Parking Gorilla: a funny way to handle bad drivers

If you are a frequent driver, then you know the struggle of parking, especially when you are presented with challenges by other, careless drivers. Parking Gorilla is here to help you tackle your anger and frustration in these cases. Forbes writes that the card distributing system is the idea of a married couple, and is much like a community combined with a family business.

Péter Hirsch got really fed up with drivers who park carelessly. No, not with the clumsy parkers, but with those who occupy two parking spots instead of just one, or park in the designated areas for the disabled, big families or electric cars. With those who do not consider bikers and park on the bicycle lane, with those who take up a lot of space on the pavement, so that a baby carriage will not fit next to it.

“This is when you feel like you are turning into a gorilla. That is where the name comes from.” – Péter told Forbes.

The couple started considering their options last summer, searching for ideas on how they could persuade the careless drivers to be more considerate. After a long and fruitful search, they have decided to set up shop and start printing cheeky and sarcastic comments on fliers.

We have translated them; this is what the remarks would sound like in English:

• Szépen beálltál! Sokat gyakoroltad? – Nicely parked. Did you practice a lot?
• Szia, bénán parkoló autókról kutatok. Lefotóztam a tiédet is remélem nem gond. – Hi, I am researching badly parked cars. I took a photo of yours too, I hope you do not mind.

Szép nagy autód van! Azért állsz így meg vele, hogy többen észrevegyék? – What a lovely, big car you have. Do you park this way so that everyone will notice it?

• Ez az!!! Ne hagyd, hogy két vonal beszabályozzon! Igazi egyéniség vagy! – That’s the spirit! Do not let two lines define you. You are so special.
• A klímaváltozás a nyakunkon. A gazdaságunk romokban. És még te is így parkolsz. – Climate change is upon us. The economy is in ruins. And you park this way.
• Az ország legkülönlegesebb klubja: #nemtudokparkolni. – The country’s most special club: #idontknowhowtoparkmycar
• Szia! Az autód lelkiismerete vagyok. Fáj, hogy így parkoltál. – Hi, I’m your car’s conscience. It hurts to see how you’ve parked.
• Ezt hagyd itt nyugodtan: bénán parkolok. – You can leave this here: I’m terrible at parking.

Egyedül sikerült így parkolni, vagy egy részeg féllábú majmot kértél meg rá? – Did you manage to park your car like this on your own, or did you ask a drunk, half-legged monkey to do it for you?

• Nem olyan szép a kocsid, hogy két helyet elfoglaljon. – Your car is not cool enough to occupy two spaces.
• Ezt direkt így parkoltad le, vagy a sztratoszférából landoltál? – Did you park like this on purpose or did you land from the stratosphere?
• Ahányszor így parkolsz, valahol a világban meghal egy cuki kiscica… – Each time you park like this a cute kitten dies…
• Én is így parkoltam. Aztán 8 éves lettem. – I used to park like this too. Then I turned eight.
• Büntetésből írd le százszor: nem tudok parkolni, nem tudok parkolni, TÉNYLEG nem tudok parkolni. – Your punishment is to write the following down 100 times: I can’t park, I can’t park, I REALLY can’t park.
• Nem tudtam, hogy ma van a “hagyd a gyereked parkolni nap”. – I didn’t know today was the ‘let your kid park your car’ day.

Ez itt egy parkolóhely. Ja nem, ez kettő. Állva tapsolok… – This is one parking spot. No wait, it’s two. Standing ovation…

Péter and Ági sold their first cards in March. They run a webshop along with a Facebook page, with over 3000 likes on it.

All of their followers want to put an end to the careless parking phenomenon, but everyone has a different stance, some of them suggesting more radical solutions spiced up with swear words. Despite this, Ági and Péter are adamant about not using obscene and aggressive expressions. The cards come with a user’s guide which asks customers not to write obscenities or rude remarks on the cards.

The couple’s goal is to grab the driver’s attention, not to enrage them.

The main notion is that if you do not infuriate your ‘victim’, then they might consider parking more carefully next time. Ági added that they do not think that they will solve the problem, but it might help change drivers’ mindsets. The more people hear about Parking Gorilla, the more parking culture will be changed for the better.

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They have revealed to Forbes that a woman from the ‘enemy trenches’ has contacted them, wondering if Ági and Péter make ‘sorry’ cards too, as she is quite clumsy when it comes to parking.

They offer four different packages (in four colours), 16 different comments. Each package contains 12 cards, costing 1200 forints (EUR 3.75).

photos and featured image: https://parkologorilla.hu; https://www.facebook.com/parkologorilla

Source: forbes.hu