Parking is difficult. Some would even consider it the most difficult part of driving. For me, at least, I would have days that I considered a “good” parking day, and would have other days that were a “bad” parking day. Throughout my driving life, I have experienced a plethora of parking opportunities in a variety of different places.

Below are just a few of my documented parking experiences along with a rating, explanation, and the lesson I learned from each:

Easily a 7/10. Between the lines, not angled, and enough room on both sides. Simple. Easy. 

This parking job came from the Edward’s Hospital parking garage. Yes, the spots are angled which makes it easier to park, but I still consider it a decent parking job. However, my only problem with this parking is the experience. Personally, I dislike parking garages because I always feel like there’s not going to be any parking spaces or that some person is going to drive recklessly and run straight into me. Not likely, but possible. On this particular day however, everyone seemed to want to take a visit to the hospital filling up so many of the spots. Luckily though, I was able to find someone right as they were leaving to steal their spot. 

This taught me more of a moral lesson- be patient and a spot will open up to you.

A solid 5/10. Although close to the line, backing up into the spot was the key to this ranking.

I didn’t start backing up into spots until this year, in order to pull out of the school parking lot easier, and I quickly realized this has actually made my parking life a lot easier. In this situation, because I am too close to the line, I learned that I need to either pull up a bit further, or turn my wheel more. The location of this very mediocre parking job is in the Taco Bell parking lot after the disappointing loss of the crosstown football game. So accordingly, this automatically sinks the rating. So this parking experience was more of an actual learning opportunity for actual driving rather than an emotional learning experience.

Definitely a 3/10. Although I was in between the lines, the fact that the car is slanted annoys me. To be fair, the car right next to me also did a poor job so I could always say I was just following the lead of others. This is in the parking lot of Chipotle during the lunch period so it was a rush to eat and park so there is a valid excuse for my poor parking. As I pulled in, I got many sideways glances with people being extremely judgmental. This parking experience taught me to not rush and take my time when parking so I will not get completely judged and looked down upon for my parking.

Absolute worst experience. Definitely rate it 0/10. Less if I could. This parking job features my old car which is now most likely getting ripped apart for parts. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us because of the damages she endured. 

First of all, this parking is rated as low as it is due to the parking itself. It’s parked in the middle of the road and blocking all of the other cars from driving past. Slightly angled and in the way. The parking technique was so off that the police officer had to ask me to re-park the car along the side of the road. Second of all, the context of the crash itself plummets the rating. This was taken the second to last day of school junior year when I was on my way to my hospital volunteering. As you can see, the car took a hit where the airbags went off and the door was completely dented. From this experience, I learned to never turn in front of another car and crash. Trust me, you don’t want to park like this.

In the end, each of my parking jobs taught me valuable lessons- some better than others, yet lessons nonetheless. They have provided me the opportunity to grow from each memorable parking experience, and I hope to use my expertise to improve my parking in the future.