There's an epidemic of people sitting in their cars

It’s from the pandemic dumbass

Gee, Gladys K., I don't know.

Have you thought of tapping on a window to ask, "What the FUCK!?"

Covid, darling. Dr offices too since you can’t accompany anyone.

It's the phones. At least they're not texting out on the road.

What r4 said

[quote]It’s from the pandemic dumbass

What's that got to do with it? This epidemic started a few years ago, btw.

Yep, R4 nailed it. Sitting in the car would be unbearable without constant stimulation.

Welcome to last year, OP. There's a worldwide pandemic going on, so there are a lot of people are sitting in their cars to get out of the house, but avoid going outside. If it bothers you, do your part and please stay home!

I have 3 college-age households nearest to me, and I can see the street out front from the room where I work nowadays. These youngsters invariably get into a car and then just sit inside at the steering wheel for about 10 minutes before driving off. When one of them returns home from someplace, they turn off the car, and then remain inside the car for 10 or 15 minutes before getting out again. Obviously, they're using their phones, but why not just go inside and do it, or do it *before* you head out in the car? It's very mysterious to me. And seems highly stupid.

Because they are addicted, r9. It's like asking a crackhead to wait to smoke until they're in the house.

They need a hit and they cannot wait.

It used to be that store security would not allow people to just sit in their cars in the parking lot. They would tap on your window and tell you, "Move it along, buster."

Worse; frauettes and douchebros sitting in cars having LOUD SPEAKERPHONE GAB SESSIONS with their friends at length, outside your home/office window, where they yak about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Since the pandemic started, I have eaten in the parking lot of a few stores. Pick up food and instead of eating in THEIR parking lot - I’ll drive over to Target and eat in the car before I shop.

Also, I made my mom stay in the car a few times last spring/summer while I shopped. I didn’t feel she was safe around all of the deplorables around here. When masks started being enforced she started shopping again.

^One of my neighbor chicks did this yesterday, not even in her car, but just parading up and down in the road, in front of my open windows, carrying on her inane, college co-ed bullshit, for about 30 minutes, all loud enough for me to hear every word she said. I felt like Divine in that scene, just moments before she beats whining little Taffy, and then they take the little bitch upstairs and tie her to the bed.

It's Lyft and grub hub drivers waiting on a fare. They can't just drive around and waste gas. The idiots on next door and neighborhood fb groups are always freaking out thinking they're burglars or child molesters and they're just uber drivers. People are morons.

Just stay home and pull the covers over your head.

In the city where people frequently have roommates, people use their cars as a private office. I’ve also seen snacking; I’ll bet they keep their treats in the car so they don’t have to share.

There's the COVID/pandemic/lockdown sitting-in-car phenom, for sure. But it may be feeding into and intensifying the long-term, systemic sitting-in-car phenom that was afoot pre-COVID, that's R4's phone/texting-related phenom.

Pandemic/lockdown behavior: It's pathetic, but for many of us driving to a cafe or grocery store, or ordering a meal and picking it up, was the only outing we've gotten during this ordeal. We are the locked-down cohort who aren't so concerned we literally never leave home and have everything delivered, but we're concerned enough that masked/distanced food shopping or pickup is the extent of what we're going to do in the outside world.

We then sit in the car and drink our caffeine or picnic on the meal we fetched. Oftenwhile availing ourselves of free wifi provided by a nearby establishment. I just spoke to a barista the other day who said they do the exact same thing. that this was their get-out-of-the-house lockdown outing.

Systemic sitting-in-car behavior: The worst I saw of this pre-pandemic was the idiots who are making the urban parking nightmare even worse. They get into their car in a desperately-needed scarce space. They start the car up so the lights go on, and the desperate parking-space hunter stops and idles waiting for the space to vacate. And then the idiot does not leave. They sit there for ten or fifteen minutes TEXTING and fucking around on their SMARTPHONE, with their car running. This was rampant in my giant megalopolis pre-COVID, and it's not going away.

R9 at least they shut the car down and don't idle for half an hour as I've witnessed a number of times.

WHY aren't they MASTURBATING???!!

100% TRUE !!!!!!! IT'S SO FUCKING BIZZARE !!!!!!!

They could be waiting for someone who went into the store.

NO asshole, r1. This behavior has been going on for at least 10 years where I live. Pop you fucktard bubble!

