[Drivingforfun]

My grandmother died recently in hospital. My dad was called to the hospital before it happened; his boss told him to go straight there in the work van. When he arrived he went to the multi-storey car park and as he drove in there was an almighty crash/screech… he’d forgotten he was still in his work van and it was taller than the car park 🙄

A few staff ran out of the office and after a bit of shouting between him and them an older parking warden turned up and told the younger ones to go away; and told my dad to just leave the van in the loading bay and go and see his mum

A bit later we were back at the van sorting it out, luckily it was just the ladder clamps that had broken off and the van was more or less ok. The guy came up to us again and asked after my grandmother; he also gave us some details of how to park for free for a week as it sounded like we’d be coming back quite a bit

It’s a shame it wasn’t on camera, it would make a nice riposte to those videos of traffic wardens people put online

👍👍👍

[olduser]

It is a very stressful time a parents death, we all know it will happen one day but we would rather not today.

[olduser]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

My grandmother died recently in hospital. My dad was called to the hospital before it happened; his boss told him to go straight there in the work van. When he arrived he went to the multi-storey car park and as he drove in there was an almighty crash/screech… he’d forgotten he was still in his work van and it was taller than the car park 🙄

A few staff ran out of the office and after a bit of shouting between him and them an older parking warden turned up and told the younger ones to go away; and told my dad to just leave the van in the loading bay and go and see his mum

A bit later we were back at the van sorting it out, luckily it was just the ladder clamps that had broken off and the van was more or less ok. The guy came up to us again and asked after my grandmother; he also gave us some details of how to park for free for a week as it sounded like we’d be coming back quite a bit

It’s a shame it wasn’t on camera, it would make a nice riposte to those videos of traffic wardens people put online

👍👍👍

It is a shame the traffic wardens behaviour is exceptional but we have created a society where it is so.

We are born with some innate compassion but unless reinforced by example we can and do loose it.

In todays world, compassion gets in the way of making money, and as individuals we have little choice, we do what we are told/encouraged to do else we risk losing the job.

[Drivingforfun]

@olduser I often notice older workers display these kinds of exceptional things. I suppose it's not directly due to the age, but that older members of staff are less likely to have a lot resting on keeping their employment (or, at least, more able to afford a gap in employment)

[olduser]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

@olduser I often notice older workers display these kinds of exceptional things. I suppose it's not directly due to the age, but that older members of staff are less likely to have a lot resting on keeping their employment (or, at least, more able to afford a gap in employment)

Yes, I think that is true, people who have experience of life will tend to be compassionate because they are likely to have been there, and done that themselves.

What I have always found is glaringly obvious is the failings of management, and rule makers.
Taking traffic wardens as an example - why have wardens? If you have them how do you measure their effectiveness? Most will say by how many tickets they issue but is it not true, if they are issuing tickets, having traffic wardens must be failing? And if more proof is needed, the highstreets die.

[Santa]

Originally Posted by olduser

Taking traffic wardens as an example - why have wardens?

Of course, there is no need for traffic wardens. Motorists always avoid parking where they obstruct the road or in loading bays or disabled parking places.. <sarcasm>

[olduser]

Fair point Santa.

[Rolebama]

The Borough adopted Residents Parking here a few years ago. Prior to this, it was a bit of a lottery as to whether you could even park in the street where you lived. Overnight, literally, when the RP came into force, half the cars disappeared. This also coincided with the Parking Wardens starting patrolling the area on a daily basis.

As to Hospital parking, I once had occasion to take a man suffering from a heart attack. On arrival I parked in the Ambulance A & E area, ran in and called for assistance. As we were helping the guy onto a trolley, jobsworth arrived and started getting in the way demanding that I move my van into a pay parking bay. This was around 2am.
Around the same time the next night I called in to see how he was. Apparently, when jobsworth turned up to start his shift, he was told he was no longer needed. The nurses and doctor had complained about him to management.

[Drivingforfun]

Originally Posted by olduser

Yes, I think that is true, people who have experience of life will tend to be compassionate because they are likely to have been there, and done that themselves.

What I have always found is glaringly obvious is the failings of management, and rule makers.
Taking traffic wardens as an example - why have wardens? If you have them how do you measure their effectiveness? Most will say by how many tickets they issue but is it not true, if they are issuing tickets, having traffic wardens must be failing? And if more proof is needed, the highstreets die.

I always found it interesting that younger people - as a group - statistically are often more liberal, yet older people (again generally/as a group) become more tolerant on an interpersonal level but perhaps less so on a wider level

Is the traffic warden an example of the success paradox? It's often brought up with the police and NHS (i.e., the better they do their job, the less their existence is justifiable to the public)

[olduser]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

I always found it interesting that younger people - as a group - statistically are often more liberal, yet older people (again generally/as a group) become more tolerant on an interpersonal level but perhaps less so on a wider level

Is the traffic warden an example of the success paradox? It's often brought up with the police and NHS (i.e., the better they do their job, the less their existence is justifiable to the public)

It depends on how you would describe their job as well done.

Using Rolebama's hospital incident above, was the car park attendant told by his employer how to do the job, maximise revenue, I very much doubt he was told to use his own judgement?

If a policeman issues a speeding ticket, the BRAKE fraternity will say, "well done" but the recipient will have different views!

I take your point though, there are people doing their job in the background, and we never notice.

One of the things I learned in management in industry, selecting a supervisor was not easy, yes they have to have the knowledge about whatever they were supervising but they also needed common sense, and good interpersonal skills, some will wade in with the 'I'm in charge syndrome', they will cause a lot of trouble.

I remember a youngish meter reader promoted to district manager, at his first team meeting he announced, he was the new district manger, and as such he expected respect from everyone!
After that, any questions from the team, were prefaced with, 'with respect'.

After the meeting, I was still in the car park catching up on appointments sent over the phone, he came and asked me, "what had been wrong in the meeting?"
It took a while to convince him, he has no right to respect, it has to be earned.

You have to have lived for a while to begin to understand the difference, I suppose life knocks the corners off as we get holder.

[Rolebama]

Just found this: