Overheard

They recently replace all of the single-service parking meters in the parking lot behind the Grand Lake Theater with a centralized tracking machine. In other words, now you pay your money for your particular spot, and the machine gives you a small piece of paper with the expiration time stamped on it. You put that piece of paper on your dashboard so's the DPT person can see it, and all's. Easy, right?

Right?

So I'm walking through the parking lot and I pass the DPT guy standing and staring at the centralized tracking machine. A concerned parker hurries up.

"Am I too late, or can I avoid getting a ticket?"

"Go right ahead. I'm just trying to figure out how this damn thing works."