<p>As someone who learned to drive - a manual transmission - in a hilly, congested, parking space challenged city here on the west coast I can say with confidence that it all comes down to your own skill. Skill and knowledge of your vehicle. When you get to the point where you can parallel park a manual transmission Ford F250 on a 33% incline between two BMW’s with 5 inches to spare on either end - you are pretty qualified to back into a parking space. 
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<p>I work literally out of a parking lot in the summer. It is very tight parking ( we call it 10lbs of *&^% in a 5 lb bag ) everyone has to back in , and they really pack them in, Since I have been doing it for 16 years , I hav it down and often times have to jump in and help , even though it isn’t my business …the funny thing is how few women can back up their vehicles …or men who complain about it…pretty sure they can’t do it either. If you saw how the place runs, you would understand the reason they do this…makes perfect sense</p>
<p>I used to frequently park at a very convenient, but small lot in our city where they ask the driver to back in to the spot. It wasn’t easy at first, but I got much better after a few times. </p>
<p>What is annoying in parking lots are the people who intentionally take up two spots in a crowded lot. Or people who park where there is no space and block you in so that it’s almost impossible to get out. Or the guy who honked and shouted at me last week that I was taking “his” spot when I was getting ready to parallel park. He was coming from the opposite direction down a busy, major city, double line street and blocked the whole street with his illegal maneuver.</p>
<p>Even though I often will back into a spot I can’t think of a time I actually caused anyone to wait for me while doing so but then I’m one of those who’ll go way out of my way to park in the less populated parts of a lot in an attempt to have no one else park next to me and possibly ding my doors. I don’t mind walking further and I wouldn’t want to cause anyone to wait for me regardless of which way I parked.</p>
<p>Actually, I prefer walking further, as long as it’s not late at night and a poorly lit area. Most of the time, it’s broad daylight and heavily populated, so I like having a bit of a walk and stay away from those “prime spaces” everyone is vying for where you’re most likely to get your car “dinged” by idiots!</p>
<p>I’d like to add parallel parking to this list. Now I’ll admit, I am NOT the worlds greatest parallel parker due to the fact that I don’t have much experience doing it… however I take my time and make sure my car isn’t sticking out any further then it’s supposed to. It was part of our drivers test when I was 16 and I learned how to do it and know how to do it however that being said I never once had to parallel park anywhere up till about three years ago when I was 25… so there’s a 9 year gap in parallel parks there… Just never was at a place where I had to do it. </p>
<p>Now, my boyfriend has street parking at his house and I have to do it every time I go over there. It’s a one way street in the city with street parking on both sides. My car is pretty easy to park because it’s small and you can see to back it very easily. That being said, I take my time and try to get as close to the curb as I can. I always try to get a bigger spot then what I need because I want to give myself extra wiggle room. My boyfriend, on the other hand, can parallel park his car anywhere anytime anyday no questions asked. I am amazed. His car is much much bigger then my car and he puts it in the smallest spaces… But he does it every day and has been doing it for years. I think I drive him crazy because if we are driving in separate cars to his house I always take the bigger spot and leave him the small one. :)</p>
<p>One of his neighbors just bought a truck - a big old 80’s ford f250 or something along those lines. It’s huge. They apparently don’t know how to park it either because it’s always a foot and a half away from the curb, is crooked, and sticks out into the road in a ridiculous fashion. The other day it was so bad that we actually couldn’t get past it. We wound up having to park elsewhere and he called the parking authority he was so mad.</p>
<p>Makes me glad I have a garage with off street parking! Oh wait, that’s why I live here and not in the city!!</p>
<p>“What is annoying in parking lots are the people who intentionally take up two spots in a crowded lot.”</p>
<p>I guess any moron can double-park a huge SUV, but it takes special skills to double-park a motorcycle Yup, there was a person who did it regularly by the place where I used to work. Annoyed the heck out of everyone because parking spots were in short supply!</p>