Before I begin today’s rant, here’s a glossary for non-Canucks:
- Loonie – a one-dollar coin with a picture of a loon on one side.
- Toonie – a two-dollar coin. (Why couldn’t it have a more imaginitive name, like “doubloon”? I’d love to go to the local tavern and pay for my grog in doubloons. Arr.)
And now, the rant:
Halfway to work, it struck me that I’d forgotten my wallet (again). I’d have to forgo buying my usual heaping plate of fried noodles and battered chicken balls, which is especially annoying because I missed dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Fortunately, I had five dollars in coin: three for the parking meter and an extra toonie that I could use to buy a small snack.
That’s how it would have worked out if the meter hadn’t eaten my coins. For some bizarre reason, the amount of parking time you get depends on the way you insert the coins. For example, if you put in a toonie, then a loonie, you get a full day of parking. However, if you put in a toonie, pause, then put in a loonie, you get only 90 minutes. It’s $3 either way, but one method will short you by several hours.
Naturally, in my morning brain-fog, I inserted my first toonie in the wrong way, saw a 60 minute parking stub in the tray, and realized that I’d have to now have to put in my snack money for an all-day stub that I should have gotten in the first place. I won’t get to eat until sometime this evening — probably around 7:00 or so. (Grumble grumble)
I now believe that parking meters are deliberately confusing. Poorly designed machines are both cheap and profitable.