AIBU to have not given up my parking spot?

[KHR1606]

Sorry for the long post.....

I parked my car in the IKEA car park this morning. The bays next to me were for electric vehicles. I got out my car & went in the back to get my 18 month old DS out his car seat & to put his coat on. We then went to the boot to get his trike out. DS is stood next to me as I'm unfolding & securing the trike.

A woman then approaches me politely asking for my spot so she can charge her car. I look at the ground to see if I've parked in the electric bay. I see that I haven't & say "I can park here" she says, "I can too!" I politely say no because that'd mean me undoing the trike & putting it away then taking my son's coat off & putting him back in his seat then driving around for another spot. Just the thought of it wore me out! She offered to help but again I politely said I'm not willing to do it because it's just too much hassle.

The woman persisted & persisted & persisted, I'm not exaggerating. She kept saying I have an appointment & I need to charge my car. Again I said no. I said if I was without DS I would have given you my spot. She wouldn't stop asking so I got really fed up & shouted loudly, "Oh for f**k sake!" It's only then that she walked away to her car which was 2 bays away....... charging!!!!!

I didn't even realise her car was on charge because I was too busy getting DS in the trike. As I was strapping him in I heard her say "bitch", "evil", the sound of spitting but not actually spitting. All this time I was looking at DS's face talking & smiling with him. It's only when I was ready to walk off that I asked, "did you say something!?" She sarcastically smiled & said no!

She then went on again about it wouldn't have taken me long to move my car. I again repeated myself that I was parked in a suitable bay & I wasn't going to inconvenience myself & DS for her. I told her that being out with a child is sometimes difficult. She said I have a child too. I replied "Then you know! Stop being entitled!" All of this was being shouted. We had people looking at us.

I walked off and said have a lovely day!! It's only when I walked off & called my sister to vent that I realised her car was charging. Why the f**k did she want my spot then? Why ask a mother & toddler to move?
I'm glad I didn't move, especially after calling me a bitch and evil. She must not know about Jeffrey Dahmer if she thinks I'm evil!

I'm confused - surely if you have an EV you don't go out to IKEA knowing you absolutely have to park in an EV bay otherwise you won't have enough charge to make it home? As what if the bays are all full with other EVs already?
Do you just sit and wait for them to become free?
Also OP YANBU - who on earth just asks someone to move their car in a car park because they prefer that space?
Absolute CF! It wasn't even an EV space!

Good morning all and thanks for your comments!
I will try to remember everything I read and address it.

1. The trike!! My son can't pedal! I was pushing him around, I was in control. The time spent in IKEA was uneventful. I didn't hurt anyone's ankles
2. the EV bay to my right was occupied by a van with the man sitting in it. She was to the other side of him. Someone asked about her car, it was a Nissan.
3. when I came out of IKEA, say 45 minutes later, she was gone but her car was still plugged in
4. I don't care how short or slow the journey is, I'm strapping my son in his car seat (jacketless). His safety is paramount.
5. Like others have said, and my husband too (who wasn't there!) One of my mistakes was I continued to engage with her. I should have just said no and not entertained her persistency.
6. I too wonder would she have persisted if I was with my husband
7. people need to read properly!!

@DesertIslandCondiment that's okay. I should point out that I could be talking bollocks. Like you I love IKEA and one of the few regrets I have about getting rid of my car is I can't drive to the two big ones a few miles from me any more and I miss those outings. I know I could order online or even go on the bus to browse and arrange delivery for later but it's not the same.

100% agree with you. But next time stick with the old no is a complete sentence and don’t apologise don’t explain. Who had time to pander to strangers’ nonsense. Batshit crazy

God willing there won't be a next time!! But thank you x

Van + Nissan is useful OP, thanks.

ok looking at some exmaple IKEAs they seem to have some slow chargers (type 2) and some with both CCS and Chademo plugs on. Nissan are pretty much the only manufacturer to use Chademo while the Van is probably connected via CCS.

So she may be thinking to get a faster charge by trying to plug into the chademo plug on the fast charger while the van is using CCS. I don't think this will actually work - I don't think they work at the same tine, they're one or the other. Maybe if the Van had finished it lets you, but I don't think so.

NW London

Absolutely agree with you OP. Unless carpark was quiet and lots of spaces (never the case in that particular Ikea!), I would not have entertained the idea of moving my car with toddler in tow.

Her reaction after proved she was not worth helping

Sounds like you handled it just fine

You definitely WERE NOT being unreasonable. Good for you for standing your ground. I'm so fed up with the amount of entitled twats going about these days.

Once a car has charged it has to be moved to a regular space. I assume the woman was intending to use the space OP was in once she's finished charging.

Charging points are not parking spaces.

If there was a parking space very nearby then I might have said that if she stood with my child on the trike then I would park a few spaces along. If there was no nearby space then I wouldn't pack the trike and toddler back in the car for them though.

You'd let a completely random stranger stand with your child in a car park while you got in your car and drove away? Even to a spot right by it would I hell!!

@MichelleScarn Yes, I would move over a space or two with my toddler in view under the supervision of an adult.

I wouldn't.

'Be kind' is one of the most overused phrases pf recent years, it's usually saying You should allow yourself to be walked over.
A few years ago BC, Before Children, I was in a supermarket carpark and I was in the first slot after the parent and child parking, all of which were in use. As I got out a car stopped behind me and a voice yelled, I have a child, I need to park there. I broke my usual rule of ignoring yellers and said that it wasn't a p and c space but she carried onand on about having a child even as I walked away.

My local Tesco has installed charging points but there are 2 regular spaces between them, seems an odd arrangement to me.

Agree, I hate “be kind”. I’ve discussed it with my daughter so she can think critically about what “be kind” actually means. “Be kind” to animals for instance, that’s how I understand it. Not “don’t tell the truth” which is the new meaning. I reject all the merchandise with it on which is only aimed at females.

Point no. 3 - I'd've unplugged her car from the socket...hehe...😏😂

(and before anyone jumps all over this about being 'unkind', it's a JOKE!)

Deep down I know most thieves would much rather steal a phone than a toddler but there is still no way I'd let some random woman take charge of my child while I hunted for another parking space.

😂😂😂

No there wasn't. The car park was full. I was lucky with the spot I found

Did you actually read my post??? I said on several occasions that I WAS NOT occupying an EV bay!!!!

"....since she said she couldn't charge her car." Who said that? The woman never once said to me she couldn't charge her car.

A woman then approaches me politely asking for my spot so she can charge her car.

She kept saying I have an appointment & I need to charge my car.

You don’t think this made it obvious that she couldn’t currently charge her car?