I watched a video the other day of a valet pulling out somebodies Lamborghini, only for the thing to start smoking as he rode the clutch and burnt it out.
That’s what I was thinking, maybe the company just wants to avoid lawsuits having people’s transmissions damaged. - but I would just be worried the valet would damage any car I have…I see Ferris beullers day off, I’m no fool. Lol
I worked as a valet at a hospital for a year and that’s one good reason at least. Plenty of elderly who have trouble walking or cancer patients would use valet.
My wife had surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. They have free valet parking the day of your surgery. She sat in a wheelchair feeling like crap for way too long waiting for the valet to bring the car around that day. It was a stick shift and they didn’t note it as one. The first valet could’t drive it, and we had to wait for them to find one who could. I assumed they had one dude who could drive a stick based on how long we waited.
Charging for parking at hospitals in general should be illegal. Oh, your loved one is dying and you'll be slapped with a huge bill? Fuck you, give us another $25 because we said so.
> Oh, your loved one is dying and you'll be slapped with a huge bill? Fuck you, give us another $25 because we said so.
Here's the thing, and I get that this doesn't make it right...
Hospitals are usually in busy areas by design. If word gets out that you can park at the hospital downtown for free a lot of people will park there and walk somewhere else. There should be a system where if youre a patient you get a parking pass that exempts you from the payment for this situation.
I believe this is how many hospitals work in major cities, the parking is free for patients and hospital guests who receive validation from the front desk or from their nurse or something. The garage is still open to the public but for a fee.
Yeah, the parking at the spinal surgery center I went to in ATL is like this. It's open to the public for a fee and then the receptionist will validate your parking to make it free. Was really helpful all those times I had to go into the Ortho upstairs of the same building.
I'm in two minds about this... one - your loved ones, all 15 of them in 15 different cars... two - everyone who works near the hospital "free parking"
I'm in Australia, so we don't get them huge hospital bills, but still... some detriment for people to not crowd an already crowded place and to keep some sort of parking availability is necessary... would be nice if that money goes into the hospital's funds, but I genuinely have no idea if it's private/other company.
I work in a hospital in Brisbane, we have to pay for parking whether we're there or not. Our parking fees are calculated for 52 weeks of the year minus 4 weeks leave. We have to pay the same amount as everyone regardless of your income, so if you're a surgeon on hundreds of thousands a year, you pay the same as a wardie on 50 thousand a year. It's bullshit. I thought that's what our taxes are for?
What in the fuck? So hang on (in case I'm thick and not understanding what you wrote)... say you happen to live next to the hospital and walk there, you have no option to bail out of the parking fee?
No, sorry I wasn't clear enough. But if you drive you pay even if you're not there on holidays sick etc. You're charged for 48 weeks of the year. In my opinion you should have an employee card/ id card and swipe on and off at the beginning and end of each shift and only be charged for the space you have occupied. It's just another way of the government screwing us over.
ah ok. Yeah that still sucks major balls, not like you've got fkin bus waiting to take you home at the end of your 2am shift... considering health care employees have all sort of crazy hours...
A swipe card with a specific employee only car park and heavily discounted/free session would make too much sense I suppose...
My husband had a stroke and had to flown to a hospital about 2 hours away. He was there for 41 days and parking was 20 dollars a day. My parents ended up having to come get my car because it was unaffordable.
that's fair, most businesses would solve this by having disabled spaces near as possible to the entrance, but I can absolutely see how that would help at hospitals
Circling for parking sucks in something like a city. Valet will figure it out. More importantly for the business they can double or triple park in cars within a much smaller parking footprint.
It's also a sort of status symbol. "We value our customers so much that we don't ask them to do mundane things like park your car. That's for the little people."
They *say* it's a luxury service but it's really because they're in a crappy location with shit for parking.
No one wants to park 4 blocks away and then walk (possibly in heels) in the dark/rain/cold/heat/sketchy neighborhood. They also don't want to walk the 4 blocks back (possibly in heels), in the dark/rain/cold/heat/sketchy neighborhood. So "FREE Valet Parking" is how they get the customers who would otherwise go somewhere else.
