Comments on: Parking lot attendants, Mexican style http://shoestring-gringa.com/2009/01/10/parking-lot-attendants-mexican-style/ Art and Life on the Edge in the Real Mexico Fri, 15 May 2009 23:35:16 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: 1st Mate http://shoestring-gringa.com/2009/01/10/parking-lot-attendants-mexican-style/comment-page-1/#comment-228 1st Mate Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:52:07 +0000 http://shoestring-gringa.com/?p=135#comment-228 In the big supermarket parking lots these gents are often elderly and in "uniform" -- I remember one who even wore gold braid and epaulets on his white shirt. The Capt tips them ten pesos if they help load the trunk with groceries and block traffic so we can safely back out. They are so dignified, always friendly and good to practice my Spanish with. I don't know how much good they are at preventing theft, though: there has been at least one car stolen from the Ley parking lot in the last year. I've also had some incidents when I needed to back out of a narrow street or squeeze between two parked cars, and there always seemed to be a man nearby to help, indicating when I needed to edge a little more to the right or left and hold off other cars until I got through, just as a courtesy, not because they wanted a tip. In the big supermarket parking lots these gents are often elderly and in “uniform” — I remember one who even wore gold braid and epaulets on his white shirt. The Capt tips them ten pesos if they help load the trunk with groceries and block traffic so we can safely back out. They are so dignified, always friendly and good to practice my Spanish with. I don’t know how much good they are at preventing theft, though: there has been at least one car stolen from the Ley parking lot in the last year.

I’ve also had some incidents when I needed to back out of a narrow street or squeeze between two parked cars, and there always seemed to be a man nearby to help, indicating when I needed to edge a little more to the right or left and hold off other cars until I got through, just as a courtesy, not because they wanted a tip.

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