Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Provincial Assumptions

Location: Martinsville, Virginia

I had business at the local community college today. It was a nice day, so I rode the motorcycle there.

Parking was sparse; I found one spot with a random orange cone in the middle of it. The motorcycle is narrow, so I parked beside the cone in a proper parking spot. After completing my business, I returned to find a small notice from campus security on the bike: A ticket for 'parking in a reserved space.'

I carefully surveyed the space and found no signage or anything to indicate the space was reserved. The cone could serve any number of purposes: Covering a pothole or a potentially hazardous protrusion, for example.

I reached the security person via telephone from the college office. I challenged him to show me the sign that indicated the space was reserved. He reiterated the cone's presence. A random cone is not a sign, I pointed out. How is anyone supposed to guess the intent of that cone is to reserve a space? Again, I challenged him to show me the sign.

He voided the ticket. Sure, it was only for $2, but it's the principle of the thing.

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