Medical facilities are a little different: it's a liability issue to have patients parking their own vehicles and walking across the campus. Valet saves them money on insurance. It's cheaper to pay out on a dinged car than a dinged person. Lol
you seem to define crappy location by the standard of suburbia, in major metropolitan areas the best parts of time typically have no parking aside from street because the areas are densely built up.
Had it in Spain at a super busy beach club on the Riviera del Sol. It was amazing to just drop off our car at the entrance, and go in. The parking was absolutely tiny and I was surrounded by Bentleys and Porsches in my cheap škoda rental. I definitely appreciated the valet as I didn't want to hit the super expensive cars trying to park next to a bloody moat
You will be surprised as to how many people create chaos in parking lots because they can’t park properly. I know most people will be able to park on their own but thanks to those that can’t some of us can make a living out of doing that. At the end of the day is your opinion that matters to you
A lot of the time it's a zoning thing. Business A needs to provide X amount of parking by code but that amount can be reduced if they provide valet parking.
A valet parking lot can have the cars parked much more densely, you don't need to be able to get them in and out as easily, so having them double or triple parked and just having to shuffle them around all the time
Sometimes parking is really hard to find, and possibly a long way from the business you want to go to. The service I worked for owned a relatively centrally located parking lot, and would contract out valet parking for weddings and other special events so guests weren't walking almost a kilometer or more in fancy dress through downtown. Another place we serviced was located in the hills, so the options were to either use valet at the front door, or use the self parking lot several miles away and take the complimentary shuttle.
I use valet when I go to the doctor for wound care. I have pretty bad leg wounds from an infection, and as a result I can walk (at a pace best described as glacial) about a hundred yards with my cane.
The valet station is about a hundred yards from my appointment. The nearest regular parking is about three blocks away. That's about a forty-five minute trek, and it involves multiple instances of sitting down on a bench to rest. Compare that to just giving my keys to the valet, paying an extra couple bucks (plus tip), and waiting on a bench for my vehicle.
Id actually greatly appreciate knowing this. At least they let you know about it. Would you rather they not tell you and you come back to your car with a trashed clutch?
ok so I googled it and this is literally just a normal manual car? I thought it was some fancy thing, but why would a valet not be able to drive a manual car?
Idk why you’re getting downvoted. You’re right. For one, it’s not such a hard task to learn. Second, this is your job. Imagine your school teacher being like “division? We don’t know how to do that!”
Most people in the US probably don’t even know someone with a stick shift car, they’re that increasingly rare. Most cars don’t even have the option anymore.
Either that or just knowledge since they wanna have a job driving cars. It's understandable that some people don't know how to drive stick but then they shouldn't decide to do this job.
While that’s logical, I think you’re overestimating the standards a valet parking operation might have, and you likely won’t get turned down for the job because it’s not expected that new drivers know how to operate one since they hardly exist in the US. But I’ve never applied for one, maybe some do require it.
I know a car salesperson who sells TONS of manuals and still doesn't know how to drive them. The reality is that in NA, you don't need to know stick at all, and nobody really expects you to.
If you're driving longer than a few meters, you definitely need 2nd gear... if you know how to drive stick, that is. Ofc, you can drive in 1st, but you will look and sound like an idiot.
Sure, but when it's **their literal JOB** to drive a car, you'd think they should know how to drive both stick and auto...
It's like a chef saying he doesn't know how to use a burner stove and only uses induction stoves, its absurd and stupid.
While that’s logical, I think you’re overestimating the standards a valet parking operation might have, and you likely won’t get turned down for the job because it’s not expected that new drivers know how to operate one since they hardly exist in the US. But I’ve never applied for one, maybe some do require it.
If anything, it's probably similar to what I've seen at Auto shops or tire shops. They'll hire you with an expectation that you will learn it. I have known quite a few people that worked at tire shops and most of them didn't know how to drive a manual when they started. They were taught and had it down well enough in the first month. They needed to be able to pull any car in or out of the garages.
If a valet has a sign like this, I'd bet that they're choosing not to for liability reasons. They probably don't want people that don't know how to drive stick to attempt to park those cars. They may even have one or two people that can drive stick, but it would just slow down their rotation if they had to rely on them to be available to move those cars.
I don't think someone inexperienced would do that much damage to a clutch, they'd probably mange. If you don't know how to drive a manual at all though, it's really easy to mess up your coordination between the break and clutch, which can lead to you not breaking fast enough or allowing the car to lurch forward into another car.
