craniac’s place

Here in South Africa car theft is a big problem so every parking lot has car guards.  Some are uniformed and employed by malls while others are unemployed people who work daily for an organisation that issues them with a vest carrying the information that they are car guards.  They pay a token fee to use this for the day and then get to keep the tips that motorists give them.  I have no problem with this and always try to give them a reasonable tip, although I sometimes wonder whether they could actually stop someone from stealing a car.

What really bugs me is that when it comes time to reverse out of the parking bay, they feel that they must direct me.  Now, in order to get a driver’s licence one must be able to do this unaided so I don’t need any help.  They always seem to stand right behind your car and in effect only add another variable to the problem of reversing out.  Instead of only having to worry about hitting the cars on either side and watching out for cars approaching down the lane, you must also watch out that you don’t run over the idiot standing behind you waving his arms.