I literally have to pull my cars out and park on the street to block these losers from parking in front of my house. They are just sitting there idling for and hour, two or three. They are doing nothing. Yes, I've looked. They are just sitting. No, they are not ride sharing.

[Bold] The pandemic has NOTHING to do with this weird behavior. It's been going on for a decade.

But it IS a fad, and it seems to be becoming more prevalent. I'm in a town that is not big enough to have parking problems except right in the downtown area; it's just something stupid that young people are doing, pointlessly. Pure herd behavior.

I bet the heating / air conditioning in the vehicles has a lot to do with this...

They're on their phones. You can blow hours on the phone.

I know of some people who sit in cars while they are waiting for someone else to come out of a store, office, or bank.

[quote] It's been going on for a decade.

This coincides with the rise of the smartphone, interestingly

Is it any of your business, really?

Is this something that actually needs to be discussed? Mind your own fucking business.

Some of you in this thread are great examples of real life bots. Just walking around on automatic mode.

r32 = pressed. Poor dear.

Covid.

[quote]Don't they have something else to do?

If they had something else to do, would they be sitting in their cars?

My neighbor, who I don't talk to, sits in his car across the street from him house for at least 4 hours a day. This was even before the pandemic. Maybe he hates his family, I dunno, but it's fuckin weird.

They are listening to something fascinating on NPR and waiting until it's finished.

Shoot 'em!

^There is nothing fascinating on NPR, don't try to kid us.

Mukbangs.

Get closer and and lower your eyes. You'll notice they have a hand on their no-no area.

I couldn’t agree more, OP!

There have been many threads here about random fools sitting in theirs for hours doing nothing. All were pre-covid.

[quote] It's very mysterious to me. And seems highly stupid.

Isn't that basically the entire Millennial generation? Incomprehensible stupidity that never stops talking.

If it bothers you so much, you should walk up and lick their windows. You could keep track of repeat offenders by counting the number of licks.

“Officer, you will be able to identify people who are loitering with intent by my mark!”

There were weekdays when I would pull into my garage and turn off my car and just couldn't move. My mind would race, I would feel a fatigue that prevented me from trying to exit the vehicle and I would need to decompress before I left the vehicle. Anywhere from 2 to 15 mins.

I thought it was a form of depression or an anxiety disorder. Maybe not.

r47, you're in your garage. These people a randoms from somewhere else just hanging out.

Humans doing human things. In public. What's their deal!?!

People dread coming home to their families. Sometimes my father has to run errands and before coming back he just sits in his car for an extra half hour or two, so he doesn't have to come home to crying babies (his grandchildren that he's forced to babysit while his daughter goes to work).

How much of this perceived problem is one of guarded and paranoid equity?

“How dare somebody sit in public! They’re using up a space I might want! They probably don’t even live here! I should move the Lladro away from the picture windows. I pray my Royal Doulton doesn’t visibly sparkle at street level.. What about my bells??????”

Many years ago, I would sometimes go out for lunch by myself, just to get out of the office mainly. I'd pull in the most remote parking spot in the lot to eat it, and without fail, some stranger would *always* pull up right next to me to eat their lunch too. Never mind that there's like 100+ other empty parking spots available.

I was in an AirBNB in Westwood California. I woke at4 am to pee and then opened a side door to take a puff of pot to go back to sleep. In the dark, aguy was sitting in his car. He opened his car door and was walking toward me normal speed. I just quickly closed the door and locked it. I looked out the kitchen window and he was again sitting in the car. Wtf! Also in Westwood, I noticed a woman who was in her car ALL DAY LONG!!! I was beyond creeped out and damn curious what the fuck was going on. The people looked normal. Not threatening. But Jesus, CREEPY! It felt like a fucking David Lynch movie.

I love the "how dare you ask" and "mind your business" trolls are out in force in this thread! LOL!

I can’t imagine paying this much attention to total strangers.

Do you mean the posters on this thread, r55, or the people sitting in their cars?

The "how dare you ask" and "mind your business" trolls all sound like Trump supporters ass lickers.

Another possibility is that they may be waiting to meet up with a potential trick they were talking to online, to see them in person and see if they hit it off. I've hooked up with guys where we initially did this in lieu if going out to a bar or restaurant. If we were both interested, we would then head back to his place or my place.

R51: If the Doulton doesn't have Hand Painted Periwinkles, then ain't nobody gonna take that shit!

[quote] You could keep track of repeat offenders by counting the number of licks.

