And now I am angry

To push a bit more money into the coffers, the municipality of Amsterdam has wisely decided to outsource the issuing of parking tickets. The police are already busy enough and have better things to do than writing tickets and then being scolded by us. Understandable. But you can sense the ‘but’ coming in this story. They outsource this to a commercial company. Exactly. A company that, unlike the police, doesn't stop when trouble is brewing, pulls out the ticket book, raises an eyebrow, scribbles something down, and neatly places it under your windshield wiper. No, no, these types zoom through the streets, frothing at the mouth, searching for people who are a second late in refilling the parking meter. They are too lazy to get out and give you notice of your fine. You'll find that six weeks later on your doormat. Even the old-fashioned wheel clamp has made its comeback since this company is on a rampage.

The above is blood irritating and annoying, but I can live with it. So be it. Wrong is wrong. I should have paid. But now the following is happening. We had a brainstorming morning at Daniëlle's in Amstelveen. I have the Park-line app, so nothing is wrong. I log in, go brainstorming, and then log out again. But there was still an old-fashioned ticket under my windshield. That much is true, Amstelveen apparently still makes the effort for that. A parking ticket while I had paid properly.

You can only file an objection once you have received the fine. That arrived this week. And now comes the kicker. The ticket was issued on October 5. The letter states that from September 27 the signal was given to file an objection. Yes, I find that impressive too, because that is a week before I received the ticket. From that moment I had six weeks to respond, and those are now pretty much over.

Rarely have I found the words sad and pathetic more fitting. There. And now to file an objection.