I did not get the memo,

but I did get the tickets.

(tickets)

Adjuncts never get the memos: It's a Universal Truth.

It seems that some time last fall, the parking police switched from sticker permits (like the one you see in my windshield, above) to a hanger-tag system. I don't know why.

Be that as it may, I never got a memo. I never got an e-mail. No one ever mentioned it casually in conversation. I never saw a poster or found a flier under my windshield wiper. I never even got a warning!

I just came out after 5:00 one day to find the first ticket on my windshield. First I heard about any hang tags. But of course I look wildly about the parking lot and see one on everybody's rear view mirror. Boy do I feel stupid.

Nothing I can do about it now. And the next day, I had clients all day. And the following day I had clients before I had to return to school. When I would, once again, be teaching until five. So I knew I was going to get a second ticket. And I did. It says in the small print that the third time I would be booted or towed.

(sign I park under every day)

So on the third trip, when I knew I could arrange to go get a hang tag, I made myself a little sign that said I was going to Card Services to get the damn thing and please not to ticket me. And it must have worked, because when I got back, there was no ticket.

Now I'm legal.

At least until the next time they change the system.