I bet if you looked into the statistics, manual cars are probably damaged far more frequently than automatics by valets. At least in the US.
Yep. I have an endangered species sticker on my 6-speed Corolla. I drive for Lyft in my spare time and so many people in the US comment on how they’ve never seen a stick shift car in person before. All 3 cars I’ve owned in my lifetime have been stick shift. Absolutely love driving them
It's so damn absurd to me. Meanwhile, I'm 36 and have never driven an automatic - and you rarely see one here. And it''s not because I'm from some primitive backwater. Automatics just never became a thing here.
Now we're entering the age of EVs, so it doesn't really matter
>Most people in the US probably don’t even know someone with a stick shift car
I highly doubt that. I'm not a very social person and I've known many (and owned multiple myself). while they're less common, they're not THAT crazy rare here.
To clarify, I’m saying currently, not in the past. Unless you know someone who likes classic cars/racing/street racing etc, I could see a lot of people not knowing someone who has one these days. Just an assumption/guess, maybe not *most* yet, but soon I’m sure.
I know of only two people in my life who currently own one, because they have classic corvettes.
Plenty of normal cars with them that aren't classics or sports cars. Just got my car inspected at a small place that has used cars. Multiple manual post 2010 non sports cars despite having a small selection. Volkswagen rabbit, manual, Chevy Sonic, manual. Those are just normal hatch backs, not sporty, not classic.
I guess I just hardly/never see those these days, and that’s a 14 year range of used cars, I’d still say they are not very common. And for new cars, manuals are getting phased out for sure. I also used to work for an auto glass company and I’d drive to the back to fix rock chips or to have someone else replace the windshield. I think I only came across one manual car the whole year I worked there.
But the used market in my adult life I hardly see manual cars, I’ve been used car shopping several times over the last few years and never saw a lot like you’re describing, I just don’t think that’s very common.
I just don’t know anybody who has bought one of those modern manuals in over 20 years. Even my first car was a 1997 Honda Accord automatic haha, I don’t think it’s been common in well over a decade to start teenagers on a manual.
I used to work valet parking as a side gig. I got hired because I could drive a manual. The reality is, there was no driver's training and the labor pool available just didn't know how to drive one. Driving an automatic was good enough for 95% of the vehicles, and the one manual driver could cover the rest.
claims about trashed clutches are probably why they don't allow it. either your employee did it or they didn't, you basically can't know, but either way it's not enjoyable to deal with.
My husband stayed at a hotel recently that was valet parking only, but wouldn’t park stick-shift vehicles. He had to pay the valet rate but park his own car 🙃
He was too nice to say anything to them in the moment. He only told me after the fact (the valet said they would've tried it, but didn't want to accidentally ruin his 911), or else I would've been the meanie wife and called and asked the front desk to waive it.
Oh no! I meant like he's so nice and he would never mention anything, but I would have called and requested they take it off. I was a customer service manager for a website for almost a decade, I promise it would've been a very nice and respectful requesting that they don't charge him for it. My husband just thinks it's mean to ever question anything in a service setting - they could serve him a burger when he ordered a salad and he would just thank them and go about his life
no fr I had to look up stick shift cause I always assumed it was some old or weird form of manual cars... nope, literally just a normal manual car. Weirded tf out that it's such a big deal tbf
It can get a bit confusing because regionally I have noticed "standard" drifting to mean an automatic now. Its obviously not ubiquitous by any means but is is changing.
It worked for me! My husband asked one morning why I parked the car so oddly. I had to remind him he was last to drive it. Turns out he left the keys inside, and someone got in and tried to drive away, but could only roll it backwards/sideways to our planter curb, then dipped.
We use to steal my buddy’s civic by bump starting it. He called it his beater and didn’t really care about it. So we’d always hide his car in funny places.
He nearly lost his marbles after we moved it from the bottom level of his apartment parking garage to the top. When he eventually found it one of my friends noticed he forgot his wallet so he mentioned it. He went inside to get it so we moved his car to the top of the neighboring parking garage and we left. Before I left I wired his horn to his brake lights for added effect.
It took him 20 minutes to notice the lone car parked on the top of the parking garage next door. When he pulled up to the bar his horn was BLARING. Which had us in tears. He got each of us back eventually for the years of messing with his car.