You could also contract a nasty case of histoplasmosis, but you do you.

The former, R56.

Some of do it because we want a break 🚬

Many people live in their cars.

Everyone has covered.

1) uber/lyft/grubhub etc drivers. Huge section of workers who wait in their car til needed.

2) People who have roommates, or live with their parents, or are getting sick of their wife etc. Your car represents some alone time.

3) Covid related reasons.

Clearly, it’s a lifestyle OP doesn’t understand.

I started a thread on the jerk who sits in his car all night with his lights on. Drives me nights.

Nuts not nights

[quote]The idiots on next door and neighborhood fb groups are always freaking out thinking they're burglars or child molesters and they're just uber drivers.

Or drug dealers/buyers. Because, in truth, many of these people are.

Are we supposed to be standing in our cars?

Some might be waiting for pick up orders, or for someone who's in the store. Why does anyone care anyway?

You sound like a deranged Trump supporter, r70!

Considering the homelessness, people are living in their cars.

No, r68. I was told by a concerned mom that drug dealers play heavy bass to advertise their drugs.

No, there's an epidemic of creepsters staring at people in their cars and not minding their own business.

R66, I thought someone had bumped your thread when I saw this thread title.

R15, I belong to a local 911 group on Fakebook. You do not know how many of those calls go on. It is nuts. I had no idea until I started reading the posts from the calls.

“911, there’s a man sitting in his car. He’s not white and the car is domestic. He does not belong in MY neighborhood. Somebody do something!”

I've noticed this for a couple years. I think they are criminals watching people's behavior, and trying to spot people not locking their doors as they get out, not locking their doors as soon as they get in (carjacking fodder).

R77, that is a repeat - from a sheriff!

There’s less harassment when you park in a grocery store parking lot than when you park at public places like a park or a playground.

What about undercover FBI, CIA, police officers? They could be doing surveillance. What about private detectives? They could be following somebody seeing if they are cheating on their partner. Could be a burglar casing houses. Trying to figure out when people leave and when people come back on a daily basis.

R20 it's auto erotica!

Sing along!

After a year cooped up in a shared living situation, I seek any excuse to get out of the house. I have always needed some degree of alone time, and having none almost drove me insane. Living with people who literally never leave the house (gaming addicts) and not many places to go means you have to be creative. After vaccination I volunteered to go back to the office to get out of the house. It’s more work and no one is there, but at least I have some “alone time”, since no one is really there.

It used to be being home all the time made you a bad roommate/housemate, but now it’s considered normal, especially after Covid. I plan on staying at a bnb on a regular basis on weekends until I move in the very near future.

R73 that’s actually true. My best friend lives in Inwood and reports that’s exactly what they do.

Lol R75 at least it’s not just being a “get off my lawn!”grouch.

Well, if OP is noticing them all around, r81, they're not doing a very good job, are they?

Some of it is about the increased population density and concomitant loss of privacy or alone-space. In high-density Asian cities you constantly see parked cars with people hanging out and sleeping in them.

This was just as common before Covid. I don’t understand it either. Most of the cars aren’t even fancy or a nice place to relax.

I don't give one single fuck about people sitting in their cars except for the ones who won't give up a parking space in at the store (or some other public parking lot). It's a parking lot, not a check-and-see-which-douchebag-texted-me-while-I-was-shopping lot. One night, one of the legal shows is going to have an episode in which one of those assholes gets shot for not giving up his parking space to someone who actually wants to park his car.

No one will vote to convict the shooter.

I laughed harder at r87 than I should have

What's the deal? I admit that sometimes at work, when I go on break, I'll just go sit in my car, charge my phone and listen to music for 15-20 minutes, not a crime is it?

BECAUSE MY CAR SEATS BLOW COLD AIR UP MY ASS!

Curbside grocery pickup? They text you when your order is ready and you drive to the curb and they load groceries in your trunk.

I'm going to Target tomorrow with a tape recorder and play like I'm a reporter working on a story about a rise in people sitting in their cars. I'll report back on what I find.

R95 in this day and age I would not go up to people sitting in their car randomly. You never know what kind of psycho you will be dealing with! The next thing you know you will be the victim profiled on the show Dateline!

I was in a very long line at the Burger King drive-thru and EVERYONE in front of me was sitting in their car the whole time!

I agree - people today assume everyone is coming to get them. Once I went out to give a guy his debit card he left it the self checkout. He looked terrified until he saw I was holding up his debit card. People are on high alert with strangers so be careful.

