I’ve lived in New Jersey and the Philly area for pretty much my whole life. As much I love being from here, one thing I will not deny is the stereotype of us having notoriously bad drivers. It's warranted. You cannot deny this either. 

Most of us have never heard of a signal light, driving at least 30 mph over the speed limit is the norm. Not to mention, there is an absurd amount of exit lane invaders. You know - those entitled jerks who speed to the front of a clogged exit lane to wedge themselves in as if they have priority over everyone else. I could obviously go on and on.

But there is just something *special* about Wawa parking lots.

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I've heard a bunch of Wawa "WTH" stories. I have more than a few myself... But one thing I hate is when people drive too fast in the parking lots.

Just last week on my way to work, I stopped by my usual Wawa. This particular Wawa is one of the many larger ones. You know, the super Wawas with the gas stations, all nice and shiny and renovated. So this one sees a lot of foot traffic pretty much anytime I come here - especially in the morning.

This particular morning I pulled into a parking space front-end first, next to a large pick-up truck. A muscular, bulky Dodge Ford Ram something-or-rather. (I don't know the names of trucks.) The sort of truck that tailgates you in the left lane when you’re already going 80 mph - another universal driving offense not unique to just New Jersey. But I digress. This wasn’t the truck’s fault.

After I had gotten my large cold brew latte and bacon croissant sizzli, (carried in my red Wawa reusable bag that I actually remembered to bring!) it was time for me to back out of my parking space.

Let me just assure you here - I am a VERY cautious driver. Especially when backing out of spaces.

I checked my monitor from my rear view camera, then turned in my seat to look all the way behind me. Looked left, and right, left again, right again. The truck was to my right, so I was doing my best to see around the back end of it for oncoming cars. I kept my eyes there as I eased my foot off the brake to sloooowly back out of the space.

And then WHOOSH! A flash of red zooms past me, seemingly out of nowhere! At this point, the back end of my car was already partially pulled out of the space. If I had been backed out a little more, he would have slammed into my rear end.

Without an ounce of exaggeration, I can say this car must’ve been going like 45 mph in a short burst. IN A PARKING LOT.

I slammed on my brake in astonishment, and a string of four-letter curses flew from my mouth. I sounded like Joe Pesci.

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I looked around, and no one else seemed to give it a second thought! For a second I felt like I was going crazy. That guy was FLYING. But then I saw one man standing by the front doors who had just seen how fast that red car went. I could just make out the slight shake of his head in mild disapproval. So it's not just me!

At least in the bigger “super” Wawas, parking lots aren’t as problematic as they are in the original, smaller ones, but still! 

What’s your Wawa parking lot pet peeve? Crooked parking? Weird traffic patterns? Small parking lots? Let off some steam in the comments!


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