Car talk

Here in Sweat Sock City, it's become a rage to have valet parking at restaurants, upscale ones and the not so upscale ones. It actually makes me a little crazy because I can park my own car -- an act I engage in at least four times a day. And then I show up at this restaurant and I have to give my keys to some guy I've known for about 2 seconds and trust them to park my car for me. It especially aggravates me when the restaurant in question has a huge parking lot -- such as the newest, hip spot just down the street from me. Huge parking lot and it's all valet. And not free valet either.

I don't get it. Is this some service that people really need? I understand in cases where the weather is bad or parking is hard to find, but in places with their own lots? I don't get it. It especially irritates me because most of these places, you'll spend at least $15/person for dinner, probably closer to $30, and then you have to also pay the guy to do something you can do yourself. Depending on the place, you're lucky if you can get by with $5 to the valet. It's just like a local big movie theatre complex here -- they charge you $3 to park there.

I no longer frequent places with valet parking or if they do have valet parking, I check around to see if I can park on the street. In a couple of cases, the weather was so bad and the only option was valet, I drove out and went to another restaurant entirely. Needless to say, I also don't go to the movie theatre where you have to pay to park (another movie theatre in downtown where you do have to pay to park, validates your parking ticket for you, so it's all good).

I bet valet parking adds some kind of 'status' to a restaurant and probably attracts a up-scale crowd. I'd really like to see some studies on it, because I'm pretty sure I'm not the only who is aggravated by this particular growing trend. I'm also curious to know how many people choose not to go somewhere because you have to pay for parking.