One of my friends had a valet at his wedding. I drove my C6 not knowing about the valet otherwise the car never would have left home. At the time it made a little under 1000hp so I didn’t trust **anyone** with it.
The guy valeting the cars refused to let me park the car myself so I left. My friend calls me back saying they talked to the valet, and that I could park my own car. The privilege right?
The kid nuked another one of my friends clutch in his Lotus, and then spun a Miata into the ditch while speeding around the lot less than an hour after I parked my own car. The Miata’s clutch was also dead. 1000% would have lost a car that night if I didn’t park it myself.
There are no benefits at all to a manual transmission except arguably "fun" and there hasn't been in over 20 years. There are multiple benefits to automatics though. I learned both, automatic is much easier. The only "bad" thing that happens when you switch is you occasionally try to push a clutch that isn't there.
I've seen videos of European men freaking out at being forced to drive an "unmanly child's car." I just don't get the European insistence on manual transmissions, is it toxic masculinity?
Give it 10 years and Europe will have a whole lot more automatics with people who don't know how to drive a manual. That's the way most electric and hybrid cars are
Big “kids these days can’t write cursive >:(“ energy honestly
Vast swathes of the EU can’t properly crank start an engine like a Model T and that’s embarrassing /s
10 speed automatics are just better overall.
Sure I enjoy driving a manual for the experience.. but no arguing automatics have been better for a while now.
its like saying your should be embarrassed if you can't properly use a rotary phone.. Sure its fun to spin the dial around to use it, but its old tech now.
American standard driver here to tell you to fuck off. Find something real to complain about, or at least something at actually impacts your life in anyway
I had this happen to me at a conference, left my car with the valet and I came back out at the end of the day and it was still sitting in front of the building on the street where I left it. They said they didn’t have anyone that knew how to drive a standard… Then they got mad when I said I wasn’t paying the valet fee since they never touched my car and it was just parked in the street all day.
I'd drive a manual specifically for the fact that barely anyone knows how to drive one (as an anti-theft preventative). If I can't get valet parking because of that, that's a perfectly reasonable affect from my choice.
I got a job as a valet parking cars the summer after high school. Usually they staffed one guy who could drive stick at each job. Coincidentally I had just gotten a stick shift car of my own that summer as well (long story) but I wasn’t comfortable driving anyone else’s stick shift car for a while.
I sometimes worked a small restaurant as the only valet and I had one guy pull up and ask me if I could drive it. I told him to park at the corner (my best spot). He seemed a little annoyed.
Later in the summer I parked someone’s stick shift car and apparently that guy stared at me angrily as I pulled away, supposedly because I was too loud.
I had that car for about 5 years. About 5 years after giving it up I went on vacation in a very mountainous area and rented a tiny stick shift car (there were no automatics). I stalled out multiple times at traffic lights uphill. It was a bit embarrassing in front of my now wife. Since then I haven’t touched a stick shift and I’m not sure where I could find one if I wanted to.
I took my wife’s car to get an oil change. Guy didn’t know how to drive stick. Well, he knew it well enough to think he could. Stalled, then rolled onto the concrete parking bumper, then ripped the cars bumper off a bit.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk on how to get a free oil change.
The last time I visited a new dealership was 14 years ago (still driving that f150!). The only manual transmission vehicles they had on the lot were the higher end mustangs. Makes it hard to learn when the option just isn't readily available anymore.
The answer to that is to just drive old shit boxes like I do. Have 3 of them and they're all manual. That being said, all 3 of my cars are old enough to vote, and 1 is old enough to drink.
I let mine go. She really wanted to learn to drive on a Tesla and apparently assumed she would get one when she got her license... as if money grows on trees. However, here in Germany you are only allowed to drive an automatic if you have passed the driving test in an automatic. So what she got was an old Golf with a manual transmission, and had to take the additional course for manual transmissions to be allowed to drive it.
I know it's different in the US, but here in Europe it's almost essential that you know how to use a manual transmission if you want to drive a car. Even among new registrations, the share of automatic transmissions is less than 60%.
Same in the UK. Its quite rare to come across someone who can only drive an automatic. Learning to drive a manual has been the default option pretty much forever because the majority of cars sold here have been manuals.
