Today I received some good news in the mail, rather than the usual bills and such.
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A couple weeks ago, I got a parking ticket in front of my house.
This wasn't the first time.
On the Monday that it happened, Elizabeth didn't have school on that day in honor of President Lincoln's birthday. So since I didn't have to take her to school in the morning, I never moved my car. I also thought that since it was a holiday, there probably wouldn't even be street sweeping, but I was wrong. When I left to school later that day, there was a nice little envelope waiting for me on my windshield.
Great.
I hate having to give money away for no good reason. I mean, who does right? Unless you're Bill Gates or something.
When I took my stinkin' parking ticket out of the envelope and started to read it, I noticed that there were instructions written in teeny tiny print on the back of the ticket about how to contest your citation, if you so felt the need to.
So then I thought, it doesn't hurt to try right? The worst they could say was no.
(Or actually, they could laugh at my ridiculous request to contest my citation and tell me to pay up.) But even if I didn't contest it, I would still have to pay the ticket anyway, so I decided to write a nice little letter to the City of ***** last week, explaining how the sign posted on our street says the day and time in which parking is not allowed, but at the bottom, it states, "Except on Holidays."
And since all schools in our city were closed on that day, due to the President Lincoln's birthday holiday, I believed that there would not be street sweeping.
Today I received a letter back from my city saying that my parking ticket was dismissed due to "Holiday Confusion" !! Yay! I almost couldn't believe it, but hey, maybe I still have holiday confusion.
NICE! You're very lucky; Beating a parking ticket is not easy!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I never would have even tried. I guess it does pay to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on that good news! Way to go on your powers of persuasion! How much to I love that term, "Holiday Confusion"?! I'm going to have to figure out how to use it regularly in my life. BTW, I’m a brand new SITSa and wanted to introduce myself and invite you over to “Two Under Two. Whew!” for my super-fun-and-little-bit-silly giveaways, one of which is tied to our fellow SITSa, BlogBaby! You could win a collection from Tiny Two’s Baby Animals line, or some chocolate covered pretzels! See you around the blogosphere friend!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great day! Good for you, that's good mail to get. Maybe next will be a big check!!!
ReplyDeleteHey that's great! We got three parking tickets in our own apartment lot last year. Turns out our parking sticker had expired and we didn't know it. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteBTW your blog looks great!
That's Great News! If our town actually enforced parking rules I'm sure I'd be getting them all the time.
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I'm so happy for you. I'm hoping I can do the same with my paperwork :) Hope you have a great weekend
ReplyDeleteWhoo hoo! You beat the system!
ReplyDeleteThat is the most awesome thing I have ever read! Congrats!!
ReplyDelete"Holiday Confusion" - Love it!! Way to go contesting it - cool that it got dismissed! :)
ReplyDeleteGood for you!
ReplyDeleteYou fought the man and WON, or did you fight big brother?
Who cares, you won.
Holiday confusion...that made me laugh. I am going to have to remember that one the next time I get a ticket. Hooray for good karma!
ReplyDeleteWanted to let you know that we passed a bit of award love your way today:
http://3baybchicks.blogspot.com/2009/03/man-up.html
Check it out when you have a chance.
-Francesca
Due to holiday confusion? Ha Ha.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I could use that for parking in a TRUCKS ONLY lane ?
It was a holiday. Valentine's Day
:-0.
I found your blog thru Francesca's since she gave you an award......~Mary
yeah, fight the man! =) Congrats on your SITS day!
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm impressed! Well done!
ReplyDeleteWhoo hoo!
ReplyDeleteBravo!
ReplyDeleteAnd happy SITS day.
Awesome! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!
ReplyDeleteI first read it as 'holiday concussion'! Same thing, really...
ReplyDeleteHi www.greedygirlsguide.com here Checking in from SITS. Good job with the ticket it goes to show if you take the extra step you'll get results
ReplyDeleteYEAH! You beat the system!
ReplyDeleteBe sure and enter my giveaway-- it's really easy to enter! And please do pop by & leave a comment.
-Laila
www.randomweavings.blogspot.com
Wow, a ticket for parking in front of your house. I guess we live in different worlds.
ReplyDeleteYay for Trying!!! I would have just forked over the money and been done. Nice!
ReplyDeleteNICE!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! (And you had an honest confusion issue) Happy SITS Day!
