to own a catering service, not so sood for the waistline but we had trucks, dish washing equipment, refrigeration, prep costs and it all gets passed onto the consumer. I won't disagree that the cost of living is going up faster than pay, but I don't think it is fair to pick on the service industry, you have the power of the dollar and where and how you want to spend it, sometimes it is a case of where you are and what you need to do but we all have the ability to shop around... just my 2cents.....

I can also "chime" in on the mechanics thing...I work for a Car Dealership currently and our mechanics get a (barely) reasonable hourly wage paid for all the time they clock in and the shop fees (ours are actually real low in comparison to most around here) are 3-4 times more than what the machanics get paid. But the hourly shop rate is also to cover utilities/taxes/insurance/tools, ect. But our guys get paid even if we are slow. But I agree most people assume that the mechanic is getting the bulk of that "shop hourly rate" and that is just not the case.

Yup. That's another very good reason I have grown to love parking at the back. I used to be one of those circlers. And the stress levels from looking for that spot that will save 10 paces was enormous. It really wasn't worth all that. But I couldn't see it back then.

People that stop in the middle of the road in their car/truck to talk to someone going the other direction in their car and have a full-blown conversation, blocking all traffic flow for other cars. I live in a small village and I drive my son to school about five blocks away. I had to wait THREE TIMES this morning while someone talked to, first, the recycling truck, then the garbage truck, then on the way back the guy that was talking to the recycling truck was talking to the garbage truck...talking for so long that I ended up doing a K turn to turn around and go around the block so I could go home and get ready for work. O....M....G

even better...people that are in the left lane and miss their street so they stopp in the left hand lane and wait for traffic to clear and then turn right from the left hand lane...uhmmmm people..haven't you heard of going up the street and turning around if you aren't in the proper lane...you're going to get someone killed doing that.

Speaking of drivers, I HATE HATE HATE RECKLESS ***s who almost hit me when I'm riding my bicycle! I get almost hit daily and I've been ACTUALLY hit twice. Luckily, I was not majorly injured in either incident (I have a pretty big scar on my arm from one of them and I had several large bruises, in addition to being in pain for a week, but no real damage was done). I have a BIG FAT headlight on my bike, in addition to a big FAT FLASHING reflector, so there is NO excuse regardless of the lighting! I abide by all the traffic laws, stop when the light is red, look out for cars, go when the light is green, et cetera! These stupid *** drivers just fly down the road like a bat out of **** and decide to make a turn while I'm crossing the street... uhhh.... if they are facing me, then they should have been looking ahead (I ride my bike in the direction facing traffic most of the time, so that all the cars can SEE ME and have NO EXCUSE), and if they're coming up from behind me to make a turn, then DURRRR, they already SAW me! DUMBASSES!

It's even worse when I'm just riding down the bike lane and someone is trying to make a turn... um... they're supposed to look both ways before turning. I hate mindless people who drive in autopilot!!!

I am and always have been a very careful driver!

However, the first person who hit me has been forgiven and turned out to be a really awesome person. She was disoriented and rushing her little weiner dog (who got attacked by a pitbull) to the vet. She's not on the jerk list... but... the rest of 'em...

For the blind jerks who speed down a semi-resident road, and dont bother stopping at the flashing lights for the pedestrians because they see no one there.

A 16 year old almost got killed in front of me and my children's eyes because he only wanted to cross the road. He was hit by the car going 70kmph in a 50 kmph zone, thrown back about 15 feet, bones sticking out of his legs, blood everywhere. He couldn't scream because he physically couldn't. His friends did it for him. Ems showed up and had to put tubes down his freaking throat and rush him to the hospital because some IDIOT (I won't mention the race) woman didn't want to slow the $*%K down!!!!!! My children and I have had nightmares all week because of this!

My children and husband finally know that even if the lights are flashing... DON"T CROSS UNTIL YOU KNOW ALL THE CARS HAVE STOPPED!!!

OK. Gotta add another one. I almost ran over someone the other evening. I turned onto my street. It's a residential neighborhood. The limit is 25MPH. I wasn't even going that speed because I'd just turned. I'm so glad. There was someone darting out from between parked cars. It was dark. They were wearing dark and within 10 ft of the corner where it is light!

Come on people. If you are going to be meandering the streets at night, wear something light and carry a flashlight. Also, if you life means anything to you, cross at the corner. AND LOOK BEFORE YOU STEP OFF THE CURB!

As a piggyback to NightengaleShane - Bicyclists who DON'T obey the bike laws (including stopping and obeying right-of-way laws like they are a car at stop signs, using arm signals before changing lanes, etc) and almost cause accidents. I live in a town where EVERYONE rides bikes. Downtown can be absolutely DANGEROUS - the bikes all ride like they own the road, and the cars are swerving away from them and almost hitting eachother. I also live across the street from a middle school. After school, at least 10 times, I've almost hit some middleschoolers who veer across the road to the bike path on the opposite side without checking for cars coming.

OK. Let's add critical mass to that. Bringing an entire city to a crawl is unproductive and dangerous.

Wow, mandalinn, a whole town into biking? I need to live where you live!! I actually have a friend over there who goes to UC Davis. Ha! I've met plenty of bike riders down here who also don't abide by traffic laws and think they own the road. They actually irk me and I wonder when they will get hit considering they're riding so fast and among so much traffic... if they need to come to a sudden stop, they will either get thrown off their bike by the brakes or they will get knocked off by a car.

Every now and then, these people whiz by me (and into a position where they are facing traffic!) and I pray that they won't get hit

Oh. Something that bothers me is when other bikers pass me just to slow down and ride in zigzags, making it near impossible for me to safely pass THEM! I obviously have no problem with people passing me on my bike because they are legitimately going faster than I am (though it is also admittedly rare, with the exception of those "I own the road " types), but if they're going to ride like a drunken toddler, then maybe they should stay where they are and let me ride away.