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Stopping off at the library today before heading home, I watched a perfectly able-bodied woman with no handicapped tags on her car take the library's lone handicapped spot. She looked around with an angry look on her face to see if anyone noticed, and then marched her able-bodied self into the building. Éiden and I followed after with our books to return, and inside the library I approached her, asking if she had handicapped tags.
"No!" she snapped hostilely.
"Well my wife is handicapped," I said, "and when you park in the--"
"I don't care," she spit out and pushed past me.
I stepped back around in front of her and went on.
"I was saying that my wife is handicapped, and when you park in handicapped parking without tags you're taking a spot away from people like her."
"So what? I'm handicapped!" she lied, as she shoved me aside.
That's when the security guard stepped in. Oh, not to tell her to get her car out of the handicapped spot, but to lecture me about how I shouldn't talk to people about things like that, that I put my hands on the woman (which I didn't), that the woman had to shove me because I got up in her face, that I shouldn't have approached her because she's a woman, and that I "have a problem" because my wife was currently there and didn't need the handicapped spot. When I pointed out how while he was busy lecturing me, the woman parked illegally was busy parking illegally without any repurcussions.
"That's because I have to deal with you," he answered.
Afterwards I talked to one of the librarians on duty (who didn't think I'd done anything wrong in approaching the woman) and she gave me the phone number of the head librarian, telling me he's the one in charge of the security guards.
It's over an hour since the incident and I still feel shaken up and angry. And I know that next time I go to the library, I'm going to feel uncomfortable and nervous, especially when I see that security guard again. I'd like to think that something good might come out of this, like maybe the woman who parked illegally will think twice about it next time because she doesn't want to risk another confrontation, but I really think thats just wishful thinking.
"No!" she snapped hostilely.
"Well my wife is handicapped," I said, "and when you park in the--"
"I don't care," she spit out and pushed past me.
I stepped back around in front of her and went on.
"I was saying that my wife is handicapped, and when you park in handicapped parking without tags you're taking a spot away from people like her."
"So what? I'm handicapped!" she lied, as she shoved me aside.
That's when the security guard stepped in. Oh, not to tell her to get her car out of the handicapped spot, but to lecture me about how I shouldn't talk to people about things like that, that I put my hands on the woman (which I didn't), that the woman had to shove me because I got up in her face, that I shouldn't have approached her because she's a woman, and that I "have a problem" because my wife was currently there and didn't need the handicapped spot. When I pointed out how while he was busy lecturing me, the woman parked illegally was busy parking illegally without any repurcussions.
"That's because I have to deal with you," he answered.
Afterwards I talked to one of the librarians on duty (who didn't think I'd done anything wrong in approaching the woman) and she gave me the phone number of the head librarian, telling me he's the one in charge of the security guards.
It's over an hour since the incident and I still feel shaken up and angry. And I know that next time I go to the library, I'm going to feel uncomfortable and nervous, especially when I see that security guard again. I'd like to think that something good might come out of this, like maybe the woman who parked illegally will think twice about it next time because she doesn't want to risk another confrontation, but I really think thats just wishful thinking.
