I’ve argued for a long time that at least once during their lifetime everyone should work a minimum wage job for at least six months. This would give them a first-hand glimpse of not only how difficult it is to survive on minimum wage, but also how people treat those who, in their view, provide us with essential services that are looked upon as menial and thus the providers of such services are regarded on as inferior. The Parking Lot Movie focuses on the Corner Parking Lot in Charlottesville, Virginia, which is a small college town. Over the years, the owner of the lot has been able to put together a remarkable band of attendants which include undergraduate students of anthropology, philosophy, music, and others who, while looking for a part-time job, seek an unusual insight into life and humanity through their seemingly unreasonable employment. Meghan Eckman, the director, captures her subjects as they perch in their hutch and watch the world out there. Cars go by, and so do some of the nastiest and the most crude and disrespectful customers I’ve ever seen.
They make some very good observations regarding car culture, such as how people feel that they are entitled to free parking simply because they own a car which, in comparison to this parking lot, is inexpensive, as well as how they behave contemptuously from the shelter of their automobile. The phenomenon of an expensive car owner parking for free seems to be quite common. Somehow, the attendants manage to keep a smile on their faces and laugh off these episodes of bad behavior.
Seeing that it’s a college town, the parking lot is congested with students whose access to higher education is made possible largely through their parents’ money, and this money, along with the cars, makes them entitled in ways that may not go away even when faced with a humiliating arrest for trespassing parking lot property. There is much entertainment and spectacle in the movie, being able to turn what many consider a menial chore into a philosophical exercise and social experiment. Eckman combines different portions of the insipid life on the lot with tales and homespun philosophy from former and current employees. Most of the employees give up on the job fed up with poor treatment and most have moved on to post-graduate work or are some kind of musicians, so perhaps that kind of mentality is drawn to the bizarre world of parking lot attending. And a bizarre world it is, especially at the Corner Parking Lot, which unlike many of these other lots does not come with a lavish glass box complete with heating and air conditioning and a television.
These children have a tiny wooden hut that can only accommodate one person. It has books, guitars, and a caring boss who understands that the customer is not always right the customer is mostly wrong. And while there is not a blatant sense of contempt, the boys do not have to endure being mistreated. The boys make what seems to be an unexciting job somewhat interesting by finding ways to their flip cone and non-paying car chasing games.
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