R51 you had me in stitches. DL classica.

R51 literally laughed so hard I peed

I don't mind if white people do it, but if I see black people sitting in cars I get very, very agitated.

We are on high alert all the time because we’re all connected and bombarded with crime stories left and right. The combination of reading the safety section on the Nextdoor app & Citizen app alerts have made me a paranoid mess! Well not really but I am definitely more cautious!

I have disabled all notifications from those apps because it’s not good to know everything crime wise in your surrounding area. At least not for me.

I'm with you OP. And I do know it's totally irrational and not affecting me, but dammit, if I walk by your car in the parking lot I expect it to be empty. Goddamn you, goddamn ALL of you car sitting bastards!

I think they're all pod people from another planet who recharge their energy systems in their cars. Have you noticed how they all have a blank, glassy-eyed stare?

im guilty of this

Is there something wrong with sitting?

Who is the utter moonhowling fruitbat who keeps maintaining that people just started sitting in their cars a decade ago?

I don't doubt that there could be more than previously, but people have always sat in their car. My dad used to always wait in the car when my mom went into stores.

I’ve noticed this too a lot more since Covid, but it doesn’t seem to be people waiting for other people while the other is shopping. I go walking on a trail in a park with a manmade lake, & notice people (usually by themselves but not always) sitting in the car with the windows often rolled up, while they could be walking outside, sitting on a bench, etc. Also lots of people at grocery stores just killing time in their cars, way longer than it would take a normal person to shop.

It's because of smart phones. When I pull into a parking spot I might spend a while answering texts or checking something online before I go inside. Same deal when I'm leaving.

There used to be this very odd girl at work a few years ago. She would bring her lunch to work, and instead of eating at her desk or in the break room, she would go out to her car in the parking lot, start it up, windows rolled up and a/c on, and sit there idling for her full lunch hour. She never left the parking spot, ever. She would eat her food then read a book with the car running. The amount of unnecessary air pollution is horrifying to think about. Not to mention the wear and tear on the car. Low mileage maybe but burned through fuel like there's no tomorrow.

Do you think they're in temp-to-hire positions, going to eat a sandwich in the car, and afterward deciding to to wank it?

You should ask their name, OP, and obviously write down their license plate number!

I read this as 'shitting' and just shrugged...new normal.

They are recording their reviews of fast food for YouTube.

To make any money at Lyft, you have to figure out the best place to wait on your fares. A centrally located "cut through" large neighborhood is usually the best spot. The smartest drivers figure this out and guard their locations jealously. I can't believe people think it's anything more sinister than that

I eat in the car at work to get away from the annoying shitbags. But I don’t get people like my neighbor who sits in the car in his driveway every damn night, texting away.

R15 - there's some truth to that. We have some Uber and Lyft drivers that park out on our street waiting for fares to light up.

I don’t care about people doing it during the day. This morning when it was still dark, someone parked in front of my building for half an hour with his music on so loud, you could feel the bass in your balls.

Fuck that. So inconsiderate.

When we had a thread on this topic a few years ago, a poster suggested that some people who do this are returning from their dealers and either can't wait to use or can't use in their living situation so they park to do it. A couple did this on my block about a dozen or so times at random times of the day and night. A couple of times they reclined their seats and appeared to nap. I couldn't figure out what they were doing until I read that thread. I walked by a few times afterwards and each time they had an pint of Crown Royal in the cup holder.

It's one thing to sit in a public parking lot, but it's creepy and suspicious when someone sits in their car on a residential street. It looks like they're up to no good. I would definitely call the cops if I saw a stranger continually sitting in a car outside my home.

OP, get a life.

R120 = Karen

Looking down from an upper story window, I once witnessed a guy masturbating in a parked car. It was an old guy, so I didn’t watch for very long, since it was disgusting.

Was he Asian or only appeared so based on what he was doing, r123 ?

[Quote]I would definitely call the cops if I saw a stranger continually sitting in a car outside my home.

On what basis? It's not illegal to park a car on a residential street, sequentially or not. Do you think cops would care about an open container when there's been no damage or theft? They have plenty else to deal with elsewhere. Victimless crimes get last response.

I would have been taking up LE resources that deal with far more serious crime elsewhere in my city.

