I don't usually drive into work. I'd rather be able to relax on my way in. I get to work by slugging, a makeshift form of carpooling. Slugging begins at a commuter parking lot. Slugs (people looking for a ride) and drivers meet there. Slugs wait in line as drivers pull up and announce where in DC they're going. Different commuter lots serve different areas of the city. This process benefits the slugs because they get a free ride into work and benefits the drivers because with three people in their car they are able to use the HOV lanes, which gets everyone to the city much more quickly than the regular lanes.
Normally I am a slug, but yesterday I drove because I was staying after work for a softball game. I arrived at work at abut 8:10. My wife would come watch the game and pick me up, but she had a lacrosse game. You have to have a parking pass to park in one of the lots, so I had to see one of the security guards to get one. He started to put my information into his computer, but then got a message saying he couldn't give me a pass and I had to see the parking office. I went upstairs to do so, but the woman I needed to see wasn't in yet. In the meantime, I had to move my car, so I parked at a meter, which took some of my coins without giving me any time. I went into the building but only had a few minutes on the meter, so I tried to change a dollar in a vending machine to get some more change. The first machine just gave me back the dollar and the second one wouldn't give me change until I bought something. Luckily, I ran into a coworker who had change for my second dollar. By this time it was almost 9, and I was supposed to have a conference call at 9. I went quickly back out to my car and put the change in the meter, which again only gave me time for some of the coins. I had the conference call and thankfully it only lasted a few minutes. Afterwards, I went to see the parking office about getting a pass. The woman in charge was there, but was walking out the door as I arrived. I told her I needed a pass, and she asked someone else to get it for me. He got the same message on the computer, but they also have handwritten passes, so he just gave me one of those and I went to move my car.
I got back to my desk and sat down to check my voicemail. I had two messages from the parking lady, one asking me to come see her right away and another one asking me to give her a call. I called her and she told me I needed to come see her. When I went down to see her, she told me I had been locked out of the system and that was why the computer wouldn't give me a parking pass. Apparently I had driven in too much in the past few months. Because it costs money to park where I work (the lots are leased from the city) you can only get a certain number of free temporary parking passes per year, I guess, and I had reached my allotment. I thought the limit was three per month, and I hadn't driven in at all in June, but that is not the case.
So I can't drive in to work and park in the lots for a few months now. On one hand, I understand there needs to be a limit on the free parking passes because people who drive every day pay to park. On the other hand, though, I'm a little upset because I only drive into work if I have a valid reason, so this is at least a little inconveniencing.
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