Things I'm Gonna Do This Week- February 2012

Hearken, all ye readers! It's time once again for "Things I'm Gonna Do This Week," my literary venture into short-term goal setting.
After much deliberation, I have decided to dedicate February's "Things I'm Gonna Do This Week" to "People We Don't Really Know, but Hate Anyway."

Let's face it; we all struggle to find the right balance of wanting applause for a job well done and not wanting to care about applause for a job well done. But the truth is there are plenty of people out there who work without any applause at all. Not only that, but there are people who go to work every day and receive the exact opposite of applause. They're actually hated for doing their jobs—

I present for your consideration, the members of the Los Angeles Parking Enforcement. Has there ever been an occupation more hated in the great city of angels? No, it seems that we all agree to redirect our misguided anger from not being able to read parking signs to these men and women in uniform.

Speaking on our behalf, however, I will say that there can be up to four signs that you need to read before pulling into any given parking spot. There are signs that prohibit parking for street cleaning, and others that restrict parking for residential hours, and others that show which residential stickers you need in order to qualify for those hours, and others that limit the length of parking for every other time of day, and if you don't read them all carefully, there's a fleet of Toyota Prii just waiting to ticket you.

Now while I scored relatively high in reading comprehension back in high school, I felt like a first grader trying to read Tolstoy when I first moved to California. A few towings later, I created a tradition of repeating aloud the current day and time as well as all posted parking restrictions before turning off my car. But even now, I still feel animosity stir whenever I see the dreaded parking enforcement patrolling the streets.

I probably wouldn't feel that way if I woke up one morning to find my driveway blocked because a stoner parked there after a late night trip to Taco Bell. Of course, that doesn't really happen. Probably because Parking Enforcement is out there doing their jobs. Which leads me back to my point: why do we hate these poor people for going to work every day!?

It has become my mission to find out their side of the story. I initially just wanted to write a blog post consisting of an interview with one of these parking officials, but after I called the head of said officials and was told they wouldn't talk to me because I "wasn't exactly the LA Times," I realized this was going to be a challenge worthy of "Things I'm Gonna Do This Week."

So to all the hated out there: This week's for you! I'm coming for ya! All you parking ticket givers, cable/internet phone operators, fast food order takers, maybe even a Walmart employee or two, I'm gonna track you down and talk to you, and you're gonna like it! Cuz even you deserve a little applause now and then…

View the results of People We Don't Know but Hate Anyway Week