Family parking only?
So yesterday Deirdre was having some issues with IKEA out in Pittsburgh, for more details check out her post. Anyway this reminded me of something that I had seen and actually photographed (rather than my usual trick of taking photos from Flickr). Anyway here is what I saw in the IKEA parking lot:
What the fuck is up with that?
There were a number of these signs in the parking lot, right near the more traditional handicapped spots. Does this mean that having children is a handicap?
Those who have read my blog for some time know that I'm not big on kids. Sure they are cute when they are asleep or well behaved, but the majority of their waking hours they can be a royal pain in the ass. And this is particularly true when they are being dragged all over town shopping. Hell I remember being in that situation as a kid, if fucking sucked! But I have to say that my tolerance is way down these days for screaming, running, crying kids in stores. And by the way, do you need your kid with you when you come to pick out a new couch? Suck it up and pay some slightly older kid to babysit for an hour or two; the bonus is you don't have to deal with the unruly behaviour that will occur, and don't think that it won't, it will, it always does.
But despite all this IKEA has chosen to give privilege to those with children, particularly those who bring them along shopping. Great, so now not only is my shopping experience (god that's a lame term) made all the worse by having kids there, but even if there is a nice open spot near the front, I'm apparently not allowed to park there.
Sure I see no way that they can enforce the policy, unless they will pay to have someone monitor the cars for baby seats, but it's still aggravating. Just because you chose to have children does not mean that you should be given special privilege. Just because I don't have kids does that mean that I am less of a person? Does it remind you of a something from our past?
On second thought they do have rest rooms for kids don't they...and thank god really. Half the reason I don't want kids is I don't want to have to look at someone elses crap, let alone worry about random mid-change urinations. Damn kids are gross!
posted by Christopher Robin at 7:05 a.m.
4 Comments:
Just FYI, going rates for baby sitters are about $15 an hour nowadays. So you are asking people to blow $30 extra every single time they go shopping. Since they probably go shopping at least once a week for groceries plus a couple more errands, we've got close to $100 a week extra just to get basic chores done. That's before they see a single movie or ever go out to dinner. So that's not going to happen.
That said, I'm not a huge fan of the special parking spots. They are useful for people with infants and toddlers. After that, it isn't that hard to move around. Still, it doesn't quite seem an exact parallel between the systematic exclusion of people from large portions of the society in which they live, including housing, jobs, etc., based on their perceived race and that of asking many people to park 3 spots over at IKEA so that a mother with a 4 month old can get in relatively easily.
12:45 a.m.
This world is wildly overpopulated, and people who have families are *not* doing society any service. Quite the opposite, in fact. They're only doing a favour for themselves--they're giving the world another mouth to feed, another car to drive, and another person to support--just so that they can experience parenthood.
I think people have kids because they want to, not because they are doing their "duty" to help the world's "declining" population. (Anyone who thinks their country or this world needs them to reproduce is badly out of touch with global reality.)
Parents selflessly give up many things for their children, but the actual decision to have children in the first place is not an act of charity, it is a fundamentally selfish choice, like buying a hottub or an SUV. So the people who choose to have this for themselves should be willing to pay the extra costs associated with that choice. If you buy a hottub, you have to pay to clean it, if you buy an SUV, you have to pay for extra gas. If you have children, you have to buy them food, pay for babysitters, send 'em to college, etc, etc.
Your parking stall example wouldn't bother me as much as it bothers you, Chris. But I shop in a *very* crowded market every week, and my personal pet peeve is people who push strollers through crowds. It doesn't help that strollers these days are HUGE--like SUVs for babies!
11:19 a.m.
Chantelle - I don't ultimately have a problem with the spots. It is more that it is the sense that there is favoritism for one group over another. I mean if I was about to park near the door and noticed a single parent with kids in tow I would likely pass up the spot (actually most of the time I never bother to park near the door anyway).
Paca - $15 an hour! Damn, until I got a raise this year they were making more per hour than me!
Erin - Obviously I don't own a car, I had never thought of that benefit ;)
Cory - I think I was more surprised than bothered (and I tried to be a bit dramatic in the post). But I'm with you about how bad some of the strollers have become. Just wait until they start coming out with the "fat baby" strollers, because the fat babies are already here.
12:50 p.m.
There's a benefit to society with people having children? I haven't seen it. I think there is a bigger benefit in people NOT having children and taking a little responsibility for the ones that already exist that aren't getting the attention or care they need.
9:47 a.m.
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