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Original poster

I had my first ever experience of a man waving at me to help me park

70 replies

AintNobodyHereButUsChickens · 12/05/2022 18:05

In my own driveway Confused The man had come to do some work on the rear of my car so he asked me to drive forwards onto my drive, so the back end was pointing towards the road. As I did so he walked to the front end of my car and waved me in. Why do they DO this?! I was so tempted to ask him if he'd have done that if I was a man Hmm It's my drive, I park on it several times a day, I know where it ends and I know the size of my car. And even if I was struggling, my car has parking sensors on both ends anyway!
Urgh.

OP posts:
whatisthisinhere · 12/05/2022 23:44

It's usually men without dogs that should say. But I'm going to call them all Ken from now on

worriedatthistime · 13/05/2022 00:16

Women also do this in car parks etc and actually i don't mind if its helping me out
He probably did it out of habit

worriedatthistime · 13/05/2022 00:19

Also if you don't want the help
Say so many appreciate it if tight space or can't see , not all of us have reversing sensors etc,

WindowWanker · 13/05/2022 00:34

My DP does this. I think it makes him feel important for a few seconds.

KloppsTeeth · 13/05/2022 00:43

This has never happened to me. Maybe because I look like a potato and not what they think a damsel in distress looks like? 😆

Flippermeflopits · 13/05/2022 00:51

My dad used to do this, but he did it with all of us. Me, mum, brothers my husband. I miss it. He would stand back & admire our parking 'beautiful job my bird'. Thanks dad couldn't have done it without you😁

exexpat · 13/05/2022 01:20

My brother-in-law tried to do this to me while I was parking my car in the off-street parking space in front of my house. He lives in another country and was visiting for the first time. I had been parking my car in my parking space for around ten years at that point.

Yes, I pointed that out to him. Yes, he is a male chauvinist, unthinkingly sexist person in other areas of his life too. I have no idea how or why my sister-in-law and niece put up with him.

He also does not know what to make of any male who is not interested in beer, sport or cars, a category which includes my adult DS, my exDP and my current DP. Life must be very confusing for him sometimes, but luckily he lives in a conservative small town and works in a male-dominated industry so he doesn't have to cope with his ideas being challenged too often.

ifIwerenotanandroid · 13/05/2022 01:21

Clymene · 12/05/2022 20:13

You should have pinned him to the wall

😂

mnnewbie111 · 13/05/2022 06:33

I wish I was a better driver so I could get annoyed by this. No matter how hard I try I actually always need some fucker helping me park. I usually prefer a lady tho 😂

BlueSlate · 13/05/2022 06:36

I've had this a couple of times. Most notably the man who collects the trolleys in the supermarket tried waving me in when I was reverse parking. When I got out, I asked him what on earth he thought he was doing. He said he was helping me. I pointed out that all he'd done was give me an extra hazard to watch out for. He wasn't impressed.

The one that bugs me currently is this.

I play bass in a band. Quite often the sound guy will ask if my bass is passive or active. That's a reasonable question. But they quite often follow it up with, "You know, does it have a battery?" They never ask men. They assume men can answer the question without the additional info.

gamerchick · 13/05/2022 06:53

It's weird, I actually don't mind this much. It usually only happens when it's a massively tight spot or they've parked something big behind me and it's going to be tricky to reverse out. I like an extra hand in those situations.

Travelwiththree · 13/05/2022 07:04

The last time this happened to me I was trying to ignore the man's hand gestures while ranting "He'd never do this to a man!" etc in the car. When we got out of the car my 8 year old son said quite loudly "His car's got loads of dents!".

AvDemeisen · 13/05/2022 07:11

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 13/05/2022 07:12

A man tried to do this to me once. I told him to stop as he was distracting me. Pricks.

sandgrown · 13/05/2022 07:17

I don’t think I could be bothered getting so annoyed about people trying to help. I know I can do it so I just smile and say thanks .

Kendrickspenguin · 13/05/2022 07:20

This has happened to me many, many times. I am a terrible driver, and I am even worse at parking. This has nothing to do with me being female, and everything to do with me having awful coordination and visual spatial skills.

FabulouslyFab · 13/05/2022 07:29

I was reversing into a space quite happily when a man stood behind me - in the actual space! - to wave me in! I stopped the car til he moved and as he walked past he started to explain what to do through my window and I told him to go away.
He then followed me round the store telling me what I was doing wrong (er - nothing!) until I loudly told him if he didn’t stop following me I would call the police 🤦‍♀️😂

MaryBeardsShoes · 13/05/2022 07:35

I like (not) it when they shout out (to distract you) when you're reversing in a tight space and they think you're going to hit something. Um no, I am familiar with the shape of my own car and know how far to reverse!

Pashazade · 13/05/2022 07:36

I had this whilst reversing out of my drive, it's a busy ish road but I've lived here 15 years! Silly sod stood in my blind spot and freaked me completely because I nearly ran him over! Ugh!
Conversely an older couple had obviously watched me park in the local car park as the wife told me that her husband thought I'd done a very neat job of parking. I just said thank you and took it as a compliment, I'm damn good at parking 😁

Roselilly36 · 13/05/2022 07:37

My lovely late Gt Aunt, used to do this, whether it was me or husband driving, she would back us out the the drive and hold up the oncoming traffic, for us to do so. All part of the service 😂 for any visitor, she was a wonderful Aunt, we all loved her so much and just smiled.

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 13/05/2022 07:40

WindowWanker · 13/05/2022 00:34

My DP does this. I think it makes him feel important for a few seconds.

To you or random women??

SaintVal · 13/05/2022 09:35

My DF does this. I've told him off about it but he's 75 and I'm not going to change him now 🙈

StrangeCondition · 13/05/2022 09:46

Had this at work, car park guy guiding me into a space despite me being perfectly capable. Really annoyed me as there was lots of blokes about (construction site) probably thinking I can't park. I did tell him I had successfully parked my car thousands of times and that it has front and back sensors and cameras

ShirleyPhallus · 13/05/2022 09:50

We have a long driveway that’s the width of the house + garage, and no wall between ours and neighbours drive which goes the same. The total space is about 30 metres by 10 metres.

However every time my (male) neighbour sees me turning on the drive he asks if I want him to move his car in case I need more space.

I wonder if he thinks I’m driving a bendy bus instead of the bog standard car I am driving.

MrsSkylerWhite · 13/05/2022 09:51

There are two elderly men who do this regularly in the Aldi car park.
I won’t, obviously, but I get the strong urge to reverse over them every time 😬

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