Not as bad as the braille on ATMs. And since they don't allow walk-ups and there is no way the passenger in the car can reach it, the user has to drive up. I haven't seen it used yet, but I guarantee you, if I'm ever behind someone using the ATM braille keys, I'm giving them plenty of room when they pull through.

The Sporting Club in Irvine, CA has valet parking.

I've never used it, but my gym has had free (i.e., tip-only) valet parking as long as I've been a member. And they have a little shuttle that will take people from the far ends of the parking lot on particularly crowded days---because the lot is narrow, you really can be far away.

But I must admit, I am a firm believer in parking karma. I do make an extra effort to find spaces close to where I am going---whether at the gym or the store or anywhere else. And I am damn good at it. My wife is continually amazed at how often a space will open up for me right as I'm pulling in, right next to the entrance to this restaurant or that store. And in order to keep the dream alive, so to speak, I always look for those close spaces, and I practice extreme courtesy when competing for a space. I figure it all comes back to me :)

In defense of people like me though, it's not so much that I want to be close to the entrance when I enter the gym, but rather when I leave it. If I've done things right, my legs are jello :)

My Sister will actualy follow people through parking lots with her SUV trying to find that perfect spot.

She has no idea why I call her George Costanza!

Next from Gold's Gym: Opium bars next to the juice bars. Soon to be followed by offers as a free cigarettes just for signing up for a one year gym membership! Yeah!

I can see that if you are going to offer a child care service you probably ought to offer valet parking as well. Not that I would take my kids with me but if thats the market your going for...

Parking close? Not me, I park well away from the door dingers! You would think that alone would help me shed a few pound but alas tonight I start going to the Y again.

About the braile thing: they added braile to the ATMs in my hometown serveal years ago and it took a year before a blind person ever used it, which they knew because he was the first to report that all the braile was upside down.

Not about braile: I used to do landscape maintenance (for a little less than minimum wage since we were classified as "farm workers") and I had this one account where I had to push the push mower back and forth across the biggest lawn of any of my accounts (took two man hours). The driving mower was always unavailable on that day (plus it was a piece of junk that always broke down anyway). This lady had an excercise room with a huge bay window and she used to watch me push the mower back and forth as she walked on her walking machine pushing against the bar in the front.

if they didn't provide the braille strips they'd get sued.

One thing that makes my blood boil is a behavior I have only ever seen at the Wal-Mart here in Newnan: people will stop in the middle of an aisle in the parking lot and wait for someone to open their trunk, unload their shopping cart into the trunk, take the shopping cart back to the nearest corral (and this never happens when the person with the shopping cart is willing to just leave it where it is -- they always take it back when someone's blocking the aisle waiting for them) and then go back to their car, where they will get in, start up, take the sunshade out of the windshield, change the station on the radio, adjust the mirrors, change the station on the radio AGAIN, and then finally back up and leave.

Meanwhile four other people parked in that aisle closer to the door have come out, gotten in, and started up and backed out, only to have to wait for Mr. Endless Patience to get his parking spot before they can go anywhere.

There have been a million reasons why I hate going to the Wal-Mart in Newnan, but I really think this one is the biggest. The nearest other Wal-Mart -- accessible only by going through a several-miles-long construction site as a two-lane highway that already carries enough traffic for a six-lane, is widened to four -- is a treat by comparison.

My old gym was on the 2nd floor, so no matter how close you parked, you still had to go up the stairs to get there (unless you were handicapped, in which case you got to use the super-secret elevator that no one knew where it was).

My current gym has parking-lot sharks. I laugh at them.

HAHAHAHA.

Seriously, though, the parking-shark phenomenon makes me laugh. The only time I shark is in bad weather. I'll drive around a parking lot three times. The fourth time, I'll pick the closest spot I can find, no matter how far away it is, and just walk.

And I don't do it when I'm going to the gym.

We are so lazy.