ReplyDeleteHow do they really know you were confused though? You could have been direct descendants of the great man and it was the most important holiday on your calendar, LOL!
ReplyDeleteGlad you beat the ticket though, that's a tough feat!
"Holiday confusion" is the most brilliant thing I've ever read. Yay for you!
ReplyDeleteFunny post. I can't imagine living in the city where you'd be able to receive such a gift.
ReplyDeleteI pull into my garage and have been for more than 20 yrs. I'd never have another house w/o one.
Congrats for the error.
that's great!! congrats on getting it dismissed! good for you for going for it!
ReplyDeleteThat's AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteNow, THAT's a holiday!! ;)
ReplyDeleteGood thinking!
ReplyDelete"holiday confusion" - that's too funny!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your SITS day!
Very good
ReplyDeleteGood for you!! I love it when someone manages to keep some of their money away from the life-sucking gov't.
ReplyDeleteWay to go, I have never been so fortunate with my tickets.
ReplyDeleteSweet!! What a great surprise for you! Loved your story :)
ReplyDeleteHappy SITS day!
Whoo hoo! Good for you for not just accepting the status quo!
ReplyDeleteHoliday confusion ... hmmmm, so does the U.S. Congress consider the entire year one big long holiday?
WOW that's great! I hate getting parking tickets.
ReplyDeleteGood for you!! Never hurts to ask!
ReplyDeleteGood for you!! Never hurts to ask!
ReplyDeleteGosh, I remember those days when I had alternate side of the street parking in NY. Hated it and got tickets often. You just made me feel grateful for my driveway now.
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo! I'm glad you got your ticket dismissed. But how annoying that you got one in the first place! I've never lived in a place where I couldn't park in front of my house for fear of getting a stupid ticket.
ReplyDeleteHappy SITS day!
Well you got lucky. In my neighborhood, cars are always parked on the side of the road. It gets very irritating when I'm trying to get to my house. Of course there aren't any No Parking signs in my neighborhood either.
ReplyDeleteYay for 'holiday confusion!' You go girl.
ReplyDeleteJamie :)
Who says you can't fight City Hall. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteYay for you! It would stink to have to pay a parking ticket for parking right in front of your own home!
ReplyDeleteI am going to start using "holiday confusion" as an excuse every time the fuzz tries to bust me now! THanks! Happy SITS!
ReplyDeleteI think i still have some unpaid parking fines from my honeymoon in the states (I'm Singaporean).
ReplyDeleteMaybe they'll waive it under "holidaying confusion?"
Having lived in downtown Atlanta for 10 years and fought numerous battles with the city over parking tickets, I say BRAVO! HAPPY SITS DAY
ReplyDeleteHappy SITS day! You have adorable kids, btw.
ReplyDeleteGood job contesting the ticket. Once I got out of a ticket by offering the officer fresh-baked Christmas cookies. He actually laughed at me while he walked away.
:)
Good for you!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! Good job getting it thrown out!
ReplyDeleteWell, Praise God for 'holiday confusion'. Not having to pay money you don't want to is great!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great loophole!
ReplyDeleteOH Wow. Dont you just LOVE that!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is great news. Tickets are the worst to pay for. You never get anything in return but frustration!
ReplyDeleteYay for Holiday Confusion!!! I'll take that to get out of a ticket. That is so awesome. Sometimes it does pay (or not pay depending on how you look at it) to not give in!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! I feel like most places wouldn't bother.
ReplyDeleteThat's fabulous! Not very often that you win when it comes to stuff like that so way to go! Enjoy your day in the SITS spotlight!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHHAAH that is so cool. I always contest everything. Innocent until proven guilty right? Shoot why not, everyone else does so you might as well get your tax dollars worth and put the contesting people to work. In the end it paid off. Nice!!
ReplyDeleteI think I live in a permanent state of Holiday confusion. No wait. It is just plain confusion....
ReplyDeleteHappy SITS day.
wow, ive never tried to contest a ticket before, i didnt think it ever worked. maybe next time i will try.
ReplyDeleteI HATE parking tickets. Hate them grrrr so I Am so happy you got yours dismissed!! After all this was their fault not yours! jeez. Happy SITS Day!! xo
ReplyDeleteThat's lame you get tickets for parking in front of your own house! No Bueno! Way to go contesting it and winning!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, they do use "holiday" loosely on those signs. "Holiday confusion" though sounds like what you feel when you're in another country on an American holiday!
