A Day in the Life of: A Parking Enforcer

It's been a long day. The last thing you want to do is walk from X-lot to North Court, in the pouring rain, with a broken leg, carrying those boxes for a friend - so you decide to drive.

"The car won't be parked there for more than 10 minutes," you tell yourself. "I'll put my hazards on. I'll park at an angle like I swerved in for an emergency. I'll run in and out; there is no way I'll get a ticket."

"Hazard lights are an invitation," Bill, the ticket guy, said. "That's like a red flag saying 'I'm not supposed to be parked here.'

"On average, I give about 60 tickets a day. Generally it's to the same handful of people."

But wait - if you're part of the handful, before you start hatin' on Bill, consider his side. After all, he's just doing his job. Bill was nice enough to meet me wherever was easiest. I could hear the rumbling engine of his beige and evergreen chariot coming around the corner seconds before it appeared beneath the Commons.

He slowed down when he saw me and pulled up alongside my toes. Bill is a modest, middle-aged man with silver hair, wireframed glasses and a slight New York accent. He kept his hands warm inside the slate-blue pockets of his windbreaker during our interview.

Bill gets to work each day at 7 a.m. and goes to Parking Services. Every few days he will have to gas up the EZ-GO before taking her out on their daily route.

"I usually start around the apartments and then begin working around the main campus," he said. "The main campus you can't start ticketing until 7:30."

With the new system, it only takes about 10 seconds for Bill to issue a violation. The standard fee, $30, is knocked up to $40 if the student has received more than five violations that semester.

"I had one student three or four years ago that I must have given over 110 tickets to," Bill said. "I can't remember the car, but it was a New York plate."

Generally, on rainy days like this one, Bill expects to give more tickets than usual because people don't want to get soaked. Law students are especially frequent violators.

"Most of the time students are pretty nice," he said, "but three or four weeks ago I was cursed out by this law student, who it wasn't even his car I was ticketing. Usually I let it go, but that time I had to file a report."

The 15-minute parking spots outside the post office are difficult to patrol, but Bill said he kept pretty good tabs by chalking them and occasionally even going into the post office and asking who was parked out front.

Bill said he tried to vary the time he took his half-an-hour lunch break each day so that students didn't figure out when he was off-duty. He said he usually ate at D-Hall, especially if he knew they were serving his favorite, crab cakes.

He admitted that it could get boring driving around campus all day, but said that was probably why he was so good at his job.

"I have to keep on going," he said. "If I don't keep on going, I get bored."

Besides boring, it can also get pretty hot. Or cold, for that matter, since the 7-year-old EZ-GO is not equipped with air conditioning or heat.

"It's on its last legs, this car," he said. "The engine is pretty gone."

Even though it has a horn, Bill said he had only needed to use it a few times.

"Sometimes students pull out and they don't see me," he said. "I've been hit a few times so there are a couple dents here and there."

When Bill took a post at the University of Richmond six years ago, he was originally hired as a landscaper. Before that, he worked downtown for three years.

Bill is originally from the Bronx and lived most of his life there and on Long Island. Now, at his home in the West End, Bill likes to garden and play soccer with his 8-year-old son.

"How many times have I gotten you?" he asked as I left.

"Twice," I said.

"That's not too bad," he responded.

I smiled but wasn't sure what he meant. Not too bad for me, or for him?

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Contact staff writer Emily Viviani at emily.viviani@richmond.edu