:: Power and Influence ::
About five weeks ago, I had to work a Sunday shift, filling in for our usual photographer, who had the weekend off. Midway through my shift, I made a quick stop - for five minutes, tops - at a local sports facility. This particular facility was in a town that lives and dies on pay parking. However, because I was only running in quickly to see if anything interesting was going on, I did not feed the meter.
Besides, I've been working here for more than five years and rarely paid for parking, and had never gotten a ticket (which I was actually quite proud of, and I bragged about it often to co-workers).
Karma, of course, is a hideous bitch, and sure enough, I received a parking ticket approximately three minutes after I left my vehicle. Total fine: $30 if paid within a certain timeframe, and it doubled to $60 if you took too long.
Regardless, I tried to pay the ticket online later that day, but the bylaw officer had obviously not processed it yet, and therefore, I could not pay up.
No big deal, I'll pay it on Monday, I figured.
Of course, I spent the rest of Sunday and most of Monday stewing about my ticket situation, and my Monday afternoon - spurred on by a co-worker or two - I decided that, no, I was not going to bow down, take my lumps and pay the $30 fine.
It was only three minutes, I re-iterated to myself. And then, as far as justifications go, the kicker - I was there in my role as photographer for a small community newspaper, and therefore, doing a service to said community by attempting to take photos of its fine citizens, so how dare they insult me with this?!
Professionally speaking, it was as close as I've ever come to a Do you know who I am?! moment. Frankly, I'm surprised it took that long to occur. But occur it did.
With rebellion in my heart, I downloaded the required paperwork to launch my official appeal. I filled out all the forms, and under reasons for appeal, I described my case in detail, giving them my "community service" spiel, and then some.
Then I faxed in the form, and I waited. And waited.
Two days ago I received in the mail a letter from the city stating that I now owed $60 because I took too long to pay. This of course, comes despite never hearing back from the city regarding my appeal, one way or another. Certainly I couldn't be expected to pay a fine before my appeal was approved or denied, right?
Now I was actually angry, so I did what I had been encouraged to do weeks earlier but hadn't, instead saying it was a "last resort" - I went right to the top. I emailed the mayor.
Now, this wasn't just some random wahoo calling the city's top politician to vent (well, it was...) - I actually do know the mayor, and we get along very well. She likes me, so I knew I had a shot. I explained the situation, and that I wasn't trying to weasel out of a ticket, merely trying to get it reverted back to $30 status.
This afternoon I received an email from another city official. He had been forwarded my query by the mayor, and explained that, upon investigation, "it appears no appeal of the subject parking ticket was ever received and no record of any fax appears to exist."
Hmmm, how curious. He continued...
"My first instinct is to allow you additional time to pay the lesser fine, and re-file your appeal. However, considering the circumstances, I will instead simply cancel the ticket."
Translation: I really want to fine your whiny ass, but the mayor won't let me, so instead she's making me cancel the whole fucking thing. So congratulations on being a dick. Enjoy your $60, asshole.
I win.
You'd think I'd learn a lesson from something like this - perhaps in the future I'd be sure to put sufficient money in the parking meter instead of blatantly thumbing my nose at the law.
You'd think that, but you'd be wrong.
All this has taught me is that if you have enough money, power or influence, or simply know the right people, you can get away with anything.
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