ReplyDeleteHopping over from SITS! I never hurts to ask, right? That is cool!
ReplyDeleteHoliday confusion??!! That's so strange, but I'm glad you got your money back!
ReplyDeleteWay to snake your way out of that one hehe!
ReplyDelete"Holiday Confusion." Yup I've had that one. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteHoliday Confusion? There must be a pill for that.
ReplyDeleteGood job! - Stand your ground.
ReplyDeleteNice! I'm always afraid to contest things. I think you just inspired me to be brave in the future.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's great that they dismissed it! "Holiday Confusion" as the reason - too funny.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on standing up for yourself. I used to live in San Francisco where parking is a b**ch and tickets are fairly common. There were a few I wished I had fought but never did because to me it seemed frivolous.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from SITS!
Reading the small print does pay off it seems,... hmm,.. I should try to remember that.
ReplyDeleteStopping by from SITs!
Fantastic...
ReplyDeleteHappy SiTs day.
wow it's not often that something like that gets dismissed. Good for you!!
ReplyDeleteHappy sits day!
Way to go! My mother writes a letter to whoever she thinks will read it and listen whenever she sees an injustice in the world. I love it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. One time, she got free Lancome make-up out of the deal. When you are right, you are right!
ReplyDeletePhew! That was a close one!
ReplyDeleteOur city has an intersection with a red-light-runner camera. I wouldn't normally mind, except that the yellow light is about a half second long. It turns from green to yellow to red in less time than it takes to go through the intersection. People spend more time watching the lights for sudden changes, than they spend watching the other traffic and being alert to what is happening around them! I'm pretty sure I got flashed by the camera yesterday - but our town is pretty serious about collecting fines, so I probably won't get out of it.
Good going!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's a new one for me... getting a ticket for parking in front of your house. Wow, glad you beat it!
ReplyDeleteIt never hurts to ask, right?! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it nice when the government acts with logic and compassion! Yay for them!
ReplyDeleteGood eye!
ReplyDeleteWhen the parking gawds smile down, it is a good day.
ReplyDeleteSITS congrats!
that's awesome!!! I agree - it never hurts to try : )
ReplyDeleteAren't you glad that you contested it? :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's tremendous. "Holiday Confusion" seems like it would work for a lot of things, as in: "Oops - sorry I emailed pictures of my cat to the whole company - Holiday Confusion"
ReplyDeleteHoliday Confusion is now offically on my excuse list.....
ReplyDeleteAh! sweet victory!
ReplyDeleteYay! That's great!!
ReplyDeleteHoliday Confusion! That's awesome!
ReplyDeleteI hate getting a ticket in front of my house. Wouldn't it have taken less time for whomever to knock on the door and tell you to move your car or to fix whatever the parking problem is? Geez, is the $15 worth the time?
WOOT WOOT! Happy SITS!
ReplyDeleteYAY! Thank Goodness for "Holiday Confusion"!
ReplyDeleteEvery day is a holiday somewhere, right?
ReplyDeleteGreat story. Good things really can happen if you speak up about something you think isn't right.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your being a Featured Blogger.
Stopping by from SITS
Good for you!!! No reason to give people money when it's their mistake to begin with! Nice work
ReplyDeleteStopping by from SITS :)
Way to stick up for yourself!
ReplyDeletescore!!!!!!
ReplyDeletewell-played!
That was a mean policeman!!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Glad you got out of it! :)
ReplyDeleteHappy SITS day!
ReplyDeleteThe old adage is, you can't get what you don't ask for! Congrats to you on your appeal!
Ah yes. Holiday confusion always strikes when you least expect it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got out of the ticket!
Just when you least expect it things go your way right? Happy SITS day!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great term: "holiday confusion." I think I had that when I agreed to host 35+ people for Thanksgiving;-)
ReplyDeleteYou hardly ever hear of the little guy winning- good job.
ReplyDeleteThweeet!
ReplyDeleteMy best, Lynn
That's so awesome!
ReplyDeleteSee, sometimes our work pays off!
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! Happened to me once, too, with an unpaid toll due to a broken toll bucket thingy. My guess is not many people bother contesting those, so the powers that be can afford to throw us a bone once in a while. :)
ReplyDelete