I haven't replied to this email because I don't like to engage and also because my lawyer, Howard Bigfird, is hiding out in my closet on a pile of comforters and absolutely refuses to be disturbed these days. I did read this email to him but he yawned partway through and there's no point in discussing a reply strategy if he's not interested.
However, he gave me this blank stare when I asked him if I should share this email with my readership which usually means, "Bitch, seriously?" This is usually followed by him extending one of his legs and gliding his tongue along it from thigh to end. Howard Bigfird doesn't care what I do. Enjoy!
from: strathoy_lxxxxx@gmail.com
to: cj@thiscrazytrain.com
date: Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 6:44 PM
subject: GO parking story
Dear Ms. Smith
It is with grave concern that I read your article entitled
"The worst I've seen in three years," says GO Transit CSA and posted online Thursday, September 8, 2011.
I've been riding the train out of Oshawa since 2009. This is the first time I have ever been ticketed and then last week, my car was towed. GO never showed any interest in enforcement, until, it appears, you began writing about it. I noticed you had a more recent post published Monday this week.
I feel you are only adding fuel to the fire and I think you should take a step back and re-evaluate what you're trying to accomplish.
I never asked for you to speak for me and I'm certain that those riders who are bothered by the lack of parking spaces and understand why many people park illegally don't feel happy you've taken it upon yourself to single them out. I'm also sure you don't speak for everyone who rides GO.
I've watched how Social Media and Blogs cause companies to take pause and re-evaluate their customer service but to start tagging and towing all because some woman on the internet decided she'd "call people out for it" and then post pictures online making it easier to identify the people who "park how they want to" is wrong.
My car is one of the cars pictured on your website. This now means I may have to consider selling the car as I no longer feel safe parking it at Oshawa because I'm now a target. GO has decided to ticket and tow me but not ticket and tow others and I believe it's because my car was targeted by you. I'm also concerned that people will damage my car because they would be impassioned to do so because of how your website had inflamed the parking situation.
Legally, I realize I can't ask you to remove photos from your site as my car was in a public parking lot. Not that you care but I'll tell you anyway, but I parked where I did because I needed to get to work, traffic was horrendous and Whitby wasn't an option for me.
Regardless, I don't feel I should have to drive 10 minutes out of my way as I'm already doing my part by not driving to the city. I feel GO should address the increase in ridership/vehicles and build a parking garage at Oshawa GO. Does it not not seem incredulous to you, considering Oshawa is the end of the line and the only station serving that city and Clarington, that there is no parking garage?
Why don't you make that your mission. Why not fight the good fight instead of going after people who are just trying to get to work?
Don't be so quick to judge. One day you might find yourself without a spot, should you ever have to drive to the station, and be forced to make a choice that is wrong, but was done out of necessity. Would you feel it was fair you got a ticket, or worse, towed?
I'm just not happy I've been singled out.
SL
28 comments:
This email is a joke, right?
Ok, SL, let's tango.
You said you feel targeted? Here's a thought. Leave earlier. Park properly. No need to sell the car. No need to worry about vandalism.
No, not gonna work for you? Then try this, leave the car at home. Take the bus.
No, that's not going to work either?
How about you leave earlier and drive to Whitby and use the parking garage.
No? Too hard.
How about you carpool? No? Ride a bike? No, too difficult?
How about you move to Ajax so you can use the parking garage there.
Listen, buddy, ZERO SYMPATHY.
Yep, we all agree GO needs to address the parking situation at Oshawa but if you have a car, this means you have a means to avoid Oshawa all together and make Whitby your station.
I really don't see what your issue is other than you have a real fucked up sense of entitlement.
I also found it laughable that you think GO is enforcing parking at Oshawa because of this web site. High-larious. GO is going after jerks like you because you're all a nuisance and have been abusing the FREE parking for far too long!
Suck it up, buttercup.
Wow. Just....wow.
I think this person has a LITTLE bit of an entitlement issue.
Who can I blame for my tickets and car being towed? Oh, that little blog about GO. It's ALL her fault. She made me park like a douche.
