Sport or Not? Avoiding the Commuter Tax

It’s a normal winter day in New Paltz; rainy and frigid, and you feel like crap. 

Despite this, you’ve decided to go to class, and naturally, you’re running late. You hop in your car and zip over to school, only to come upon the Route 32 stop light where you are forced to make a decision: do you park in the designated commuter lot and face a 10-15 minute walk in the pouring rain and cold, or do you park in the administrative lot and face tickets, fines and the disappointment of Darrell P. Wheeler?

If you’re like me, a rebel, you park in the gosh darn administrative lot. Once in the lot, the game begins. I ask myself, how can I park in a lot that is restricted to commuters, attend to my campus business and leave, all without getting a parking ticket? 

I scan the lot like a wild beast looking for my prey. I look for possible spots in the middle of the parking lot, surrounded by cars that all have their parking permits. I pick the tightest space and squeeze my car in, pushing it as deep into the space as I can. I get out, I look around, UPD drives by and I duck my head. I run up the steps and off to wherever I am going on campus, sending a quick prayer up to the heavens. I’ve changed my license plate since my last ticket, will they know it’s me?   

I look back at my car before the parking lot leaves my vision and see an unobstructed windshield, clear, with no environmentally-unfriendly plastic ticket waving back at me in the wind.  

UPD drives back through the lot, slowly. I have to go to class.  

I have always been a gambling man.