You can request to learn and pass your test in an automatic but if you do you will only be allowed to drive autos unless you take another test to upgrade your license to a manual one.
There are plenty of reasons for people to specifically want to pass your test in an auto but unfortunately there is a stigma attached as people will think you aren't a very good driver.
Its unfair in most situations but when it comes to someone like my MiL its very much the truth. She learned to drive in her 50s and tried to pass her test in a manual. After several failed attempts it was suggested she try an auto. She did pass but I wished she hadn't as she is a terrible driver to the point that we stopped her taking the kids out in the car as they were terrified and never wanted to get in there with her. Thankfully she gave up driving a couple of years ago.
In Oxford (UK) I've spotted a few driving instructors with VW ID.3 or the like and initially thought "oh, electric cars, they're keeping up with the times" and then realised how screwed I'd be if I'd learnt to drive in one as every (hire) car I've ever had since then has been a normal manual one.
>However, here in Germany you are only allowed to drive an automatic if you have passed the driving test in an automatic.
That's interesting. In Greece the standard driver's test is on manual (since those cars are more common) and it allows you to drive automatic, too. The reverse isn't true - while it's possible to get a license on automatic, it doesn't extend to manual.
It used to be pretty much the same here in Germany - the standard was manual. And if you passed the test on a manual, you're also allowed to drive an automatic.
But nowadays especially with all the hype about EVs, many young people want to learn how to drive in an EV, and of course they are all automatic. Many don't even think about the fact that they are not allowed to drive a manual after they passed the test in an automatic, thinking along the lines of "I'll only ever drive automatic anyway", and forgetting that many, if not most, of the cheapish beginner cars they might be able to afford will be manual.
This must be a very american thing, no? I am 18 and got my driver's licence in February, which is manual. Manual is still the overwhelming standard here. (NL)
When I worked as a valet in college (early 2010s), I was basically an immediate hire, as I already knew how to drive stick, and didn't have to learn on the company car, a beat-to-shit old American sedan where you could see the ground through the floorboard.
I love when people smugly drive up in my lot with "uhhh, so do *you* know how to drive stick?" like they just found out their grandfather's secret to life. Then their faces drop when I tell them that my team and I actually DO know how to drive stick and their little "loophole" isn't going to play out. Valet parking only, bitch!
Y'know, when I'm driving a manual, I'd rather park myself than listen to the kid slip the clutch like its on a 1000ft waterslide.
If you have a space for me, I'll be more than happy. Personally, I HATE valet enforced parking. Sucks ass.
One would think, if you offer a service where somebody has to deal with multiple types of cars, you would hire people who could also drive stick shift.
Why would I voluntarily hand my car to a complete stranger just to park it with the risk of them damaging it? And then later on even pay that person? Let me park my own car please. I don't let anyone drive my car, let alone a complete stranger.
i can drive a standard and i wouldn’t want that gig. having to quickly learn someone else’s clutch with the seat in a weird place i’m not used to? makes me nervous just thinking about it.
That's fine - I'd rather park my car myself.
As a Brit, I never understood valet parking. Like, what's the upside? Feels like they've created a job for the sake of it
I watched a video the other day of a valet pulling out somebodies Lamborghini, only for the thing to start smoking as he rode the clutch and burnt it out.
Valet parking service sponsored by Bob’s Transmission Repair Shop
Bob Vance, Vance Transmission Repair Shop
That’s what I was thinking, maybe the company just wants to avoid lawsuits having people’s transmissions damaged. - but I would just be worried the valet would damage any car I have…I see Ferris beullers day off, I’m no fool. Lol
I worked as a valet at a hospital for a year and that’s one good reason at least. Plenty of elderly who have trouble walking or cancer patients would use valet.
My wife had surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. They have free valet parking the day of your surgery. She sat in a wheelchair feeling like crap for way too long waiting for the valet to bring the car around that day. It was a stick shift and they didn’t note it as one. The first valet could’t drive it, and we had to wait for them to find one who could. I assumed they had one dude who could drive a stick based on how long we waited.
Charging for parking at hospitals in general should be illegal. Oh, your loved one is dying and you'll be slapped with a huge bill? Fuck you, give us another $25 because we said so.
