The 8 Unwritten Rules For All Illinois Parking Lots This Holiday Season

The title of this article could easily be renamed, "The 8 Unwritten Rules For All Illinois Parking Lots All Year Round" because most of the things happen all the time.

Let me preface by explaining that I will not be singling out any specific parking lot however (and coincidentally) some of the photos below are from the same stores' parking lots.

Also, the vehicles or people in the photos aren't necessarily breaking any of these unwritten rules, they were just lucky enough to be captured in Google Street View.

(License plates have been blurred to protect the innocent.)

These unwritten rules are in no particular order and if by the end of this you can think of rules to be added please share through a message on our mobile app.

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The Shopping Cart (not the dance move).

What a great invention, so is the cart return. (a.k.a. the cart corral) There are usually one or two near your vehicle and are easy to use. It's simple, once your cart is emptied you push it to the corral and, voila.

Litterbug.

I will not argue against face masks being annoying but I will also not argue against face masks working. Think of it like this, it's easier to whisper your true feelings when your mouth is covered.

We can argue until we're blue in the face about whether or not face masks slow the spread of COVID-19 but if you throw your mask to the ground the moment you exit a business... well, that's all I need to know about you.

It's electric.

These are meant for shoppers who have legitimate issues with talking, not for the shopper who dread walking the length of a football field. How does this relate to parking, you ask?

Your free pass is allotted if you find one in the parking lot and wanted to do your part in society by returning to the inside of the store.

Wrong way.

Some parking lots have one-way lanes and it's obnoxious when you're following the arrow on the pavement with parking spaces angled to allow easy parking. It's obnoxious when someone goes the wrong way and throws their hands up like they're not doing anything wrong. Don't be that person.

Play with fire.

Did you know the fire lane is a great place to park when you're waiting for someone to run into the store for "one thing"? False. It's not a great place for you to wait, it's also technically illegal. Stop it.

Blocked

It may be exciting to see someone walking who appears to be walking to their vehicle but until their in said vehicle and rolling backward do not block traffic and wait. Unless you are 99.99999% sure they are leaving don't be that person. You'll find another spot, I promise.

Back that thang up.

Piggybacking off of that previously unwritten rule, it is considered polite to not put your vehicle into reverse until you are actually prepared to back out of the parking space. Please, do not tease with reverse lights if it's a busy parking lot.

(Example: Don't stop and wait for the lady and children to get into the van. Proceed with caution and find another spot.)

Going all the way.

Finally, if you're going to pull into a spot do us all a favor and actually use the entire space, that's what it's there for.