Last week I had the daunting task of facing off with the Fulton County Tax Commissioner regarding my office property taxes. Actually, after 6 months of back and forth negotiations, I think my mission was accomplished. I parked in a lot down the street. I returned to the car and took out the money to pay for parking and the parking ticket.....the kind you have to slide into a machine to lift the gate for exit. A man approached my car and told me the fee was $10. I told him that it should be $8 as I handed him the $10 bill and the ticket. He said he was going to get the change. Meanwhile, he really hightails it across the street and disappears. As I handed him the ticket and I saw that my ticket was white and the other tickets that the guy held in his hand were yellow, I knew I was ripped off! Because I couldnt open the gate without the ticket, I couldn't leave and chase him. Other cars backed up behind me to exit but where unable to do so because I couldn't open the gate. I had to pay a $12 lost ticket fee to get out. So my misadventure in the lot, just a block from the Fulton County courthouse, cost me $22, I was so pissed off.... mostly at myself for being sucked into this scam! I speculate that the scam artist was a drunk bum doing this all over downtown Atlanta. He was kind of scrawny and I think that I could have taken him out!!
Morale of the story: Be aware of who you hand your parking ticket to when you leave a parking lot in downtown Atlanta. I wish I would have had the piece of mind to take a picture of the guy so I could share his face with everyone on the internet with a warning: WANTED IN DOWNTOWN ATLANTA: PARKING LOT BANDIT!!
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