Well, in that article SL mentions, CJ did write:
I immediately bolted straight up in my seat. The hell? You mean? No way ... Tears began to stream down my face. It can't be! Does GO ... does GO actually ... no, it can't be true ... Oh Christmas Baby Jesus, let it be true! Does GO read This Crazy Train!? Are there secret CSA meetings where they sit 'round a table in some portable at some random station with coffees, and they peruse my site, shaking their heads at my documented proof of people who suck at parking? "Dammit Jim!" cries one. "We must DO something!" And they all nod in agreement, clutching their chests in determination that they, they will be the ones to take up the torch and light the light for all the parking douches to see!
Hot damn. I better be right.
So, yep, I'd say it is all your fault.
I better start up a used car business then, eh Fred?
This is why they stormed the beaches of Normandy to free Europe from the yolk of Nazism. Not freedom, not life, but my goddamn right to park anywhere i want in Oshawa GO parking lot free from fear of being singled out on mycrazytrain.
What ever happened to people being accountable for their own actions? If I chose to take GO after rush hour, I immediately head to Whitby, by-passing Oshawa, as I know the lot will be full. Ten minutes further down the road for free parking is not a hardship. Holy sense of entitlement.
As I was the one who sent the Sun article to Cindy this week, I says "WooHoo! Finally! GO is actually doing something".
After all the years of threats, warnings, announcements, etc. GO is actually going through the motions and doing something about it.
And Princess (you do come across as an entitled brat) if you need to park illegally, get your ass to the station earlier. Or, as you have a vehicle, go to Whitby. There are always options.
Hell, my vehicle died because it wasn't being used often enough. That is because I chose to TAKE THE BUS to the station. PLUS (!!!) I even get home quicker in the evenings then when I drove.
There are options. You do not seem inclined to work with the options. Therefore, I certainly hope GO tows your vehicle like the stupid woman in the Sun. That is what you deserve.
That was a lot of self-entitled whiney-whine.
I tl;dr'd pretty quickly and called the WAAAAAAAAAAAmbulance.
Dear SL,
I don't appreciate people who "park how they want to" and prevent people who are parked in legitimate spots from getting out of those spots and getting home. I also don't appreciate parking WAY at the back of the lot to find asshats like you already illegally parked much closer to the train when there are still many spots at the back. Are you special? Running late? Afraid of the rain?
I can leave my house at the same time, by-pass the Oshawa lot and head straight to Whitby, get a spot in the garage AND make the same train. Leave a few minutes earlier. The ride from Whitby is also CHEAPER!
Where exactly do you want them to put the parking structure in Oshawa? Above the existing parking lot? You realize that would leave half (or more) of the parking lot blocked off for construction for months and months. And there is no land for sale around the station . . . so what other options have they got?
Are you aware that plans are still in the works to extend the LSE line out to Bowmanville (but on hold because of a land price issue)? So you want them to build a garage at a station that will eventually be useless and then build new stations? But you will bitch and complain when your fare goes up.
I could point out so many other stupid things you have said in your email but I will point out just one more - you have to sell your car. Is your car the only one in the lot with that make and colour? There are likely many more that look just like your car. Do you think CJ's readers walk around the lot with pictures looking for you?
Don't park like a donkey and no one would ever notice your car.
I will end my rant now and let you go back to your little fantasy world where you are a princess and your flagrant disregard for the safety others and their ability to get around your illegally parked car is completely acceptable.
Can I just state what I think is the best error in this email (since the rest have been attended to):
CJ doesn't drive. She takes the bus. She sold her car. So she will never be in your situation, and even if she did drive to the station one day, better believe she won't park like a donkey. I think it would literally kill pieces of her soul if she did. It's like using your powers for evil instead of good, n'est pas?
PS - if you are a parking donkey, it doesn't take a website with your car's picture for the people in your station to single you out and despise you. You did that all on your own honey!
"GO never showed any interest in enforcement, until, it appears, you began writing about it."
CJ, if you could find a moment to write about me winning the lottery, I'd appreciate it. Then it's bound to happen. I'll cut you in for a piece of the winnings, of course! Thanks, muchly.
Park like a donkey and risk the consequences.
"This now means I may have to consider selling the car as I no longer feel safe parking it at Oshawa because I'm now a target. "
Whhhhaaaaaaaahhhhh, whhhhhaaaaaaahhhhh, WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHH THERE GOES THE WHHHHAAAMBULANCE FLYING BY!!!
