Monday, July 30, 2007

RFK scam

Ollie and I attended our first DC United futbol game last night. A fun time (United won!) and I bet Ollie will blog about the game. But I have to make a public gripe about RFK Stadium. Prepare thyself for self-righteousness.
As an almost life-long Washingtonian, I've enjoyed many concerts and sporting events at RFK. I've never had a problem with the stadium or its staff until last night.
I arrived late to the game and was annoyed with myself for not taking metro when I found a line of cars waiting to park.
I had been sitting in line for about 15 minutes, when a parking attendant tapped on my window. I rolled down the glass and he said, "The lot is full. There's no more spots. But I can move some cones. If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, you know." He stood there and waited for me to produce some cash.
I couldn't believe it! I had just paid $12 to get into the lot, $45 for my ticket, and now this guy wanted me to slip him money!
Hell no!
I told him to get lost and watched from my rear view mirror as he went down the row of cars to "help" them park. Occasionally cash changed hands and a vehicle would pull out of line and follow the scammer. As the sounds of the game echoed from the stadium I almost regretted my decision.
Eventually I found parking. (The lot was indeed not all full.)
Now, I am probably going to be accused of sounding like an old man, and I'm sure people "tip" parking attendants and other stadium employees, but I want to see what the reaction the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission, which operates RFK, has to my story. So I sent an e-mail to Tony Robinson, the commission's pr man.
I will post his response -- if any -- on the blog.
And yes, I will soon be doing hidden camera investigations for Channel 7's "I" Team.

1 comment:

Minor Thread said...

Rage, rage, against the dying of the parking spot!!!

But seriously, I think the scam is to wait till the parking lot only LOOKS full, then start charging.