High School Parking Lot Etiquette

Driving in a parking lot of a high school when the dismissal bell goes off can be a daunting task. The usual rules of the road definitely don’t apply. They are replaced by “get the heck out of here at any cost”. Take, for example, the common backing out of a parking place. For those of us who have done it in a crowded shopping mall garage have experienced what I call “road etiquette”. This usually means that as you inch out slowly, someone in the long line blocking your car stops and allows you to complete your exit, as a point of manners. This little unwritten rule does not apply to high school parking lots. In fact quite the opposite. They close ranks. Barely an inch is left between the cars, as if to say “If you think you are getting off campus before I am you are wrong.” I have noticed that the guys are worse than the girls. Apparently they had an extremely hot date with their X boxes or something. One can wait endlessly for the long line of cars to diminish unless you get lucky and another parent actually makes it into the line. Hopefully they are not too frazzled to have forgotten line etiquette though one cannot blame them for wanting to “get the heck out of Dodge” by that time. I have to admit that I have toyed with the idea of sending my daughter to stand in front of a car that is about to block me and wait until I pull out into the endless line before resuming her seat. Who would run over a cute little freshman girl? Don’t answer that. X boxes out rank everything.