Don't flatter yourself buttercup, nobody gives a rat's @$$ about targeting your car. If you park the damn thing properly in a spot it'd just be part of the rest of the cars in the parking lot nobody bats an eye about. It's that simple.
Of course they're now targeted. Because we all have the time on our hands to memorize every. single. photo. of illegally parked cars and make a mental not of each one so that we can damage it next time we're in the lot. Also, OBVIOUSLY GO transit takes the time to print them out and specifically look for them in the lots giddy with excitement about ticketing and towing those exact cars.
RIGHT.............
Post hoc ergo propter hoc. You blogged about parking and then I got ticketed! It must be your fault! These are the same caliber of nut job who claimed Marilyn Manson was responsible for Columbine. Good grief.
I guess this person works for the Government and / or a Union!
He doesn't know how to park, imagine him driving 100km on the highway! People who don't know how to park should lose their licences, so I hope he follows up with his promises to sell his car because we will all be just a little bit safer! Driving is a privilege, NOT a right, donkey!
"Should you ever have to drive to the station, and be forced to make a choice that is wrong, but was done out of necessity. Would you feel it was fair you got a ticket, or worse, towed?"
Cry me a river! This guy obviously doesn't know about the parking situation in the City of Toronto. Stay in Oshawa and grow up, dude! You aren't prime-time material yet!
Hey CJ, I recently got a parking ticket in Brampton, so that's your fault. Oh and the fact that I can never find a decent dress at Winners, well, that's all you. Might as well add the NHL lockout to the growing list of things to blame on CJ.
Wow lol
Love the comments.. all so true!!
The self-entitled twitface is 1) obviously taking the intardnet waaaaaaay too seriously and 2) too stupid to realize know that she would only need to swap her plates to avoid being vandalized by all of us who are supposedly trolling the parking lots looking for HER vehicle. *eye roll* Pfffft.. as if. What a princessmoronic.
I just read through all of these comments and am laughing so hard I'm crying. But you know what's probably going to happen? Princess will read them too and she still.won't.get.it. Yes, she is the poster child for indulged, entitled, self-absorbed brats. I have nothing more to add as everyone else has picked apart her lame-ass argument more eloquently then I. Happy parking!
Marilyn Manson wasn't responsible for Columbine. Dungeons and Dragons was.
Ya know SL, building parking garages is very expensive and why should the non-car driving passengers subsidize your parking lots. Are you one of those same people who criticize public child care and parents for not being able to afford children.
Next time, take the bus to the GO station. It only costs anywhere between 50 to 75 cents.
The absurdity of thinking that their car is now a target for vandalism aside, I really wonder what this person thinks should happen with parking at Oshawa. Should they just stop ticketing altogether? Should it be a free-for-all because parking is inadequate? Or should it just be his or her car that gets spared? Of course not. In times of overcrowding, enforcement is more important than ever as the parking situation can easily deteriorate into gridlock. With Lakeshore East expansion eastward, Oshawa station is going to be moved from its current location. How can you justify building a parking garage at a place that won't even have GO Trains in a few years?
To the author: It's time to suck it up, leave early, go to Whitby, or take the bus. It sounds like you were parking illegally for a long time, and are now angry that you have to play by the same rules that everybody else does. I bet it felt pretty good to cruise in just before your train left and park illegally wherever you felt like, all the while snickering at the suckers in the back who obey the law, but it's over now. If you're too lazy to change your situation, I'd suggest buying a stress ball, as long emails like these only make you look like a fool.
Damon you CJ!!! YOU are the cause of the NHL Lockout, and not greedy overpaid players, greedy Owners who charge WAY too much, and the uber greedy NHLPA union? Damn girl, you're more awesome than I thought!!! LoL
someone get sl a tissue, and maybe the number for a tow truck....
its a simple solution, park at Oshawa Centre mall, TAKE the GO BUS, from there, same prices as if you'd parked at the GO Station...
oh btw, park close to the set of traffic lights nearest to the centre entrance (Tim Hortons is also there & opens 'real early') for all ya self entitled bratty whiny douchbags who go on an amazing blog just to whine that the blog owner is your enemy & your now 'so afraid', suck it up buttercup!, its easier to walk across the road, & wait for the GO Bus, then to fight for a parking spot at the Station itself...
Ugh, I know how you feel. The parking at Oshawa is ridiculous and I tried to fight the ticket I got really hard.
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