THE #1 most frustrating thing for a scatter-brained mama?
When you actually think ahead and do the non-scatter-brained thing, and it STILL doesn’t end well.
I went to Blissdom (a blogging conference) this past weekend. It was in the Dallas area, so I drove.
Now let me say I do have a bit of a fear of parking garages.
This is partly due to movie scenes where people are murdered in them, but also because I have wasted hours of my life, wandering through parking garages, looking for my car.
So . . . I was rather proud of myself for thinking to write the number of my parking spot on the back of my parking ticket.
See it up there? It says 2E43, right?
Which is exactly what this says:
Right?
And yet, I spent 20 minutes wandering around the parking lot, looking for my hard-to-miss Suburban. Thankfully, Cris from Goodeness Gracious (a fab food blog), was kind enough to wander around with me.
I owe her for helping me avoid my other Parking Garage Fear. (The being-murdered one.)
We found 2E43. Really.
But it wasn’t my Suburban.
After much wandering, confusion, and frustration, we followed the honk of my remote lock, and finally found my vehicle.
We’d been looking on the Green Level. Instead of the Red Level.
Never in a million years would it have occurred to me that writing down the numbers/letters wasn’t enough. I also should have noticed the color of the numbers/letters.
That’s just cruel, people.
That’s not even fair – Red and Green? I would have gotten really mad and started to wonder if someone took my car.
This made me laugh! Thanks!
Wow, poor color-blind people. They don’t stand a chance!
Yes! And aren’t green and red the ones many people can’t distinguish??
I’m not color blind, I can SEE colors (unlike my brother who does confuse red and green) but I am very color deficient and tend to not remember colors unless I know I need to. I would not have remembered unless there was a sign saying I would need to know it.
This would so happen to me! It’s so frustrating when you try and it still fails!
But hey- it was all for a good cause, I got my steps in and no one was murdered– a win-win if I ever heard one 😉
That’s just all shades of wrong (pun intended) there should of been signs telling you to notice the color too….cause if all the spots on your floor were painted with one color how are you suppose to know there are different colors?
But yes, that is very frustrating (the writing something down & still forgetting part.
I STILL don’t have canned blueberries or hot dog buns & yet they are on my list.
Oh! This is so funny because it is so much like something I would do. I actually have to assign my kids the task of remembering where we parked. I have too many other things on my mind to keep up with. At least you did think to write the number down. 🙂 Blissdom sounds wonderful. I wish I had heard of it sooner. I would have loved to gone.
Something just occured to me when I saw the pictures you included with the post. Next time, just take a picture with your phone instead of writing it down. Then, you would have number & color, plus you don’t have to keep up with the piece of paper you wrote the information on.
Love this idea!
I always forget to check which level I’m on, until I have to use the stairs / lift to get to the exit. I usually remember how many flights I’ve walked (cause I don’t like stairs and am usually counting them down or encouraging myself by counting how many I’ve done) or notice the number on the lift. Doesn’t always work though. And I’m RUBBISH at remembering the actual number of the spot, I should try the camera trick suggested above, it’s brilliant.
I would have done the same thing. I have never had to park in a parking garage in my entire life, so it would never have occurred to me to look at the color.
We don’t have many parking garages around my area, but when traveling, I take a picture with my phone. May be helpful even to the color blind. If unsure they would be able to show a security personnel or a passerby. Even more fun/difficult to remember is when they use symbols, like turkey’s or bison.
dude – story of my life!! Good for you for actually writing it down! That’s just evil having two garages one red, one green. At least don’t give them both the same numbers.
Glad you found your SUV.
Tammy
PS – It was fun having lunch with you on Friday! : )
Yes, it was fun meeting you, Tammy!
I’ve started the take a picture routine and it has saved me much angst! My husband looked at me like I was nuts when I whipped out my phone at the airport parking garage. He wasn’t laughing when we were able to find the car immediately upon returning! 😀
I may have you beat. I was in Atlanta for conference. It let out super late, so there were very few cars in the garage. I could SEE the blasted vehicle but couldn’t get to it. Walking up the ramp took me to the wrong level. walking back down the ramp took me to the wrong level — don’t ask me how. Anyway, I went back to the elevator, rode down to the main level, and walked to my car from the entrance to the garage. Apparently, if you manage to get one of the first 50 spots in a garage, your car disappears into some strange bubble.