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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this behaviour in the supermarket carpark was wrong

192 replies

Jusfloatingby · 11/04/2012 11:03

I was up at the supermarket earlier and a huge row was going on outside the supermarket. Apparently a mother with two small kids was furious that someone without children had taken the last P&C space and had just blocked him in and gone off to do her shopping. As a result she was causing a huge obstruction for other customers trying to drive up to the exit and was also impeding the view of other cars trying to reverse out of their spaces.
AIBU to feel that she was taking the situation waaay too seriously and should have just gone off and parked somewhere else.

OP posts:
lunamoon · 11/04/2012 12:01

There are lots of lunatics on the road, and in supermarket carparks.

My dh suffered a leg injury and could barley walk. One Christmas eve he came along for the ride to the shops. I parked up and hurried to get a few things (not supermarket btw).
When I came back he was out of the car and had tried to walk to the shop. He said as he was crossing the clear car park a car came hurling along music blaring, man with 2 young kids. He said he was driving so fast that eveyone was looking at him and his car. Didn't slow down for dh just screeched to a halt and screamed "Get out of the fucking way you bastard crippled cunt!"

Twat drove off.

Cue stunned shoppers and dh who seriously thought this prick would run him over.

exoticfruits · 11/04/2012 12:02

A loon! The problem would be solved if they placed them further away. They need space to open the doors-they do not need to be nearer the entrance. We never had them at all when mine were small-we managed!

OneHandFlapping · 11/04/2012 12:02

He was the one in the wrong. Some people are selfish wankers, and mostly get away with it. He probably thought mothers with young children were too insignificant to challenge him.

I'm glad she stood up to him, and I hope he had to wait bloody hours. She is my new hero.

WorraLiberty · 11/04/2012 12:03

I would have shrieked back....

"SOMEBODY MAKE THIS WOMAN SHOP ONLINE NOW PLEASE. SHE'S OBVIOUSLY TOO STUPID TO LEAVE THE HOUSE"

Grin
WorraLiberty · 11/04/2012 12:04

I'm glad she stood up to him, and I hope he had to wait bloody hours. She is my new hero

Even though he might have been waiting hours with a screaming newborn and grumpy children? Sad

Hopefully the staff will have banned her now anyway.

Nyac · 11/04/2012 12:05

Well I suppose she's following the logic that if he can park where he wants so can she.

Was it really a huge obstruction. I can't think of any car park round where I live that if you blocked someone in there still wouldn't be room for other other cars to get round.

Nyac · 11/04/2012 12:07

"Didn't slow down for dh just screeched to a halt and screamed "Get out of the fucking way you bastard crippled cunt!""

Was it Ricky Gervais?

WorraLiberty · 11/04/2012 12:07

It would here because it's a one way system round....so at some point the cars would be nose to nose.

They would have announced her reg over the tannoy and then depending on her attitude, probably banned her.

AThingInYourLife · 11/04/2012 12:08

"self entitled and precious parent acts as if these spaces are an international human right and anyone without kids who parks in them should be reported to UNICEF."

Don't you mean that a parent who is entitled to use them by virtue of being granted that courtesy by the supermarket, thinks that if people without children park in them that they should complain to the supermarket?

It's a bit silly giving out about people being pissed off at having stuff they are entitled to taken off them by people who think they are entitled to do whatever the fuck they like at other people's expense.

P&C spaces are useful for parents with small children. People without children who use them are wankers.

Just like people who deliberately take up two spaces so nobody will park right next to them.

Sparklingbrook · 11/04/2012 12:10

If you park over 2 spaces round here you get a parking ticket. Grin

YonWhaleFish · 11/04/2012 12:11

Does anyone actually know if this fellow was picking up his wife & kids? I am with worra on this one - you don't know the full story, and this woman was causing more danger to any kids in the car park with her idiotic obstruction.

There are better ways to deal with it, perhaps complain to the store manager with the reg, get him tannoyed to find out what the situation is. Like a GROWED UP. Grin

Original poster
Jusfloatingby · 11/04/2012 12:12

She is not a hero she is a self centred idiot.
In a fair world, if these spaces were going to be reserved for anyone it would be for elderly people, people who are temporarily not able to walk too far (but don't have a blue badge) and other needy people. However, in the world of business, money talks and parents with young children still living at home spend the most money in supermarkets so the supermarket wants to attract and retain their custom - parents whose young children will soon be ravenous, fridge emptying teenagers who need a constant supply of overpriced pizzas, salted snacks, fizzy drinks and oven chips to stop them from keeling over with hunger; and parents who can't be bothered with the hassle and expense of getting a babysitter so prefer to spend their Saturday night with a bottle of wine, a tube of pringles and a DVD all bought at.... yes, their local supermarket. The supermarkets know exactly what they're doing by putting these spaces at the door - it has nothing to do with keeping the rain off babies, or making life easier for young mothers as some parents fondly imagine and everything to do with making a small fortune out of them in the all to few years before their children leave home and they, in turn, become the empty nesters who can fit their weekly shopping into a basket and who have a funny pain in their wrist that their doctor thinks might be the start of arthritis, and it makes carrying that bag of shopping a bit sore and wouldn't a space at the door be handy but hark, what is that they hear? Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's a mother with a big bugaboo and a self entitled whine in her voice coming to get them.
If the spaces are there, fine, take advantage of them. But acting as if they're on a par with disabled spaces and throwing an almighty fit if someone other than a parent takes them is ridiculously precious. They're a concession, not a necessity.

