Meter Maid

I yelled at a meter maid today. Yelled at her. Told her this city was messed up, and stalked off. I was pissed off. My meter must have expired by all of 2 minutes and I got slapped with a $40 ticket. I seriously do not understand how this state could possibly be broke with the money they must be raking in from innocent parents just trying to pick their children up from preschool. The parking in Berkeley outright sucks. You have to pay to do just about anything around here. Even after you plug your meter you are still on a short leash. You better set an alarm. You have TWO HOURS, and then you need to remove your vehicle or be prepared to pay the hefty price. That is all you get around here-two hours, which may be good for the meter maids, but could not possibly be working out too well for shop owners. You park your car on upscale Solano, go grab some lunch, maybe get your nails done, and it sure would be nice to stop into the trendy shoe store across the street, but opps, gotta go move my car. Prada can wait. But today, all I wanted to do was pick up my son from school. I plugged the meter for 25 minutes which should have been plenty of time, but Evan had a diaper emergency, Zack forgot his lunch box, and I got caught up in some playground drama. I was told by an eye-witness that the official in the little white car sat there waiting for my meter to expire, and bounded out of her door less vehicle as soon as the meter flashed red. I saw that nasty city employee three cars down from mine as I emerged from school. I tried to argue with her, but it was useless. She had a quota to meet. We have a budget to balance. I have a bone to pick.