On my street parking is scarce and a permit is required only at night. Often times they(The people that sit in cars) take spaces that residents need. Often times they take up two spaces because they do not park properly. I’m not saying residents should be automatically entitled to these spots but it would be nice if people would be more considerate on already jampacked streets. But such is life in the big city!

A renter in my building has one of those huge pickup trucks that he babies every day. He can’t park parallel to save his fucking life and always takes up a spot and a half - there will be at least 4 feet in front of his beast. Fortunately, he has to move his car about every two hours during the day to avoid tickets.

He doesn’t sit in the car; instead, he rubs and polishes bizarre parts of the vehicle. I still don’t understand the need to polish the wheels AND tires.

I hope he’s a drinker; that would be one of the only reasons to methodically visit your car.

It looks 👀 Like the epidemic is becoming a Pandemic!

lol at R2

I love how OP refers to this as an "epidemic"

[quote]...the wheels and tires

Aren't those the same thing?

I think R127 means rims and tires. Which do need to be cleaned & treated properly.

LOL! r2 can't spell, Kravitz . What a dumb ass!

-----------

We long to be out the house. So we stay in the car longer.

When I was about 20, my friend & I were chatting in my car in a strip mall parking lot for about 30 mins, & the 7-11 worker called the police on us! They ran out licenses & told us to leave the parking lot.

Agree with those who said it’s the phones. I had a colleague who would go and sit in his car over lunch and read his messages/send texts/emails, etc. And the rise of open concept office space (pre-COVID) probably contributes too - people just need some privacy to make calls or just chill away from the outside world.

OP, you insufferable MARY! Unless thy are parking across from your home and staring at you with binoculars, nothing you noted is creepy.

[quote]open concept office space

I loathe few things more r137

I dont like nosey bitches like op

For the life of me I can’t understand what the hysteria is about...why would this trigger anyone? Get a hobby or drink or do drugs or something

You can do both r141. Being insanely irritated about people in parked cars certainly does not preclude drinking. Of that, I can attest.

Do people still park at lovers' lanes?

This morning I passed a car on 12th St (NYC) with a fat bald man texting away in his car, with his chubby sausage fingers moving 'dit dit dit,,,' and I laughed out loud thinking about this thread! I laughed, I tell you!

[quote]When we had a thread on this topic a few years ago, a poster suggested that some people who do this are returning from their dealers and either can't wait to use or can't use in their living situation so they park to do it.

When I was a teenager living in Nassau county Long Island in the '80s, my friends and I used to drive to Far Rockaway to buy crack. On the way home we would stop somewhere in the Five Towns, usually Lawrence, and park on some residential street because we couldn't wait to get home before we packed our crack pipes and took some nice long hits. Luckily nobody ever noticed us or gave us any trouble.

God I miss my youth.

Texting. Or sexting?? You always hear car motors idling forever and when you look out there's someone just arrived or getting ready to leave, but they're sitting there playing with their...phone, with the car light on inside, forever and a day.

My coworker doesn't have a car (his wife drops him off), so he spends 30 minutes in the employee bathroom twice a day doing goodness knows what. I wish he had a car to sit in.

R145 you were doing crack as a teenager? I hope you’re drug-free now!

R18 Those fuckers who get back into their cars and let you think they are leaving the car park. Nope. They sit there scratching their ass or other bits - and as soon as you give up - out they come. Still - it’s not as bad as those who just reverse and don’t look.

I'm sitting in my car right now.

There's an epidemic of people sitting in their cars at green lights, and not moving, as well.

Yes r148, i left crack behind in the 80s, the only drug ive used since then is weed.

[quote] What the hell are they doing?

Wanking.

Between Sirius and NPR as well as all the cable news stations, there are a lot of people who get hooked into a segment while driving and then arrive but want to finish listening to whatever interview/segment is on. Happens to me with Stern all the time. Sometimes i'll go pick up lunch or dinner and when I get home, i'll end up just eating in my driveway to keep listening.

I'm waiting for someone who has gone into the store. I'm people watching. And judging you.

I like sitting in my car. It's clean, the driver's seat is comfortable, and I like the AC. I use my car as a spot to regroup while doing errands, doing work stuff. I'll look at my day planner, make sure I have my wallet with me, maybe return a phone call, etc.

If it seems like parking is an issue, I will not sit in my car like that, though.

I drove a friend to the grocery store in Beverly Hills last week and waited for her in the parking lot. I’ve never really people watched much before. Whoa am I missing out! It was a lot of fun seeing all the freaky people! Especially the plastic surgery victims!

