he majority of us have done this. Well those of us who drive to school that is. You pull into the parking lot and look for that Holy Grail of a parking spot, which is few and far between.
For the rest of us, we go up and down the rows hoping that today is our lucky day and that we can snag a spot in the first few rows. This is a rare occurrence as we’re sure you all know.
So that leaves three options: one, park in the back eighty of the lot (the last few rows) and trek into the building bearing the elements, two, leave the lot and play Parking Lot Roulette all over again (we don’t recommend this, it will most likely leave you in a bad mood) or third, "stalk a student."
No, we’re not talking about actually stalking someone; we’d like to think that people here are smart enough to know that doing that is wrong and illegal.
What we mean by "stalking" is to follow a student out to their car in the hope that they’re leaving and have a decent parking spot. And if you haven’t done this, you’ve seen people doing it, creeping along the lot, waiting for students to go to their cars.
But the question that you have to ask yourself is; is the student that is walking to the parking lot leaving? Sometimes they’re just heading out to nap in their car. They also might have forgotten something in their car and are going right back inside. If they’re athletes, they might go out and change for practice.
So here are a couple things to keep in mind so you can find a decent parking spot and not be left screaming because the student that you were "stalking" went back inside.
- If a student isn’t carrying any books or doesn’t have a backpack, chances are they are going right back into the building, they most likely forgot something in their car.
- If they’re walking with a group of friends, it’s probably best to pick someone else. People walk real slowly in groups and even if they are going to their car, it will be a little while before they get over there.
-If they glance over their shoulder more than once at you, they may be thinking that you are actually stalking them and this may be a good time to abort the mission and move on to a new student.
-And finally, screaming out of your car at the student you’re "stalking" will not make them walk any faster and may actually result in a loss of your prospective spot.
If you follow these tips, you should be able to find a decent parking spot. Of course nothing is a guarantee, so don’t come to our office and yell at us if you "stalk" the wrong person. It’s not our fault, things happen.