Parking Question (lease, attorney, employment)

[Nameless]

Ok, some information here. My place of employment is at the west end of a strip shopping center. There is a little drive in the east side of our parking lot dividing our lot from another lot which serves about 4 different stores. I park my car in that other lot because it's more convenient to get into our store than our parking is.

Today I entered that parking lot at the same time as one of the other store managers, he turned one way and I went the same way. I came to a stop long before nearing him but he still honked at me. I continued on to my parking space and then he pulls up beside me, rolls down his window and tell me he has told me before not to park in "his" lot (he left me a note on my windshield back in June, maybe...and didn't even state it was from his store. I disregarded this because I'm convinced this is public parking. The spot or spots I normally park in are on the other side of a drive which goes between the parking spaces directly in front of his store and the lot in which I park.

That owner can't possibly control parking in that lot since it's on the other side of the drive, can he? I don't want to park there and have my car towed if he has legal rights too. I even cited that my boss was parked right next to me and he said he didn't care. It's almost like he picked me out because I inconvenienced him while he was driving. If he can park there and he isn't going into that establishment then how am I not allowed too? If he's allowed to, that tells me it must be public parking.

[Goodpasture]

This drive you mention, is it curbed? does it isolate one side from another? Or is all the parking pretty much contiguous and available to everyone? If his lot is clearly isolated for his store only then yes, he can have you not park there. If the parking is common for all the stores then he cannot. In general, the row of parking right in front of a store is normally reserved for that store. All the rest of the parking is considered common use where all customers and employees can use it.

Most retail establishments have designated areas for employees. You might ask your boss where you are allowed and not allowed to park. If you are parking adjacent to him, then I don't see the problem and you can tell him to kiss your a**.

[Nameless]

No, there is no curb. All the parking in that lot is contiguous and available to everyone. The only parking I believe he can control is the 3 or 4 spots immediately in front of his store. Which is on the north side of the drive, I park on the south side.

[Nameless]

This is the area in question. My work is the large building in the left corner, the store that is annoying me is the square building right next door. You can clearly see a drive dividing the spaces in front of their store and the gigantic parking area on the south side.

[Goodpasture]

The ONLY employee parking restriction would be by store management agreement. Frequently employers will agree that all employees must park near the outer areas, near the street to leave the close parking for customer convenience. If that were the case, your manager should have informed you at the hiring interview, when you signed the employees handbook saying you wouldn't hit on the help. The parking in that lot (not having your address I cannot look up the plat map for it to verify it is under unified ownership) appears to be common with no restrictions other than what I described.

For the sake of being "neighborly" I would consider parking elsewhere, but if someone got in my face about it I would probably tell him to **** and go back to kindergarten.....I don't tolerate bullies.......but to cover your butt, discuss it with your manager.


ADDED: I should probably explain something. I am not an attorney, I am an appraiser. I do not know the property in question and I have not had access to any lease or management agreements that may exist. Any suggestions I might make are my opinions and may not hold up in court. That being said, if an a$$'ole started yelling at me like that I might very well end up in either jail or the hospital..............