Drove to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airport Saturday morning to pick up Hania's cousin, who was flying in for the weekend with his fiancee. After they didn't show, I called Lukasz, who said they were waiting upstairs on the departures level (they had had no bags to retrieve) and would be right down.
Shortly after I hung up a parking authority cart pulled up and the driver said: "You're gonna have to move. You've been there 10 minutes." I told her that the people I was waiting for were on their way down - I would only be another minute. I didn't say this in a McEnroe-ish "THEY'RE COMING RIGHT DOWN!!!" tone but in an excited, gleeful, problem-resolved tone.
"I'm gonna give you a ticket," the woman said, as if I had shown her the utmost disrespect. "But they're coming right down," I said again, to no avail, as she was already standing behind my car, writing down my license number.
I should add that I was not blocking anyone, since I was close to the curb, and that during my entire time there no one had honked for me to move.
If I had obeyed the woman, Lukasz and his fiancee would have arrived and found me nowhere in sight, adding to their confusion. As is, they arrived in time to see me receive a ticket. And they witnessed a moment of mean-spiritedness that exceeded anything I've experienced in 21 years of going to the airport.
