I have been "unwinding" all evening.
When I arrived home, there was a woman standing by the parking garage gate.
I thought little of it, since she seemed preoccupied with something she was reading.
I used my clicker to open the gate, and then I eased into the garage.
I could see in my rearview mirror that the woman followed me.
I stopped my car, rolled my window down and told her she could not enter the garage as I did not recognize her.
She continued walking and said it didn't matter.
I stopped my car and got out. I raised my voice and told her I would call the police if she didn't stop immediately, turn around and exit.
She started telling me that a car parked on the other side of our garage had hit her car. All well and good, I thought, but that car was sitting there in its space. No one was around it. I told her she needed to call the police...AFTER she left the garage. She said she had filed a police report...she had the license plate number already. What, I asked, did she need in the garage? She said she needed to look the car over for damage. I told her "No! You need to leave the garage. When the police arrive, IF they arrive, you can worry about looking at the car when they ask permission to enter the building.
She again began telling me about what she was doing and started walking toward the car.
I placed myself in front of her. I raised my voice considerably. I told her that she was trespassing. I told her she had illegally entered the premises. I told her I refused to "sponsor" her and that she could NOT be in the garage without a sponsor. I pulled out my cell phone and told her I would call the police and ask them to arrest her.
She began arguing. I YELLED at her and pointed at a door. I walked over to the door and opened it and demanded she walk through the door immediately.
She said, "I don't understand what kind of place this is."
I said it was a private condominium with security issues and that she was trespassing on private property.
She just couldn't believe I wouldn't let her roam around the garage because she wanted to do so.
I was furious by the time she actually walked out.
After the door closed, I got in my car and parked in my space. One of my neighbors was in the garage throwing out some trash.
She looked at me and said, "I think you scared her."
I shrugged. "I'd rather she were scared to come back in here than risk her being another person sneaking in and stealing a car."
This kind of thing has happened too many times in this building. Someone is always following a person either through a pedestrian security gate or through the garage security gate. Most never get challenged. And cars get broken into.
I've been going over this little drama in my head all evening.
I'd rather it hadn't happened, but I don't regret handling it. I might have handled it better, but I got the woman to leave the building.
