You Be The Judge

Personal, Taiwan 10 comments

Dashcam Video

Hui-chen suggested that I post this video.  We were at Costco on Sunday and it was jammed full of people.  Parking spaces were scarce, so naturally when I saw someone leaving, I stopped my car and put on my turn signal to indicate that I wanted the space.  That is an internationally recognized practice.  So, what do you do if a car comes along and the driver refuses to acknowledge your presence and tries to park in the space you want?  This is exactly what happened.  Let me give you a rundown of the video:

As the video starts, I’m driving in the parking lot.  As I slow to a stop, you can see a man on the left side of the screen (near the support column) getting into his van.  I instantly recognized this as a parking opportunity, so I stop and put on my left turn signal.  At 17:07:55 you see his lights blink as he turns off his car alarm.  By this point I’m waiting with my left turn signal on.At 17:08:16 another car passes me on the left, and goes on to park up ahead.  At 17:08:30 another car passes me on the left, sees the van about to leave and pulls up ahead to wait for it.  At around 17:08:40 he’s still stopped, so I honk my horn to indicate my presence and therefore my desire for that parking space, me having been there before he came along.  So, how does he respond?  By pulling further ahead and discharging his wife to walk over and “hold” the space for him.  The van backs out and I pull in.  The wife, standing there, looks at me incredulously.  I roll down the window and she sees my face, and says “sorry” in English.  Believe it or not, her husband ran over in a rage and started berating me for parking there when his wife was holding the space for him!  Then the husband went off on a tirade, telling me that I had been waiting for another space and I was on the left side of the aisle (he denied passing me on the left to get to where he was).  This guy and his wife were apparently totally obvilious to the fact that they passed me with my turn signal on!  They even threatened to post their dashcam video on Facebook and Youtube.   I’ve already posted my to Youtube and now the blog, so I hope to see their video soon, which will only show the fact that they are wrong!

But, You Be The Judge

Here is the video:

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10 comments

  1. like i commented to HC on facebook, they are definitely wrong.
    also i hate how people here always send someone to “hold” the parking space before their car gets there

    1. hi Andre, thanks for your comments. i also despise those men who make their wives go out and stand in spaces. i say, if the car isn’t there to park, then the space is still fair game. seen that too many times. thanks.

  2. And I thought only rude people lived in the U.S. (just kidding)
    I plan to be in Taiwan next November if I am able. Need to travel when the weather is cooler there. We are expecting snow this winter due to the deer and squirrels in our yard having thicker coats than we have seen in several years.

    1. hi Carolyn. oh, wouldn’t it be nice if all rude people were confined to one area that could be avoided! haha we’re looking forward to seeing you in Taiwan next year! i think you’ll like it here. take care, Carolyn.

  3. I have to confess I “saved” a few parking spaces when I was living in Taiwan, but in my defense the spots were already open and I held ithem why my wife did a U-turn or drove around the block. You were clearly in the right here – it’s standard practice even in Taiwan to signal that you are waiting for a car to leave and that you will pull into that spot. The jerk in the video was just that – a jerk.
    Kaminoge´s last post ..Family Bunding

    1. hi Jim. well i hope you never had to deal with someone like we did. do you think that guy went back and viewed his dashcam video, and concluded that he was wrong? naw…. that’s just too much to ask! thanks for your comments Jim and take care.

  4. I think that you were definitely in the right. Shame you didn’t capture some of the ensuing altercation on your head-cam, it would have been entertaining. If you had waited on the other side it would have been difficult to pull straight into the space when it became vacant.

    1. hi Neil. oh, if only i was able to get his lame complaining on camera! he actually asked me why i pulled into that spot because his wife was there – like i care what his wife does, lol. you picked right up on the fact that i was positioned perfectly to go into that space – the complainer missed that point entirely but instead accused me of waiting for another space, lol. thanks Neil and take care.

    1. hi Mike. yes, there are people like this virtually everywhere, so this video could have been made virtually anywhere. i saw a few Black Friday videos on ‘tube and those people should be ashamed of themselves! thanks Mike.

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