Letting assholes know that they are assholes

[Scooter]

You don't need to know Portuguese, the action says it all, and it's obvious that the cop that the guy whines to is completely unsympathetic to his plight.

[Lord Jim]

I'm confused about a couple of things...

How could they know that the guy would be gone long enough for them to be able to do this? That had to take at least an hour, if not longer...

Second, if the guy was parked in a handicap zone in addition to being unsympathetic, shouldn't the cop have written him a ticket? (Or is parking in a handicap zone not a ticketing offense in Portugal/Brazil...)

[Scooter]

Maybe they saw him going somewhere they knew would take a while, or maybe they just took a chance. And perhaps the part where he got a ticket has been edited out; as you say, the whole thing obviously took a while.

[Joe Guy]

That had to be staged. The people who decorated the car were vandals. The cop sure didn't act like a cop, not to mention those Post It notes are expensive.

If that had happened in America, the people who decorated the car would have been charged with vandalism and littering and tear gas would have been used to disperse the crowd. At the very least, the car's owner would have been tasered, cuffed, arrested and fined and the car would have been towed. If he had resisted he would be dead.

[Scooter]

Oh please, vandals. They are post-its, you peel them off and they leave nothing behind.

[Joe Guy]

Oh please, vandals. They are post-its, you peel them off and they leave nothing behind.

How about applying Post It notes with vandal-like malice?

[Lord Jim]

those Post It notes are expensive.

I use a lot of Post-its, (the same 3X3 size as these guys used) I buy mine through Amazon Prime, (like I buy almost everything else these days, except for clothes and food) it costs me about 12 bucks for a pack of 12...(100 sheets per pad)...

If based on that, you figure about a buck for each 100 sheets, (obviously it would be a lot more at a brick and mortar stationary store, but these guys obviously bought in bulk) I'm going to give WAG that it probably cost them maybe 50-60 bucks...(five-six thousand sheets) to so completely cover that car...

If this wasn't staged, it clearly had to be planned in advance, (they wouldn't have just happened upon this guy carrying around all those Post-its)...

Maybe the guy worked someplace nearby and parked there every day...(that would also explain how they would know he would be gone for a long time)

And maybe the cop didn't give him a ticket because he figured he had gotten his punishment...(And maybe the Post-it people had also alerted the cop to what they were going to do, and he didn't have a problem with it...)

[Lord Jim]

Apparently the jury is out on whether or not this was staged:

Claim: A video shows a group of citizens teaching a lesson to person who parked illegally in a handicapped parking spot.

MIXTURE

Origin:A video purportedly showing a group of Brazilian citizens shaming a person who illegally parked his vehicle in a designated handicapped parking space by covering his car in Post-It notes has frequently been posted online under the title "This Is What Happens When You Park in a Handicap Spot in Brazil." The common version of the video begins with a motorist's discovering that his car has been covered in Post-It notes that recreate the handicapped parking space symbol and angrily scraping them off his vehicle while a policeman blithely looks on. This version implies that the prank seen in the video was pulled off by some bystander (or bystanders) who spontaneously punished an illegal parker they just happened to come across.

However, the clip actually originated with the Brazilian YouTube comedy channel "Canal Boom," and the original version, titled "Vaga Para Deficiente 2" (i.e., "PRANK: Disabled Parking 2"), opens with an introduction from the pranksters and shows a coordinated team of at least five people covering the vehicle with Post-It notes:

It's unclear whether this video truly depicts a group of pranksters shaming a random illegal parker, or whether it was a staged event (with the seemingly irate driver being in on the gag). For the pranksters to successfully complete their stunt as shown, they would had to have known that the victim would be away from his car long enough for them to complete the fairly lengthy process of completely covering it with Post-It notes, and that no one would alert him to the fact that people were messing with his vehicle.

Also, the policeman who arrives on the scene while the event is in progress seems curiously uninterested in stopping the pranksters from defacing a car or citing the driver for parking illegally, and he heedlessly allows the motorist to drive off in a vehicle that has dangerously obstructed windows and is trailing litter all over the street. If this stunt wasn't a staged one, it likely would have required a number of different attempts to obtain the desired results for the camera.

Last updated: 10 February 2016

http://www.snopes.com/handicap-parking- ... ank-video/

My personal opinion is similar to Snopes...

When you consider all the variables, it seems to me that it's more likely than not that it was staged, but the possibility exists that it's legit...

