Archives for March 22nd, 2007

Clever girl…

The city of Maribor recently installed new parking meters in its perpetually overcrowded city center. From the outside these things seem perfectly normal. It’s only when you come closer that you realize that they:

1) Do not give back change. (Unlike, say, the coffee machine at work, which is about ten years older but somehow still technologically superior.)
2) Do not accept anything less than 10 cents. (i.e. any of the brown coins)
3) Charge 80 cents/hour (minimum) or €1.60 (maximum)

The third part is the key to their fiendish beauty, because how often do you have exactly 80 cents in change? I’ll tell you often: never. Well, almost never. To insert 80 cents you need at least three coins. (50 + 20 + 10) However, since most people probably lack that combination, they’re forced to dump in one euro and overpay by 25%.

It’s brilliant. Really. Like all great cons, it took me a few seconds to realize what the machine was doing to me. But when I did figure out, I was filled with a certain reverence. Do you remember that one scene from the movie Jurassic Park, when that one idiot is out hunting raptors but suddenly realizes that they’ve outwitted him?

“Clever girl”: A perfect metaphor for me and Maribor’s parking meters.

That’s exactly how I felt. Except that instead of getting shredded, I just put a euro in the machine.

However: when I went to the city yesterday the sums had been changed. (It demanded 40 cents for an hour) I’m not sure why this was so but I’m still impressed. I had to put in 50 cents, which is still a 25% overcharge.

Clever girl.