Spot Fourteen, Occupied Again

Spot fourteen is mine, has been since we moved in, painted number and everything, and for the third time this month there's a silver sedan sitting in it when I pull in from close. I park in the visitor row again, grab my bag, and walk past his bumper close enough to see the parking pass hanging crooked from the mirror. Not even displayed right. That's almost worse than the spot itself.

The building has an app for this. A whole thread for lot issues, other people posting about oil stains and blocked ramps, and I've opened it and started the same post four times now. Spot 14 occupied again, third time this month, photo attached. I get as far as attaching the photo, timestamp and all, and then I close the app instead of posting it.

I tell myself I'm being generous. Maybe he's got a reason. Maybe it's a guest.

It isn't generous. If I post it, management handles it, he gets a notice, the spot's mine again by the weekend, and there's nothing left to check every night when I pull in. Right now I get to be the wronged one, quietly, on my own schedule, with four timestamped photos I'm never going to use.

I circle the lot once before I park in visitor, like there's a chance it cleared while I was driving. It hasn't, and I don't post the thread, I just take the photo again, for a file I already know I'm never sending anywhere.