USVI-On-Line

Ok, this was not the way I wanted to end my week in paradise. We spent a beautiful day (after another trip to St John Spice) at Francis Bay. We decided to stop in the Beach Bar for a drink before heading back to the villa to eat the tons of left overs from the week. We were on our way to Conrad Sutton's to park our rental when I passed the Fish Trap and saw an open parking place. Now I know the sign said parking for patrons only but really didn't think such a short trip would be a problem. Gone maybe an hour to hour and 15 minutes and we come back and our car is booted! Now we have to pay $175 to get the boot off. We get that. The problem was the woman who is patrolling the parking lot. She is the most vile, and rudest woman I have ever met. She says she patrols the parking lot and knows exactly how long we parked there and were not in the shops. She was not even there when we pulled in or I would have made sure we could park there. Conrad Sutton's was only a few feet away! She insists we were trying to get a free parking place and she wouldn't even let us explain what our thinking was. She even put a sticker on our back window saying if we parked there again, we would be towed. We had to go get money from the ATM to pay the boot guy and stopped at the police station to explain the situation. They told us to make sure we got a receipt and a tax id number so we knew they were paying taxes on this business and the guy refused to give us his id number. Saying we were lucky he didn't charge us $10 for the receipt! I gotta say, I was so pissed off I wanted to scream. Then the vile parking lady told us she answered to a higher God than we do and she wouldn't talk to us anymore. She said she was pregnant and we shouldn't stress her! She was the one who wouldn't talk reason and wouldn't even let us talk. So, be careful. Like I said, I saw the sign but really didn't think the short time would be an issue since we had shopped there first. The boot guy said the Fish Trap paid her to patrol the parking lot and call the boot guy. Not exactly visitor friendly! Fish Trap will not be on my list of places to give my business to.

Sorry, I just needed to vent

Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!!! We've had one really bad experience like that, and would never wish that on anyone. Big hugs to ya!

Okay, I guess I am a little confused...maybe I'm missing something in the story. Why didn't you just park at Conrad's? He doesn't mind if you are there for 5 minutes or 6 hours...

I wish we would have parked at Conrad's. Traffic was so bad and I saw a spot and just pulled in. Didn't really even think, just saw an open spot and grabbed it. Hind sight is twenty twenty.

I find it humorous that you chose to "vent" over your own dumb mistake...you even saw the sign!!! Your hindsight is not 20/20, your hindsight is an idiot.

I guess I am confused also. You parked in a spot clearly posted for patrons only for an hour+ and you are upset for getting fined? Guess I missed something.

How was the Fish Trap at fault? You took a gamble on parking illegally and lost. $175 sucks, for sure...but when you gamble there always is the chance you can lose.

Conrad's lot would have been a sure thing. Oh well, next time.

Wow Mr B. Thanks. I wasn't venting over the boot. I accept my mistake. My problem was with the woman who choose to make us feel like we were trying to get a "free" parking space when that wasn't the case at all. She started screaming at us from the moment we walked up and accused us of thinking we were superior to her I guess because we were tourists. Obviously if your not a regular poster here, you get the same reception. Won't make the same mistake again in either case!

Parking in STJ can be really tough and a pain in the a***

We came over in the ferry. 2 jeeps. I can't even tell you what street we parked on, BUT...2 locals in trucks pulled out and we took their spots. No signs, nothing. We came back and we both had tickets on on the jeeps. We had no idea what the problem was until another local told us we couldn't park on that side of the street.

I think the original poster is more pissed at the manner that he was treated by the ticketer???

Also, let's not get mean ok?

MrB wrote:I find it humorous that you chose to "vent" over your own dumb mistake...you even saw the sign!!! Your hindsight is not 20/20, your hindsight is an idiot.

That is pretty rude.

just sayin'

GG

cjroyer wrote:My problem was with the woman who choose to make us feel like we were trying to get a "free" parking space when that wasn't the case at all. She started screaming at us from the moment we walked up and accused us of thinking we were superior to her I guess because we were tourists.

But for your act of illegal parking, the resulting incident would have never come to pass.

XOXO wrote:

MrB wrote:I find it humorous that you chose to "vent" over your own dumb mistake...you even saw the sign!!! Your hindsight is not 20/20, your hindsight is an idiot.

That is pretty rude.

just sayin'

GG

you ain't seen nothin yet, sweetheart.

Expense lesson learned. End of story. Now let's all play nice.

cjroyer wrote:Wow Mr B. Thanks. I wasn't venting over the boot. I accept my mistake. My problem was with the woman who choose to make us feel like we were trying to get a "free" parking space when that wasn't the case at all. She started screaming at us from the moment we walked up and accused us of thinking we were superior to her I guess because we were tourists. Obviously if your not a regular poster here, you get the same reception. Won't make the same mistake again in either case!

I guess I am still a wee bit confused. Did you shop there, by the Fish Trap? If you did, you were entitled to park there (but not for an hour and a half while going to the Beach Bar). If not, you were in violation of the parking restrictions which are clearly posted, which you have stated you understand.

So what is the issue? Is it that someone enforced the posted law? I don't mean to be mean and I'm not a "forum" buddy by any means; I guess I just don't understand your beef here.

MrB wrote:

XOXO wrote:

MrB wrote:I find it humorous that you chose to "vent" over your own dumb mistake...you even saw the sign!!! Your hindsight is not 20/20, your hindsight is an idiot.

That is pretty rude.

just sayin'

GG

you ain't seen nothin yet, sweetheart.

Have you had a bad day? Do you need a hug?