Looking down on others

I enjoyed the unfolding of this film. In the beginning it looks like a job where you just hang out and have fun. Everything is a good time and it slowly unravels. You realize how much anger and hatred is built up in the attendants and how much they despise the customers. On the other hand, there are the customers who have no respect for these people, look down on them based on what they do for work.

Both types reveal different characteristics in humanity. There are people who use the lot and are kind and pay, and there are those who feel they are above the rules and try to get away without paying for the “service” provided. These customers, what I would assume is a minority of the customers, have a big impact on how some of the attendants begin to lump all customers together. They hate all the customers because the few bad seeds paint the rest as equally bad. On the other hand, the few bad seed employees taint the operation for the other employees who aren’t so judgmental. It goes both ways in the film.

I was reminded of my youth when I worked at a record store and somebody will steal a CD and I’d run after them to get back that $7 cd, with no concern for my safety. These youth do the same thing when chasing after cars that don’t pay or call the attendant an idiot.

When the one attendant spoke with joy of how he threw a wrench through somebody’s window because they didn’t pay the $2 charge, and lucky for him the person got scared and took off, I was thinking he was lucky the driver got scared because had I been in the car I would have contacted the police and he could have taken me to court for not paying $2 and I would taken him to court to pay for my $110 window. For as “intelligent” as these people think they are, their actions don’t always show it.

Also, the attendants made all these assumptions about the people who parked there. But by the same token you know the people using the lot made judgments on the attendants based on what they did for work. It’s this cycle of people elevating themselves and looking down on others. I would have fit right in working at the parking lot in my early twenties.

Overall, I don’t think there are any winners in this movie other than the lot owner. He gets it. He tried to be friendly to everyone, make people want to come and use his lot by providing a better experience than other lots and if people try to scam him or leave without paying he doesn’t worry about it because it’s only a couple bucks and he just hopes at the end of the day he has enough money to pay the bills and enjoy his life. That’s how the people should be, just do their work, treat others kindly, and try and enjoy your life. Instead you see what is perceived as almost some class war. Those with nice things or children of those with nice things looking down on those not up to their level of (perceived) affluence and those on the lower end of the monetary class system looking down on those above them financially.