By CHANET STEVENSON, assistant scene editor

There is always that one car in every parking lot that is either parked over the lines, parked illegally, or doesn’t have a pass for the lot.

Let’s face it, everyone dislikes these kinds of drivers. I know I do.

There is no place I’ve witnessed these parking offenses occur more frequently than in the parking lot of the apartment complex I live in.

Let me begin by saying that I have withheld my opinion on the subject for quite some time, but due to a recent occurrence, I figured now is as good a time as any to speak my mind about it.

But before I go into the incident which led to this particular opinion, I need to explain the other offenses I’ve witnessed, and why they’re a problem.

First off, nothing frustrates me more than when people without parking passes fill up the parking lot near my apartment, especially when they are parked there overnight. I often work late, and don’t get home until later. So the last thing I want to do when I finally do get home is to have to search for a parking spot. Usually I end up parking on the street, or in the lot farthest from my apartment.

I mean, the whole reason I drive in the first place is so that I won’t have to walk home alone in the dark. Yet I still find myself having to do so.

What makes this situation even more frustrating is the fact that we have parking passes for our complex, but never once in the two years I’ve lived there have I ever seen someone patrolling our lots to make sure that everyone has a pass. Seriously, why do we even have the passes if no one is ever going to check them?

It seems the towing signs are a waste of space as well, since no one has ever been towed. This puzzles me, since people park in fire lanes.

If you pull into our parking lot, there are two spots in particular where people stupidly park. One has a fire hydrant clearly visible in the grass in front of it, and the other has the painted lines on the sidewalk.

Aside from being fire lanes, the one spot is significantly smaller than a regular parking stall, and the other is positioned in a way that makes it nearly impossible for anyone to back out of it without hitting another car.

Come on people, really? Are you THAT dumb?

The other parking pet peeve of mine is when a car is parked sideways, and/or over their lines. I think this type of parking job in particular is something that many people will agree is annoying. For one thing, nothing makes it more difficult to get in and out of your car than having to squeeze your way through a partially opened door because the car parked next to you decided to hog the line.

Cars parked over their lines also pose a risk of getting scratched, or scratching another car, which also poses the question of why so many people continue to run the risk of this by not correcting themselves. That’s why this particular parking job baffles me. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for people to back up, straighten out, and pull back into the spot.

As for the incident which sparked this article, here is what happened: Last week my roommate walked out to her car to leave for class, and found a pair of sticky notes attached to her windshield, cursing her out for supposedly parking over the lines and for not having a parking pass.

So to the person responsible for the notes: Though I could easily use more choice words to address you just as you so eloquently did to my roommate, I will instead try to express my thoughts regarding your actions as delicately as possible so as not to get my next statements bleeped before printing.

While I appreciate your efforts to try to weed out the non-parking pass violators, leaving notes on someone’s car is not the way to solve the problem. Believe me, as I’ve already stated previously, I too hate it when people without passes take up spots. And if you ever want to go to our apartment management about the parking issues, I would gladly support you and go along. But leaving nasty notes on people’s cars is where I draw the line.

P.S. I’d like to point out that had you not been so hasty to call her out, you might have noticed that she does in fact have a parking pass. So if you insist on remaining our parking lot monitor, try to be more observant.