What happens when a parking garage allows a complete stranger to walk in and steal your car? A dozen unreturned phone calls, a hundred non-commital responses and a refusal to own up to any blame.

Minutes after getting out of bed, I was spending a few moments with my wife before we both went to work when we got a call. It was from the Central Parking garage across the street where we park our car. (We’re monthly parkers.) A manager, with a vaguely agitated voice, said, “We need you to fix your ticket because your ticket was left open when you picked up your car yesterday.”

I didn’t quite understand what that meant, but a reasonable request. Except for one problem: we didn’t pick up our car yesterday.

As my eyes began to bulge out, I raised this point. And then the conversation rapidly descended to a staccato exchange of ‘Where’s our car?’ ‘I will have to call you back.’ ‘Where’s our car?’ ‘I will have to call you back.”

Apparently, stealing a car at Central Parking garage is as easy as wandering in, asking for the keys and driving away with a confident wave. And afterwards, Central Parking will just shove their hands in their pockets, pucker and whistle nonchalantly.

Stolen Car at Central Parking [Talking Points Memo] (Thanks, DF!)

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