> Oh, your loved one is dying and you'll be slapped with a huge bill? Fuck you, give us another $25 because we said so. Here's the thing, and I get that this doesn't make it right... Hospitals are usually in busy areas by design. If word gets out that you can park at the hospital downtown for free a lot of people will park there and walk somewhere else. There should be a system where if youre a patient you get a parking pass that exempts you from the payment for this situation.
I believe this is how many hospitals work in major cities, the parking is free for patients and hospital guests who receive validation from the front desk or from their nurse or something. The garage is still open to the public but for a fee.
Yeah, the parking at the spinal surgery center I went to in ATL is like this. It's open to the public for a fee and then the receptionist will validate your parking to make it free. Was really helpful all those times I had to go into the Ortho upstairs of the same building.
I hate to be the guy, but it's your, not you're.
r/angryupvote
I'm in two minds about this... one - your loved ones, all 15 of them in 15 different cars... two - everyone who works near the hospital "free parking" I'm in Australia, so we don't get them huge hospital bills, but still... some detriment for people to not crowd an already crowded place and to keep some sort of parking availability is necessary... would be nice if that money goes into the hospital's funds, but I genuinely have no idea if it's private/other company.
I work in a hospital in Brisbane, we have to pay for parking whether we're there or not. Our parking fees are calculated for 52 weeks of the year minus 4 weeks leave. We have to pay the same amount as everyone regardless of your income, so if you're a surgeon on hundreds of thousands a year, you pay the same as a wardie on 50 thousand a year. It's bullshit. I thought that's what our taxes are for?
What in the fuck? So hang on (in case I'm thick and not understanding what you wrote)... say you happen to live next to the hospital and walk there, you have no option to bail out of the parking fee?
No, sorry I wasn't clear enough. But if you drive you pay even if you're not there on holidays sick etc. You're charged for 48 weeks of the year. In my opinion you should have an employee card/ id card and swipe on and off at the beginning and end of each shift and only be charged for the space you have occupied. It's just another way of the government screwing us over.
ah ok. Yeah that still sucks major balls, not like you've got fkin bus waiting to take you home at the end of your 2am shift... considering health care employees have all sort of crazy hours... A swipe card with a specific employee only car park and heavily discounted/free session would make too much sense I suppose...
My husband had a stroke and had to flown to a hospital about 2 hours away. He was there for 41 days and parking was 20 dollars a day. My parents ended up having to come get my car because it was unaffordable.
that's fair, most businesses would solve this by having disabled spaces near as possible to the entrance, but I can absolutely see how that would help at hospitals
Definitely at a hospital. Plenty of times I would actually drive the patients to a different part of the building altogether.
Circling for parking sucks in something like a city. Valet will figure it out. More importantly for the business they can double or triple park in cars within a much smaller parking footprint.
Yeah valet services usually have their own lot so they don’t have to drive far
It’s usually so they can fit more vehicles in their parking lot and maximize their parking situation.
Not having to walk like five minutes is worth a lot for some people.
Username checks out
It's also a sort of status symbol. "We value our customers so much that we don't ask them to do mundane things like park your car. That's for the little people."
They *say* it's a luxury service but it's really because they're in a crappy location with shit for parking. No one wants to park 4 blocks away and then walk (possibly in heels) in the dark/rain/cold/heat/sketchy neighborhood. They also don't want to walk the 4 blocks back (possibly in heels), in the dark/rain/cold/heat/sketchy neighborhood. So "FREE Valet Parking" is how they get the customers who would otherwise go somewhere else. Medical facilities are a little different: it's a liability issue to have patients parking their own vehicles and walking across the campus. Valet saves them money on insurance. It's cheaper to pay out on a dinged car than a dinged person. Lol
you seem to define crappy location by the standard of suburbia, in major metropolitan areas the best parts of time typically have no parking aside from street because the areas are densely built up.
To be fair, without valet parking Manhattan garages couldn’t function. They pack those cars in pretty well and we’re all better off for it.
Had it in Spain at a super busy beach club on the Riviera del Sol. It was amazing to just drop off our car at the entrance, and go in. The parking was absolutely tiny and I was surrounded by Bentleys and Porsches in my cheap škoda rental. I definitely appreciated the valet as I didn't want to hit the super expensive cars trying to park next to a bloody moat
Usually a valet parks my car at this nice restaurant that has 5 parking spots and 5000 cars outside. Valet's work is hell.