My neighbor would go sit out in her car to take a lot of work calls and do her therapy sessions. She has three kids and a dog and husband all at home, so, yeah, where the hell else do you go to get a quick break?

They’re all gay men taking in-car selfies for their Scruff profiles. I have no idea why this is.

[quote]make sure I have my wallet with me

Wait, you need your car to do this?

R82, I'd love to see that as choreographed by Bob Fossey.

[quote] Bob Fossey.

Ohy ohy ohy! Deary deary deary!

This thread made me laugh out loud, so I'm bumping it. I'm the imbecile who wrote Fossey for Fosse--having a senior moment, I suppose. But now I'm going to start looking out for people sitting in cars. Or maybe I should walk up and Karen them?

I'm old enough to remember, as a child, going to drive-in theaters. You've never seen so many people sitting in their cars for extended periods in your life.

I remembered this thread because yesterday I went to Target, and the cars on both sides of me had people sitting in them, as well as the car parked behind me. That car was still there when I returned to my car. He had his backup light on, so I waited in my car thinking he was going to back out. But he didn't back out. Until I began to back out, at which exact moment he decided he needed to back out too. Nobody was hurt.

And it's summer in the desert. It's too hot to sit in your car.

I hear people talk about doing this a lot like it’s some kind of mental healthy thing for them. They like to do it outside their homes mostly. I wonder what’s so awful about somebody’s life that they don’t just go home. That’s all I want when I feel shitty.

I think many younger people have seen too much realty tv and so they feel like they need to live their lives in front of others even when it’s not wanted.

Most of the people are gig drivers, with Uber, Lyft, Door Dash and Post-mates.

Some are living in their cars, too.

Many people can't afford to live on their own, so they have to put up with roommates, siblings, etc.

Apart from the loo, their car is probably the tiny bit of me-time they can get.

I sit in my car to get away from my family. What’s it to you?

I only wish there were an epidemic of piercing blue-eyed wascally wabbit sorts as seen in OP's post.

Parking lots are much improved by the likes of that sort.

Listen you idiot. They are getting curbside!

A friend and I once parked in front of a picnic table and ate in the car…

I just experienced this recently on a month long business trip to Florida. Every parking lot had people parked far away from the the door, like me. Some were definitely cruising, flashing their lights. Probably others were listing to podcasts or getting high. Also, there is NOTHING to do in these shitty towns except go to Walmart or Home Depot. It's beautiful outside but You can only go out at dawn and dusk because it's too hot but the mosquitos are insane. I used enough bug spray to make brain tumors and I still got 100 bites. I still have a dozen bloody welts from the no see-ums.

OP’s picture makes me laugh every time I see it.

[quote] I used enough bug spray to make brain tumors

Pics please.

With their radios blasting rap music, I hope they all go deaf.

I have noticed this when I'm trying to get a parking space close to the supermarket. Someone will get into their car, and I think they're going to pull out. But they don't, they just sit there and sit there.

Another thing I notice is that people who work in stores now take their breaks in their car. People used to go to the break room, or to a table outside the store, and socialize with each other. Now one or sometimes two people will buy some food and a drink and just sit in their cars.

I wopuld guess some people sit in their cars to smoke, since they can't smoke anywhere, any more. But you don't usually see smoke coming out the window.

*People leaving my job will also sit in their cars after work is over - almost always on their phones. IN former times, they all couldn't wait to pull out of that parking lot.

are they waiting for someone who went into the store? Are thy looking at a phone or laptop and are they jerking off? Are they eating?

[quote] People used to go to the break room, or to a table outside the store, and socialize with each other.

Break rooms can deathly depressing when one hates one's fellow-employees and the job.

I can't believe I haven't found this thread until today. We actually had an almost identical thread a year or two pre-pandemic. A lot of the same explanations -- people using cars as offices, stopping to text, hanging out in the shade by a park to lunch/nap on a break, and roommates getting private time. They all make sense, and pandemic distancing is certainly the reason for the uptick.

But one explanation intrigued me and fit the unexplained phenomenon of a disheveled-looking, middle-aged couple who used to park between my property and the neighbors. We're in a nice middle to upper-middle class area near a university that has quite a few rental properties and lots of traffic. The couple had a shabbier car that didn't fit the student or resident profile in the areas. They started parking to nap when a public park where lots of folks did the same wass only three blocks away.

