I used to subscribe to the Costanzian theory of parking, that parking in a garage is the equivalent of hiring a prostitute. Why should I pay for something that I can get for free if I apply myself and get a little lucky. Unfortunately the Courthouse area only has a handful of free spaces, and those spaces go quickly. Since I carpool with my friend who takes longer to get ready for work than my girlfriend did for our high school prom, these spots are almost always gone by the time we get in. That leaves me with metered parking or a garage. The meters suck when you are working in an office all day; making sure you have tons of change and keeping track of when you have to feed them. There are a bunch of monthly parking options, but since I carpool with people who don't work in the immediate area those aren't really an option...so as much as I hated the idea of paying for a garage, it was kind of the reality of the situation.
I started coming to this garage because it's close to work and is one of the only garages that has a moderately priced daily parking option. Unfortunately if garage's are the prostitutes of the parking world this is the 300 LB. $5 special that gives you genital warts (side note: I wasn't sure what disease to list, so I had to call an acquaintance from college and ask which of her diseases she was most ashamed of). It's a 1.5 lane, poorly lit, four story spiral into the depths of hell. The visibility is really bad because of the very poor lighting, the angles of the turns down, and the fact that they have giant support columns every 15 - 20 feet. The road is not even close to being wide enough for two cars to pass, so every 50 feet or so you get to play another very slow version of chicken as you search for a space. Once you find one, it's a mad dash to the elevator because the air is so putrid down there. I'm not even sure if they have an exhaust fan, but if you get down to the 4th floor you can actually see the smog at the end of the day.
As bad as the layout of the garage is, it's the attendant that really pisses me off here. This guy is a special breed of asshole. It used to be that if you were in by 9:00 it only cost $6.00 for the day, which wasn't a bad deal at all. After 9 the cost jumped to $10.00, about league average for the area. What pisses me off is that by 8:30 the guy plays a game of trying to charge 10, and seeing who just says fuck it and who thinks to point to his giant clock to show that he's wrong. I know a few people in my office who have complained about this, so the management company decided to combat this problem by raising their prices and moving the early bird special from 9 AM to 7 AM.
Even now that I no longer park here they manage to screw me every few days. This garage is kind of small, so 3 or 4 times a month they run out of parking spaces for daily customers. When this happens a giant line forms because you have to drive down about 30 feet into the garage to get to the attendant, and there is no room to turn around or back up if anyone follows you in. It almost always results in a 15 minute standstill. I mean it's not like the guy has a big "Garage Full: Monthly Customers Only" sign that he could put out.....oh, wait he does...and is just too lazy to ever put it out. What he doesn't have and needs is a sign that says he's a pay in advance, cash only operation. This causes a similar backup at least once a week.
I'm convinced that this garage is Dante's 10th circle of hell for those who committed sins while driving. Dealing with beltway traffic is bad enough, but this place adds a serious hassle to an already shitty commute. I try to take the Metro whenever possible and I've started hording change so I can park at the meters on the days I absolutely have to drive. It's actually more expensive and time consuming, but it's worth it not to have to deal with the stress of driving and parking. read more