Unfortunately, it looks as though I have to find another spot to park when I go into St. Paul. I had a couple times where I was stuck at the gate trying to leave because ... I don't remember, the gate wouldn't raise. Anyway, tonight I saw that the door to get back into the ramp is now locked and can only be opened by scanning the Quick Response code on the ticket you got when you came in. Or at least that's theoretically how the door can open. Because I scanned it, several times, and it wouldn't open. I was prompted to call the attendant and pushed that button, several times, but no one answered. I was pretty damn lucky that some other car came in to the ramp -- at 10 at night -- so I could get into the parking ramp through the entrance ramp. Almost ran into the gate, though.
Got even more harry once I got in. They used to have a pay kiosk at the lobby of one of the levels where you could pay. Not any more. I needed to use, yes, a QR code to pay through the app. Probably needed to register, crap like that. But I don't, because I couldn't pay through the app. I had to search for my ticket on this app, but I kept getting a damn "Internal Service Error" message.
So my only recourse, because I didn't want to get stuck in a parking ramp in St. Paul at night, was to drive down to the gate and smash that attendant button. I thought I would have to call 911 and get a cop to get me out of there, the way things were going. But thank Buddha the advent of contactless payment hadn't yet reached this ramp, because I could use my credit card down there. I don't remember if you could do that before.
Anyhoo, as I left, I saw a couple at that same door I was locked out of. They probably were smashing that button, too. I said a little prayer for them as I drove away. Maybe they'll have a good Samaritan drive in to the ramp because they need to work third shift or something.
You know, if I'm going to face such difficulty at this parking ramp, maybe I just won't go into St. Paul anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment