This Geek Squad Parking Spot Is Really A Fire Lane
[September 22. Image thanks to Roche!]
It is also, um, a sidewalk.
UPDATE: Ben Popken here. Carey was unaware that this is front of a Best Buy, and it's to promote the Geek Squad. Pretty standard and not controversial. We are actively encouraging Carey to get out in the countryside more often.
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Comments:
The license plate is also upside down. Probably according to procedure in their manual...
@snazz: please let this youtube crap die...it was funny until i found out he signed a deal for a tv show.
Hey, if you ask them, they put out "fires" all day long, so the fire lane is appropriate for them. Of course, they may be the ones that cause the "fires" by messing with your computer equipment...
Jebus this is weak. Consumerist must be hurtin' for material. here's an apropos question: Who gives a crap?
@KLAY
They follow manuals?! Who knew?
@Klay: No, it's not...It's a Texas plate, and that's the right way...With "Texas" at the top, the cowboy on the horse at the bottom...and last time I checked that was the way a 3 faces. Not that I like Geek Squad or anything but how can you think that is upside down?
Honestly, I think this is digging at the bottom of barrel to find things to post.
@Klay: urr. it's not upside down. not at all.
and this is weak. But today is Sunday, so I guess it's expected to be.
Wow. This is ridiculous. This is really old news, because no one cares anymore. And FYI, Since when does the letter "N" appear any other way than shown, other than when written by 4 year olds and retards.
The license plate is right.
@blkhrt1: If you rotate the letter N 180 degrees, it still looks like the letter N. To make it look any different, they'd have to put the license plate on backwards.
Still, its right. Doesn't matter whether the N is right, the X or whatever. Google the phrase "State License Plates" and research.
I know this is true, I was at that particular Best Buy yesterday and was amazed they parked it there. Not like Mesquite PD give a damn, that area is all new development that is bringing in serious money to the city.
They do this all the time at the Best Buys by me. Frankly, I don't think it matters as it's technically not IN the fire lane, and the sidewalk is their property. If it's not blocking exits, it's probably fine.
Think this is bad? Wal-Mart's fire lane is like the valet parking for America's finest. It would be impossible for a fire truck to have to navigate through that mess of obese people and barefoot toddlers.
Like all good 1970s cop dramas, these Geek Squad officers were merely responding to an emergency with the proper handbrake parking style.
These are the cases of... the Geek Squad. *porn guitar*
@ravuya: And sadly, you know that's exactly what the technician was thinking when he parked like that.
And how do we know that he wasn't loading up several large boxes? He could be LOADING his vehicle....seriously, posting this just to get 'I h8 Geek Squad' comments?
I'm not sure how this is a consumer issue. I know it's not my blog, and I've griped at people who post comments like this one, but those were gripers on stories that could be consumer issues.
But I really can't see how someone being too lazy to walk and parking in a fire lane or on a sidewalk is a consumer problem. It's a "bad driver" problem.
I mean, I could have taken a picture of the huge fullsize pickup parked in a handicap space with no mirror hanger or disabled plate I saw at a pharmacy (of all places) but I didn't, because the story didn't belong here.
I wasted 10 seconds "jumping" to see if this story got any better.
to be fair, I've seen the Firedog Chevy HHR's parked in the same positions in front of Circuit City stores...
I don't get the license plate argument. The "Y" is upside down and the only person who could have manipulated a license plate in this fashion is SATAN!
Best buy is run by Lucifer, himself. How else do you explain this? You can't.
Hunting one company with inane crap like this just because it draws coverage is pretty frekin' weak. The whole porn event was worth covering, but this offers consumers absoluely no useful information about the company. I'm sure every company with fleet cars employs the occasional idiot or jerk that doesn't park in the right spots.
That isn't a Y--it is an X.
This doesn't seem to be the most significant story in the world. They always park there at our Best Buy, too. Still, good to see that you brought out the Wal-Mart haters. Always good to see that some things never change.
It also looks like they're on a driveway. How many laws are being broken in the picture?
Ok, first things first. Any company that is a subsidiary of best buy is Fair Game.
The property they use is most likely leased to them by a developer corp, so it's pretty much not theirs legally.
The spot they have parked their bugs in is not interfering with the fire lane, as long as they do not get in the way of the line between the hydrants and the valving leading into the building. If they do, then the FD will simply carve a path for their lines, no matter what is in the way.
If they did park where it does interfere with official operations, then I would solicit their management, making it Perfectly Clear that you will be in contact with city management on this, and if all goes well, they will relocate the offending vehicle. If not then the city or county will tow and impound their illegally parked vehicles, costing them a Pretty Penny in getting them back.
Cutting them any slack on anything else, no way jose.
The BB store near me has a Geek Squad car parked like this practically every time I go there...
Of all the things to complain about! Sure Best Buy has promotional cars ion the sidewalk at my nearest location, but who cares. Please maintain the consumer related criticism and not this tabloid crap.
One of the Circuit City stores in Lexington (Hamburg) has a Scion xB emblazoned with their FireDog logo (or whatever). They park it on the sidewalk right in front of their store (yes, in the fire lane) every day.
To the whiny nay-sayers, this is significant from a consumer point of view because these stores think the marketing of their tech service is more important than the laws governing fire safety.
I can't believe anyone has to explain that to you. Bad consumers! Bad!
What does this have to do with showing them my receipt?
Umm that picture looks like it was taken in front of the store. Ummm this is common practice for all the cars. Show up on a day after thanksgiving and you are likely to see this.
I'm confused about the upside down license plate comments...a 3 can only face in one direction.
Actually, so long as the owner of this vehicle permits them park on the sidewalk, this vehicle is perfectly legally parked. Being a Texas Police Officer I can easily clear this up. Yes, the plate is right side up, x's look like that. Second, that car is legally parked outside the fire lane in accordance with Texas Law. Texas Law states that you cannot park between two red fire lane lines. So, what this picture does not show is to the right, there is another fire lane marking across the driving area which you cannot park in. This is done so that fire truck can navigate through the parking lots. Long story short, this car is parked legally.
Oh, FFS, it's private property. That's only enforceable if management allows it. Even then, the fire lane is on the ROAD side of the curb. Yes, he's on the sidewalk, but it's his sidewalk to be on. (Unlike residential sidewalks that your local municipality owns. Those jerks.)
Jeebus! The Consumerist really has it in for Geek Squad. Now you are getting them for improper parking on private property? Who cares??
I never really thought that the whole "porn theft" thing was the crime of the century that Consumerist made it out to be but parking is a real stretch.
How does parking in the fire lane affect the consumer??
Lame. License plate is fine, and the bug is not parked IN the fire lane, but on the their sidewalk adjacent to the fire lane. From a fire-code perspective, I could park there, too, but the store would likely have me towed.
They park it there to promote Geek Squad. That's why so many stores do that. This site is getting lame. It's not even posting issues anymore, its just looking for news.
Hey I see them do that all the time in their stores in Cali... Not a public sidewalk I guess.
/sigh
The car is parked legally, as (1) it's on private property and (2) it's not parked in (or even blocking) the fire-lane. Agents park the bugs there for several reasons. Oftentimes, they've got to carry whole computer packages with them for in-home setup, and when a store gets busy and an Agent needs to leave *RIGHT NOW* he/she doesn't have time to dick around looking for a spot. Another reason it's parked there, yes, is for marketing. It's what you see when you enter/drive by the store, and it's just a reminder that GS is there. We had a township police officer try to bust our store (actually ticketed one of our Bugs) for this once... nothing ever came of it because the whole front side of the store is labeled with Best Buy Loading Zone signs (as well as the Fire-Lane signs) and it's private property. The only way this would be illegal is if it was IN the Fire-Lane or blocking the entrance/exit.
What about wheelchairs? It doesn't break any laws to block the part of a sidewalk that allows it to be wheelchair accessible? If not, then why is it illegal to park in a handicapped parking spot if you aren't disabled?
@RECTILINEAR -- Like I said, if the Bug was parked in front of the entrance/ext (you know, the area in front of which is 99.9% of the time ramped into the parking lot/loading zone) there would be a problem. It isn't, though, so there's not.
@Buran:
It is legal IF it is a private sidewalk, i.e. not public like on the courthouse square or adjacent to a public road. But sidewalks in front of privately owned property is not regulated by those laws. Only if the sidewalk was adaject to a public roadway or it is governement owned.
This is in front of a Best Buy. It's to promote Geek Squad. No controversy here. Bad Carey!
leave geeksquad alone! how f*ing dare anyone out there say anything bad about geeksquad after all they've been through. They love their customers, they went through a restructuring. they hire f*ing kids, their CEO turned out to be a user and now they are going through a class action lawsuit.