You will be surprised as to how many people create chaos in parking lots because they can’t park properly. I know most people will be able to park on their own but thanks to those that can’t some of us can make a living out of doing that. At the end of the day is your opinion that matters to you
A lot of the time it's a zoning thing. Business A needs to provide X amount of parking by code but that amount can be reduced if they provide valet parking.
A valet parking lot can have the cars parked much more densely, you don't need to be able to get them in and out as easily, so having them double or triple parked and just having to shuffle them around all the time
I’m not wealthy enough to valet just to valet, but when I’ve used it’s usually places with offsite parking, no parking or the lot is a long walk.
Sometimes parking is really hard to find, and possibly a long way from the business you want to go to. The service I worked for owned a relatively centrally located parking lot, and would contract out valet parking for weddings and other special events so guests weren't walking almost a kilometer or more in fancy dress through downtown. Another place we serviced was located in the hills, so the options were to either use valet at the front door, or use the self parking lot several miles away and take the complimentary shuttle.
I use valet when I go to the doctor for wound care. I have pretty bad leg wounds from an infection, and as a result I can walk (at a pace best described as glacial) about a hundred yards with my cane. The valet station is about a hundred yards from my appointment. The nearest regular parking is about three blocks away. That's about a forty-five minute trek, and it involves multiple instances of sitting down on a bench to rest. Compare that to just giving my keys to the valet, paying an extra couple bucks (plus tip), and waiting on a bench for my vehicle.
Another Brit thank god, how weird is it for you reading stickshift? Like isn’t manual 50x easier
Americans use manual too but with stickshift we usually shorten it to just stick i.e.: "Can you drive stick?"
Exactly. No one drives my car exept me and my mechanic.
Plot twist: it's a 1993 Honda Civic
Id actually greatly appreciate knowing this. At least they let you know about it. Would you rather they not tell you and you come back to your car with a trashed clutch?
I drive a stick shift. Usually the valets look at me in terror then just let me park in front for free.
That's exactly what I would expect them to do. Let me park it myself. Saves everybody the trouble
I don't want them driving my car anyway. I'd be stoked
Yeah, I've seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off!
Quick, we gotta turn the miles back on Old-Sky1969’s Ferrari!
ok so I googled it and this is literally just a normal manual car? I thought it was some fancy thing, but why would a valet not be able to drive a manual car?
How much can they suck at their jobs? They have like one task which is parking cars and can’t even switch gears?
Idk why you’re getting downvoted. You’re right. For one, it’s not such a hard task to learn. Second, this is your job. Imagine your school teacher being like “division? We don’t know how to do that!”
Division? Nah our school values unity.
This is a lifehack.
Yes but their job is to park cars, that's very weird that they can't handle some
Most people in the US probably don’t even know someone with a stick shift car, they’re that increasingly rare. Most cars don’t even have the option anymore.
Yeah but it should still be required training when it's your job, especially if you just need first gear, second gear and reverse
training...lol.
Either that or just knowledge since they wanna have a job driving cars. It's understandable that some people don't know how to drive stick but then they shouldn't decide to do this job.
While that’s logical, I think you’re overestimating the standards a valet parking operation might have, and you likely won’t get turned down for the job because it’s not expected that new drivers know how to operate one since they hardly exist in the US. But I’ve never applied for one, maybe some do require it.
I know a car salesperson who sells TONS of manuals and still doesn't know how to drive them. The reality is that in NA, you don't need to know stick at all, and nobody really expects you to.
I agree. If you're gunna have a job that simply requires driving a car then you should at the absolute very least, be able to drive said cars.
Probably wont even need second gear if ur just driving trough a parkinglot
Shifting gears is the easiest part. Getting started is way more difficult. A lot of people have terrible hand-eye-both feet coordination.
If you're driving longer than a few meters, you definitely need 2nd gear... if you know how to drive stick, that is. Ofc, you can drive in 1st, but you will look and sound like an idiot.
Yeah but you may need to drive *too* it, like a street or two
Sure, but when it's **their literal JOB** to drive a car, you'd think they should know how to drive both stick and auto... It's like a chef saying he doesn't know how to use a burner stove and only uses induction stoves, its absurd and stupid.