(How's that for a weasel position... )

[Scooter]

It's far from "spontaneous", because you don't just show up somewhere conveniently possessing enough post-it notes to cover a car. It is certainly staged to the extent that the participants were obviously prepared to have the whole thing memorialized on video. But to me the driver's reaction doesn't seem deliberate enough to suggest that he was in on it.

[Joe Guy]

When you consider all the variables, it seems to me that it's more likely than not that it was staged, but the possibility exists that it's legit...

(How's that for a weasel position... )

You should be on Ted Cruz's campaign team...

[Long Run]

Seinfeld:

The group travels to a mall in Lynbrook to buy a big-screen television as an engagement gift for their friend, "The Drake" (Rick Overton). George, who has borrowed his father's treasured car (a 1978-1980 model Mercury Monarch), parks in a handicapped parking space after being urged by Kramer to do so since they couldn't find any spaces. The four assume they will only be a few minutes. However, they are mistaken and are in the store for much longer. When they return, they find an angry mob plotting to trash the vehicle because a disabled woman, who had to park in a distant spot because of their illegal parking, has been injured in a wheelchair accident. After sneaking away for a time, they try to come up with a plan to divert the mob's attention and blame both George and, especially, Kramer. They later return to find the car completely demolished.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handicap_Spot

[RayThom]

I, too, think it was staged. However, it's the message and not the theatrics.

I have a "Handi-Tarded" permit due to permanent respiratory paralysis. I even have a designated "Disabled" parking spot outside my home. It never ceases to amaze me how many ignorant people will ignore these posted signs and painted lines and symbols when they have to park their vehicle. When I approach these scofflaws I'm usually told a few similar excuses. One is that they planned ONLY to park there for less than five minutes, but then got waylaid. Or they, too, are disabled but don't need, nor have no need to apply for a permit, or they left their permit in the other car. Then there are those who will hang expired permits, hoping that no one will check. I've even been told that I don't look "disabled" and I have no right to complain.

Even though my home sign reads "MAX fine $500" it is still not enough to deter a determined asshole. Sadly, when I call the cops they seem hellbent on accommodating the offender by not writing the ticket. (They ask me, do I know the person, or which house they're in... and so on.) The cops have the annoying habit of trying to make me feel guilty for disturbing them even though there is a great ROI for the township.

Regardless, any way a person, or a group of people, can shine a light on the handicapped parking problem -- real or fake -- then I'm just fine with it. That said, I bet there is $300 of Post-It-Notes used for this "prank." If they would send the $300 to me it would make this disabled driver quite happy.

[Burning Petard]

The 'Boom' hats and t-shirts tell me it was planned--but I am open as to whether or not the driver of the car was in on it. I notice that people in the Boom shirts or hats were picking up the blue tags scattered around at the end. I was hoping the driver of the car would get cited for littering as he freed up the little space on his window.

snailgate

[Lord Jim]

The 'Boom' hats and t-shirts tell me it was planned--but I am open as to whether or not the driver of the car was in on it.

That's really the only question...

It obviously had to be planned, or they wouldn't have had all the post its with them, nor would they have known that they would have the time to carry it out...

There's also probably a good chance that they gave the cop a heads-up as well...

Around here the fines for parking in a handicapped zone are also pretty stiff and from what I've seen, fairly rigorously enforced...at least when there's a cop around...

The most egregious abuse of a handicapped zone I ever saw was some prick who had parked his motorcycle right in the middle of the only handicapped spot available for most of a block (This was in West Portal, a nice shopping and restaurant area nearby that we frequent. A lot of little pop and mom specialty shops, a movie theater, and a variety of good eateries. This space was near the only major chain store in the area, a Walgreens.) I looked up and down trying to see if I could find a cop to flag down, but to no avail...

A dickhead who parks his motorcycle in a handicapped spot isn't just your average garden variety asshole...

No, what you've got there is your four star, full-blown Über Asshole....

[Econoline]

I'm guessing that the driver wasn't in on it, just from his body language, and from the way he had to keep getting out to repeatedly remove a few more, then a few more, then a few more of the Post-Its...and from the reckless way he skedaddled out of there despite not being to see much of what was ahead of him (not to mention behind or to the sides). But I do think the police were probably forewarned about the stunt; I hope they maybe put a ticket on the windshield before letting the pranksters cover it up with the Post-Its?

And I wonder how long the whole "decorating" process took? (Obviously way longer than the 4:37 that the video lasts.)

[Lord Jim]

Given the relatively small number of people involved and how densely those things are laid on, it had to take at least an hour, probably more..