In the Lane of Fire

Have you ever watched people’s behavior in public places? It often defies all logic and reason, leaving one to wonder, “what were they thinking?” Truth is, people often see themselves as "special cases." If they thought about it, they'd see if everyone followed their reasoning, no one would ever receive their "proper" treatment.

Take fire lanes as an example. My employer has a fire lane specified by a bright, yellow line painted on the blacktop. While technically no vehicle should be parked in the lines at any time, people often pull up their car for loading. Loading in the fire lane is fine, I suppose; customers often confuse which door is the entrance and which is the exit of our building. But I cannot believe how many people park in the fire lane.

I’ve actually gone up to people parked in front of the door and told them they can’t park there. I usually get the response “I’m waiting for someone,” to which I patiently explain the concept of a fire lane. Personally, if there’s an urgent situation, I want emergency workers to have access to the building—mostly for my safety, as I care more for that than the building’s integrity. Unfortunately, those who decided to park in front of the door because “they are just going in for one item” care little for either.

To me, if you’re waiting for someone, you have two options: either you go in with them or you park the car (in a parking spot) and wait until they come back out to pick them up. If you’re shopping, you park--no exceptions. Either way, I don't care if you're the CEO of some mega-important company, when it comes to safety, you don’t get special privileges.