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 11/04/2012 12:13

Shhhh Yon you'll get in the way of the vitriol and hero worship if you confuse people with FACTS Grin

HipHopOpotomus · 11/04/2012 12:13

WorraLiberty The OP doesn't say but if he was blocked in while the lady shopped chances are his mythical kids would have returned to the car while he was still blocked in .......

Kladdkaka · 11/04/2012 12:13

P&C spaces are useful for parents with small children. People without children who use them are wankers.

All of them? Always? Whatever the circumstances?

OneOfMyTurnsComingOn · 11/04/2012 12:14

Yay! A P+C thread! Not seen one of these for ages - this is the mumsnet I know and love Grin

HipHopOpotomus · 11/04/2012 12:15

oh I see - this is an AIBU where you aren't allowed a different opinion to the OP!

sherbetpips · 11/04/2012 12:16

she clearly had a crap day

Sparklingbrook · 11/04/2012 12:19

In Asda at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol there used to be spaces with a stork in them for expectant mothers. Don't know if they are still there. Confused

WorraLiberty · 11/04/2012 12:22

WorraLiberty The OP doesn't say but if he was blocked in while the lady shopped chances are his mythical kids would have returned to the car while he was still blocked in

How do you know they didn't?

And why are they 'mythical'?

That's the thing with this thread, too many assumptions about this 'selfish wanker of a man'......

captainmummy · 11/04/2012 12:24

I think they should make all parking spaces bigger; lots of people have problems getting in and out of cars,and it's not just babies, carry-seats and small children who need a door to be opened wide.

Incidentally - why is it beyond the wit of mankind to make a cardoor which opens and stays open where it is left? Why do they have 2 'opening' positions?

Maybe I should write to jeremy clarkson?

HipHopOpotomus · 11/04/2012 12:24

"Even though he might have been waiting hours with a screaming newborn and grumpy children?"

BUT HE WASN'T - I'm sure if he was the OP would have mentioned that and we would be having a totally different discussion.

Saying you can never be grumpy with assholes who park in P&C parks without kids (or pregnant partners or crippled elderly people) is ridiculous.

And if you assume all the childless people who park in P&C parks without kids are disabled/pregnant/sick/frail etc you are a fool! A tiny number of people will fall into this category and I don't think many parents would have the slightest issue with them using the park.

98% of the people who use them without kids are simply lazy/entitled/ignorant people who don't give a crap about P&C spaces the supermarkets have allocated for their FAMILIES and others who need to use them.

AThingInYourLife · 11/04/2012 12:25

"If the spaces are there, fine, take advantage of them. But acting as if they're on a par with disabled spaces and throwing an almighty fit if someone other than a parent takes them is ridiculously precious. They're a concession, not a necessity."

I will take advantage of them if they are there. But they aren't there if some cunt without children (or any mobility issues) uses them without anybody complaining about it. So I will complain to the people who granted me the concession that I find useful.

I couldn't give a fuck if the supermarket are doing it to get my custom, it is safer for my children to use them, so I am happy to.

Of course they are not the same as disabled places. But that doesn't mean that they should be ignored or disrespected.

Before I had children I thought they were a good idea, because I'm not the sort of dick who sees something nice being done for someone else and immediately feels hard done by.

jojane · 11/04/2012 12:26

An example of why p+c spaces are useful for parents of small children - (happened to me)
Parked in car park, normal spaces and when I came back somebody had parked next to me so close I could just about squeeze I to my car with a bit of contortion and serious breathing in. Only problem was I had 2 small children and a newborn in a carseat. No way was carseat getting into car on either side. No way was I leaving baby on the floor while I reveresed car out, anyone could have driven into him and my other two were 2 and 4 so not old enough or mature enough to stand in a carpark without being silly so I had to hang around until the person came back ( was a free for 1 hour one so not too long a wait)
To me THATs the reason p+c spaces exist no because they Re close to the shop oh and also so that when the 3 year old jumps out of the car And swings the door open while you are getting baby into trolley the door doesn't dent the car next to it

HipHopOpotomus · 11/04/2012 12:27

OP - you clearly saw this unravel over a period of time. Did this man have his pregnant partner and/or small children with him? If he was there to row about it he would have wanted to leave and it kicked off because he couldn't - so did he have kids with him or not?