Angry Man Screamed at My Wife for Pull-Thru Parking in Montana

This story is completely true. 

It seems bonkers that I feel like it is necessary to clarify that I’m not making this up. The following situation occurred earlier this week in Laurel when my spouse was pulling into St. V’s Laurel Medical Center for a routine appointment. She told me about her bizarre parking lot encounter when I got home from work that day, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. 

Plenty of parking.

As you can see, the parking lot is not overcrowded. Our family goes here dozens of times per year for various check-ups, blood work, allergy shots, whatever. With room for at least 35 vehicles, there are always plenty of spots to park. 

Everybody pull-thru parks, right?

So, my wife pulls into the practically empty parking lot and does a “pull-thru” park. I’m not sure if that’s the correct parking terminology, but you know what I’m talking about. It's when parking lots are designed with two rows of parking that are square to each other. It’s convenient to drive thru the first empty spot and over into the opposite spot, so your vehicle is pointing “out”. This parking style obviously doesn’t work with parking lots that have angled parking and directional traffic flow.

Grouchy old man loses his mind on my wife.

No sooner does my wife park the car and open her door, when a crotchety old grouch in the vehicle next to her starts yelling at her about the way she parked. “You must not be from Montana!” he said, scowling. “Because around here, that’s not how we park!” My wife has lived in Montana since she was two. He snarled something about how pull-thru parking is dangerous, dumb, and not the Montana way. Basically insinuating she's a dumb b-word. What. The. Heck.

Pull-thru parking is not illegal.

I don’t know what universe the bitter old man lives in, but from what I’ve seen, just about everybody in Montana pull-thru parks when it's convenient. Especially drivers with larger SUVs and pickup trucks. I mean... why wouldn't you? It's much easier (and likely much safer) not having to blindly back out of tight parking lots. What triggered the angry senior citizen is beyond me. He was already parked, so it wasn't like she was "stealing his spot." Maybe he hates women drivers. Maybe his health is failing and he has a lot on his mind. Or maybe he’s just a jerk? Regardless, his outburst about pull-thru parking was ridiculous.