There is something called situational reconstruction, and or a paradigm shift. 'A paradigm, is the way we see, understand, and interpret the world; our mental map.' Situational reconstruction is where you make the best of a situation by deciding that there are going to be good times and bad times and if you are in a situation that can be considered a bad one, you remember that life was meant to be both. I was recently in a situation where I wish a certain woman would have had this outlook.
It is very apparent that Utah Valley University has a very unfortunate parking situation due to the amount of people that attend the school and often times, people become very aggressive in hopes of gratification without delay in finding a valuable parking spot. The other day, as I left my apartment in ample time to park and be on time to attend my first class, I had just been to the gas station, a car wash, water bottle was filled and I was feeling confident about having a good day. I pulled into the parking lot that is located by the computer science building, on the phone with my mother who was lecturing me about not eating out as often. I waited patiently at the top of a row for someone to walk to their car. There were many other cars waiting for a spot on this row, one directly in front of me as well as too more on the bottom half of the row near the school. The car in front of me was a jet black mid size sedan. The car parked next to me was a small green colored neon. I watched people pass by, get into their cars as the hurried people waiting anxiously in their cars put on their blinkers without hesitation and pull into the vacant spot with little trouble or anxiety from the other cars around them. My situation however, did not go as smoothly.
As I watched the owner of the small green neon proceed quickly to his car, i immediately put on my blinker. This spot was more than obviously and rightfully mine. As the car backed out of his spot, I noticed the black car in front of mine trying to back up, nearly hitting my vehicle. Just in time the green car finished backing and left in a hurry. Just in time before the black car with a very angry looking woman and her embarrassed looking husband sitting in the passenger seat; I pulled into my parking spot. Still talking to my mother on the phone, who was getting a play by play on what was currently happening to me was now irritated by the woman in the black car and to make matters worse, the shatter in my ear was making it hard to concentrate and the next thing I knew, the angry woman was standing at my window.
"excuse me that was really quite rude, you need to pull our of this spot and let me park here." she said in a very snippy tone. Now, being even more irritated with the woman and at how ridiculous this scenario was turning into, I replied....
"Mam, this spot was right next to my car and I have been waiting here just as long as you have, there is absolutely no way you can convince me to move."
Meanwhile, the woman's mortified husband, parked their car with the front end sticking out in a stall nearly ten rows in front of the one I was in. Not only did the woman end up getting a better spot but she rudely offended me and my now furious mother. I had a knot in the pit in my stomach thinking I had possibly done something wrong, playing through in my mind what had just happened as people stared, wondering what was going on.
"Lauren, make sure to stay in your car until you see that the couple has left." My mom said to me on the phone in a firm tone as I heard my also very appalled father in the background repeating what I had just been told by my mother.
I watched through my rear view mirror as the woman and her husband paced looking for something to aid in getting some unnecessary revenge. The couple proceeded to take out a piece of white paper and a black pen to for some reason write down my license plate. 'what did they plan to do with that?'
"Her Lauren, dad wants to talk to you..." Said my mother after hearing me practically yell "She is writing down my license plate number!"
"You need to write down theirs too, it's when weirdos like this get out in public that innocent people get shot." Even though this was not humorous I could not help but laugh.
The couple finally proceeded to the doors of the school after a good long while had passed. I stayed in my car for my class did not start for another twenty minutes or so. As I kept one eye on the black vehicle still irritated and upset with what was happening, I saw a man wearing a black coat, black paints, black shoes and a black hat holding what looked like a credit card machine in his hands walking around the parking lot and only one thing crossed my mind. '
He is going to give me a ticket for something....' I know I hadn't done anything to deserve one but like my dad said, she must be crazy, chances are she told parking enforcement a very blown out of proportion story. My accusation was wrong; in fact the man made his way to the black vehicle that had reversed into the parking stall. Examining the car, he typed something into his hand held machine. I looked widely around my surroundings and noticed a sign that read the following:
No vehicle parking with rearfacing the
sidewalk. Violates will be fined.
Karma. The man took a unusually long time writing up the ticket, I was interested why. When the ticket was finally placed under the windshield wiper, the man then walked away and it was now time for me to attend my water-media class. I then hung up the phone for the second time, relaying the latest information to my parents that the woman who yelled at me for no reason got what she deserved. I grabbed my water bottle, my backpack and my water coloring supplies and made my way towards the back car to search the back of the black car for a license plate because there was illegally, not one present on the front of the vehicle. I came to find out that not only did the infamous couple not have a Utah Valley University
parking pass, had parked their car illegally, but the vehicle did not expose a license plate anywhere on the premises of the car.
The entire situation makes me wonder what and why people think they way they do. If the woman had simply thought that all that happened followed through, in a situational reconstructive point of view, or had a simple paradigm shift knowing that this dramatic would not only greatly affect her day in a negative way but my day as well, then nearly the whole situation could have been avoided. I learned a lesson that day. There are good times, bad times, good situations, bad situations; life was meant to be both.
