My girlfriend and I share a car. We pay for a permit that allows us to park it overnight on the streets in our neighbourhood. On a good day, we find a spot between our apartment and the laneway. The stretch of street can fit four cars and it's usually full. But on some days there are only three cars because someone has parked "incorrectly", usually a bit too far from the laneway. To our frustration, one of the prized spots has been "wasted".

This sort of situation really pisses my girlfriend off. She always threatens to write a note and place it on the car windshield but hasn't once followed through. Some people do. Like the person who wrote the note above I found this morning on a car parked in front of 48 Abell.

Now, there's nothing wrong with writing a note. It can be helpful in correcting an error that the car owner may not have been aware of. Hopefully they'll modify their behaviour in the future. But what sort of person crosses the line from a polite warning like "Please don't park so far from the laneway. This space can fit four cars." to one like this that resorts to profanity and name-calling to someone you've never met?

The problem is that what might have been received as helpful probably results in resentment when "Idiot" and "Asshole" are added the communique. (One might also say it's an act of cowardice given the note is anonymous)

In the case of the car at 48 Abell, I was left scratching my head because the infraction didn't appear to be

that bad. See for yourself below. The car in question is the greenish Volkswagon Passat on the left.