A UU contributor was sitting in her car the other day, scrambling for parking paybox quarters, when a lady who was leaving the parking space behind her knocked on the car window and gave her a paybox receipt with 45 minutes left on it. "I'm not using it, so someone should. Have a good one!"A small thing, but a considerate and neighborly thing that made the recipient's day.
So it got us thinking - what can we do to spread that feeling? We came up with a few suggestions; feel free to add your own in the comments.
- If you've got a snowblower, and your neighbor has a shovel, clear their sidewalk everyone once in a while. Or throw sidewalk salt on their slippery steps.
- Smile or say hi to someone you pass on the street.
- Next time you're at the dollar store or Osco, pick up a pair of gloves or a scarf and donate it to a grade school. BPN is currently collecting for Brennemann School, but we're sure every school in Uptown has students who could use some winter wear.
- Pass on those parking receipts if there's time left on them.
This is a great way to share the burden. I pass on my meter receipts all of the time. Sometimes people are skeptical but it will catch on!
ReplyDeleteSomething similar happened to me. The guy came up to me and asked me how long I would be parked in the spot.
ReplyDeleteI totally ignored him. Thinking, "Weirdo, none of you business." I went and got my parking receipt out of the machine. He kept asking me, and I got more and more annoyed. He tried to stop me from putting money in (with his words), and I continued to ignore him, and put up a physically defensive stance.
Turns out he was trying to give me a free receipt with 1 hour on it. I felt like a butthole, but what does that tell you about life in the City?
I too, have passed on receipts with 'time left' to happy strangers. The parking 'machine' situation is a joke....there's no rhyme or reason to it apparently.
ReplyDeleteI've seen people get tickets immediately, and I've seen cars parked for DAYS sans any dashboard receipt.
Can the City of Chicago get any more bizarre?!
"I felt like a butthole, but what does that tell you about life in the City?"
ReplyDeleteThat some people will use the City as lame excuses for acting like buttholes?
Something I have um , 'seen' done, (note that I am not admitting anything here,) is to take a receipt with time left on it and put it back in the paybox slot. Don't know if anyone got to use it, but if they looked and saw it before they put money in, maybe they saved a quarter!
ReplyDeleteI was in the Beauty House, the beauty supply store on Wilson and a person was short $3 on their bill and I gave the cashier the difference. I am an advocate for Random Acts of Kindness.
ReplyDeleteMy recent RAoK was paying the CTA bus fare for the guy after me...
ReplyDeleteWhatever Hal
ReplyDeleteDo any of you also give a one-day CTA pass to someone waiting in line for the bus/L if your journeys are over and there are still some hours left in the day?
ReplyDeleteSmile or say hi to someone you pass on the street.
ReplyDeleteEven the "thugs" and street people. I know it might seem intimidating to some, but not all of the guys dressed "that way" are bad. It might go a long way toward showing that it's not an "us vs. them" thing around here.
That some people will use the City as lame excuses for acting like buttholes?...
ReplyDeleteWhatever Hal
I love how a post on spreading that good feeling turns into a "fight". THAT, Alanis, is what "ironic" means.
Please contact me if you often pass on your meter receipts as a form of "pay it forward." I am a journalist and would like to interview you!
ReplyDeleteDid Helen vote for the parking contract......?
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but I can't believe she can be 'happy' with the Wilson L stop, just a few feet from her office.
I've lived here for about 20 years, and I think the 46th Ward office should seriously be ashamed about Broadway and Wilson.
"Did Helen vote for the parking contract......?"
ReplyDeleteno, but she didn't vote against it either - she was conveniently absent from work 12/4/08
AUTHORIZATION FOR EXECUTION OF CONCESSION AND LEASE AGREEMENT AND AMENDMENT OF TITLES 2, 3, 9 AND 10 OF MUNICIPAL CODE OF CHICAGO IN CONNECTION WITH CHICAGO METERED PARKING SYSTEM
Present — The Honorable Richard M. Daley, Mayor, and Aldermen Flores, Fioretti, Dowell, Preckwinkle, Hairston, Lyle, Harris, Beale, Pope, Balcer, Olivo, Burke, Foulkes, Thompson, Thomas, Lane, Rugai, Cochran, Brookins, Muiioz, Zaiewski, Dixon, Solis, Ocasio, Burnett, E. Smith, Suarez, Waguespack, Mell, Austin, Colon, Banks, Mitts, Allen, Laurino, O'Connor, Doherty, Reilly, Daley, Tunney, Levar, Schulter, M. Smith, Moore, Stone.
Absent - Aldermen Jackson, Cardenas, Carothers, Reboyras, Shiller.
Yeas - Aldermen Flores, Fioretti, Dowell, Lyle, Harris, Beale, Pope, Balcer, Olivo, Burke, Foulkes, Thompson, Thomas, Lane, Rugai, Cochran, Brookins, Munoz, Zaiewski, Dixon, Solis, Burnett, E. Smith, Suarez, Mell, Austin, Banks, Mitts, Allen, Laurino, O'Connor, Doherty, Reilly, Daley, Tunney, Levar, Schulter, M. Smith, Moore, Stone - 40.
Nays - Aldermen Preckwinkle, Hairston, Ocasio, Waguespack, Colon - 5.
FAIL, Part One: Chicago's Parking Meter Lease Deal - How Daley and his crew hid their process from the public, ignored their own rules, railroaded the City Council, and screwed the taxpayers on the parking meter lease deal
By Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke
I gave the cashier the difference
ReplyDeleteAwesome.