Parking, by Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology

Photo of pathology service car parked illegally in Newtown Square

Dear Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology, the signs on Newtown Square saying “NO ENTRY” and “COUNCIL POLICE AND EMERGENCY VEHICLES EXCEPTED” do not mean you can park on the lawn. They mean the exact opposite.

There is legal parking only metres from where I took this photo last Tuesday 19 August. Please tell your driver that walking those few extra metres will be better for the lawn, better for his health, and better for my anger levels, kthxbai.

9 Replies to “Parking, by Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology”

  1. Dear kthxbai,

    did you not read the sign on the car that says “URGENT BLOOD DELIVERY”?! Someone’s life may have depended on this car being parked as close as possible to where the driver was heading, in health-care, seconds can mean a life. And as for your anger levels… I suggest spending less time getting upset about matters that you know little about and more time repeating calming mantras whilst sipping green tea…

  2. @Erin: The sign is misleading. All of DHM’s courier vehicles display that sign at all times, whether they’re really delivering “urgent blood” or not.

    In this particular case, as in most uses of these cars, the driver was collecting routine blood samples from the medical practice in the building on the left of the photograph, where DHM has a pathology collection point. I know, because I watched. The fat man walked very slowly. This is not an emergency medical clinic. No-one’s life is at stake.

    Now that you mention it, I reckon displaying a sign that’s not actually true, and using it as an excuse for parking illegally, is unethical as well as lazy. What do you think?

    P.S. “kthxbai” isn’t actually my name.

  3. I actually drive one of those very vehicles. If the lazy bastards would learn to walk a little then the rest of us wouldn’t get such a bad name.

    Yes, I do have to park up to 2 blocks away but that just means I get to jog (slowly in my case).

    Pretty damn uncomfortable in the rain while trying to lug an Esky full of blood but so be it — it comes with the job.

    If the others don’t like the job then they can either come up with some constructive positive suggestions to their bosses or go do something a bit less strenuous — like go elsewhere. (most of the time they are strenuously driving — so much effort).

    1. why are you spending time going on about this matter, I work in Pathology and really the couriers are in and out in a flash so therefore I do not think that the grass was harmed in anyway, the couriers do pick up very urgent bloods such as blood transfusion x matching etc, but I do not expect that you would understand that as you are probably and I am only assuming a hippy bum who does not even work themselves.

      Slinging insults in regards to a couriers build is just low, he is doing his job well and should be praised for getting off his ass and working.

      It is negative people like you that give this hard working country a bad name and you all should be ashamed with yourselves.

  4. @Cat: You really are an arsehat, aren’t you? Have you actually read the comment stream here? Have you bothered to look around the site to see whether I am actually “a hippy bum who does not even work themselves” to discover that, well, I’m not? No. You haven’t.

    You’ve decided to defend someone who is — let’s make this point again — parking illegally when there’s legal parking just a few metres away. That is, you are defending a lazy person.

    If, Dear Lazy Arsehat, you had bothered to read the previous comments, you would have seen me point out that the courier here is not actually picking up “very urgent bloods such as blood transfusion x matching etc”. He is collecting routine blood samples from a local GP. It’s routine stuff like their six-monthly cholesterol test or whether they’ve got herpes or not.

    There is nothing urgent happening here. Nothing. Urgent stuff happens at hospital A&E departments.

    Nevertheless pathology couriers lie about the “urgency” of their work when it’s not urgent, just to avoid parking regulations and to avoid walking 20 metres.

    He is not “doing his job well”, he is being lazy. End of story. Why are you defending him?

    And before you ramp up about “I do not expect that you would understand”, consider this fact: I was the systems administrator for a pathology laboratory for a couple of years. I’m actually quite well informed about the industry.

    What is your connection with the industry, Cat?

  5. Arsehat? new one. And if you had have read I also said am only assuming that you are a hippy bum.

    I do not work for this particular company but I just think that slinging insults to someone doing their job is unfair, and their build etc.

    hmmmmm and well yes at times at a Dr’s surgery as you would know in your previous position that such tests as Troponin levels and cardiac enzymes and ecgs and also blood cultures are collected, if these are considered to you routine and un urgent then there is a problem because these are sometimes life and death.

    I am sorry if you where offended by me calling you a hippy and yes it was unfair but I am not an arsehat i dont know what that even is actually.

  6. @Cat: So, your logic is that if someone is “at work” as opposed to doing something in their own time, it’s OK for them to act illegally? Because they’re “doing their job”?

    I come back to my initial point. The sign says you can’t park here. The driver is parking illegally when he could, with a tiny bit of effort on his part, park legally. That is, he is lazy.

    You’re also confusing “important” and matters of “life and death” with “urgent”. If a medical situation is something that can’t possibly wait another two minutes for driver to park his car properly, the patient won’t be visiting a local GP and sending off blood samples to a laboratory half an hour’s drive away to get results three days later. They’ll be in an ambulance on the way to a hospital where the tests can be done straight away.

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