Anyway, a poster on that thread suggested that they were addicts on the way back from a deal who either a) couldn't use at home, or; b) were jonesing so bad they couldn't wait to get home and stopped to use and nodded off.

We started walking up to the car and asked if they were OK or needed medical assistance. They never came back.

^ Jonesing = having a fixation on; be addicted to.

Well, if I lived with 15 people I'd get in my car and go to a busy place and just get some alone time. If I parked in a more sparsely-populated area it might draw unwanted attention.

[quote] Well, if I lived with 15 people

That is the case for the Asiatic people living in my city. They spend their time in public places and public libraries. They eat and sleep in public libraries.

OldCrankLounge

Oh, R186, you need to direct us young smarties to the YoungCrankLounge.

R186 = aimless car-sitter

To give you something to priss about, OP. This is one of your more lame threads

[quote] I’ve also seen snacking; I’ll bet they keep their treats in the car so they don’t have to share.

I definitely keep snacks in the car.

[quote]There used to be this very odd girl at work a few years ago. She would bring her lunch to work, and instead of eating at her desk or in the break room, she would go out to her car in the parking lot, start it up, windows rolled up and a/c on, and sit there idling for her full lunch hour.

What's odd is that you had no idea how annoying coworkers are and how introverts need time away from incessant chatter.

Another car sitting reason I haven't seen mentioned yet: the increase in home services for the elderly, autistic, and disabled. I've had chronically late clients not be home when I arrived to work with their autistic children, so I'd end up sitting in my car up to 30 minutes (we can't declare a no-show any sooner). I've also sat in my car between cases sometimes, because it's pointless to drive 20 min. to the library, sit inside for only 10 min, then drive to the next case. I work on my case notes, which are entered online, so I'm one of those people you see on their phones curbside.

A coworker has to leave very early to beat freeway traffic and arrives at work 40 minutes early. She parks and sleeps to avoid interaction with admins, who feel her unpaid time is theirs if she sits in the staff room.

I had a coworker who spent her lunch break in her car. Not sure whether she ran the AC or not. She told me she did sleep, sometimes.

I have Lunchroom Phobia stemming from way back. The thought of entering one and sitting alone while everyone else is socializing with friends is not conducive to digestion for me.

I used to do a lot of temp jobs and unless it was boiling hot summer, I'd sit in the backseat of my car and eat, listening to talk radio.

I'd do anything I could to get away from my co-workers to eat my lunch.

I feel relieved I'm not the only one who has noticed this, because honestly a lot of these people look creepy.

Uh, 99% of the time, it's just people on their phones. That's it. Nothing to worry about.

As said above, better they be parked in a lot than on the road while on the phone.

Which necromancer resurrected this thread and why?

They are waiting for someone to rob or to beat up.

Ok Gladys, maybe it does have something to do with the "witch" who lives across the street.

Now come and take you medicine...

[quote]I can't believe I haven't found this thread until today. We actually had an almost identical thread a year or two pre-pandemic.

Are you sure it's not this thread? It was started over a year ago.

They are zombies!!!!

^ But some of the drive now, because you know, it's America...

[quote] That is the case for the Asiatic people living in my city. They spend their time in public places and public libraries. They eat and sleep in public libraries.

[quote] I have Lunchroom Phobia stemming from way back. The thought of entering one and sitting alone while everyone else is socializing with friends is not conducive to digestion for me.

[quote] I used to do a lot of temp jobs and unless it was boiling hot summer, I'd sit in the backseat of my car and eat, listening to talk radio.

I temped (office) for about 6 months. People can be such snobs to the temp worker. I was catching the bus at the time, but if I had had a car, I probably would have sat in my car for lunch.

[quote] People can be such snobs to the temp worker

The manager introduces the newbie to the other staff but the other staff want to know how long the newbie will be staying before they bother to hear and learn the newbie's name.

When EVs take over that is all you'll see

Parking lots, I understand. How about people sitting in their cars in the driveway, every day?

I’m not going to stop the music when it’s grooving. I always finish dancing to or conducting good music before getting out.

I didn't go through this whole thread but I've noticed this a lot in my local grocery store parking lot. They tend to park at the edge of the lot. I think a lot of it is for Facebook Marketplace or Craig's List transactions (public place and what-not).

Or simply scroll try tik toks

People love to look down on temp workers yes

I have a neighbor who sits in her car and smokes and listens to the radio. I often picture a giant eagle snatching her up in its claws.