The Power of the Lawn Chair

Hey, just in case you haven't heard: it snowed in Pittsburgh.

My boyfriend is originally from California. The amount of snow that fell, while certainly not the most he's ever seen, is still pretty impressive. He had to dig himself out of a 2ft high snow drift that appeared outside of his new house (pictured above) for the very first time this weekend. Pretty amazing.

Anyway, by the time he picked me up for last night's Superbowl Party at his parents' house, his street over on the North Side still hadn't been plowed. While he was driving me home after the game, it's like it just randomly hit him as we came through Pittsburgh: "If someone took my parking spot, I'm gonna hit the roof! I spent so much time digging myself out of that snow, I'll probably ram their car."

My immediate reaction? "Did you put a lawn chair in your spot?"

My California-Native boyfriend gave me a sort of sideways look, like he was putting two and two together, as he asked, "What do you mean did I put a lawn chair there?"

"Well... I guess its sort of a local cultural thing. I mean, its the power of the lawn chair. If you put a cone down, someone will come by and look around, think that there's no reason for a cone to be down since the street and curb look perfectly fine then move the cone and park their car. Its just how it works. But, if you put a lawn chair in your parking spot, no one will touch it because clearly... someone's saving the spot for someone."

He didn't say anything for just a moment. Then, "Wow... that makes total sense. I was wondering why the hell there were lawn chairs up and down my street today. I'm like, 'Were people just sitting out here staring at the snow, what the fuck is going on?'"