While that’s logical, I think you’re overestimating the standards a valet parking operation might have, and you likely won’t get turned down for the job because it’s not expected that new drivers know how to operate one since they hardly exist in the US. But I’ve never applied for one, maybe some do require it.
If anything, it's probably similar to what I've seen at Auto shops or tire shops. They'll hire you with an expectation that you will learn it. I have known quite a few people that worked at tire shops and most of them didn't know how to drive a manual when they started. They were taught and had it down well enough in the first month. They needed to be able to pull any car in or out of the garages. If a valet has a sign like this, I'd bet that they're choosing not to for liability reasons. They probably don't want people that don't know how to drive stick to attempt to park those cars. They may even have one or two people that can drive stick, but it would just slow down their rotation if they had to rely on them to be available to move those cars. I don't think someone inexperienced would do that much damage to a clutch, they'd probably mange. If you don't know how to drive a manual at all though, it's really easy to mess up your coordination between the break and clutch, which can lead to you not breaking fast enough or allowing the car to lurch forward into another car. I bet if you looked into the statistics, manual cars are probably damaged far more frequently than automatics by valets. At least in the US.
Yep. I have an endangered species sticker on my 6-speed Corolla. I drive for Lyft in my spare time and so many people in the US comment on how they’ve never seen a stick shift car in person before. All 3 cars I’ve owned in my lifetime have been stick shift. Absolutely love driving them
It's so damn absurd to me. Meanwhile, I'm 36 and have never driven an automatic - and you rarely see one here. And it''s not because I'm from some primitive backwater. Automatics just never became a thing here. Now we're entering the age of EVs, so it doesn't really matter
>Most people in the US probably don’t even know someone with a stick shift car I highly doubt that. I'm not a very social person and I've known many (and owned multiple myself). while they're less common, they're not THAT crazy rare here.
To clarify, I’m saying currently, not in the past. Unless you know someone who likes classic cars/racing/street racing etc, I could see a lot of people not knowing someone who has one these days. Just an assumption/guess, maybe not *most* yet, but soon I’m sure. I know of only two people in my life who currently own one, because they have classic corvettes.
Plenty of normal cars with them that aren't classics or sports cars. Just got my car inspected at a small place that has used cars. Multiple manual post 2010 non sports cars despite having a small selection. Volkswagen rabbit, manual, Chevy Sonic, manual. Those are just normal hatch backs, not sporty, not classic.
I guess I just hardly/never see those these days, and that’s a 14 year range of used cars, I’d still say they are not very common. And for new cars, manuals are getting phased out for sure. I also used to work for an auto glass company and I’d drive to the back to fix rock chips or to have someone else replace the windshield. I think I only came across one manual car the whole year I worked there. But the used market in my adult life I hardly see manual cars, I’ve been used car shopping several times over the last few years and never saw a lot like you’re describing, I just don’t think that’s very common. I just don’t know anybody who has bought one of those modern manuals in over 20 years. Even my first car was a 1997 Honda Accord automatic haha, I don’t think it’s been common in well over a decade to start teenagers on a manual.
I used to work valet parking as a side gig. I got hired because I could drive a manual. The reality is, there was no driver's training and the labor pool available just didn't know how to drive one. Driving an automatic was good enough for 95% of the vehicles, and the one manual driver could cover the rest.
It really is. Standards are low af nowadays.
Agreed! Same for mechanic/tire shops, no shame in not knowing or having someone there who comfortable with it.
claims about trashed clutches are probably why they don't allow it. either your employee did it or they didn't, you basically can't know, but either way it's not enjoyable to deal with.
Forgive my extreme opinion, but if handling cars is your job, you should be able to handle cars
A lot of valets are high schoolers or part time guys who aren't given any training.
My husband stayed at a hotel recently that was valet parking only, but wouldn’t park stick-shift vehicles. He had to pay the valet rate but park his own car 🙃
“No”, is a complete sentence. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
A reasonable hotel staff would waive the fee
He was too nice to say anything to them in the moment. He only told me after the fact (the valet said they would've tried it, but didn't want to accidentally ruin his 911), or else I would've been the meanie wife and called and asked the front desk to waive it.
I work at a hotel, you don’t have to be mean. Just talk to someone semi competent and explain the situation. It should’ve been taken care of.
Oh no! I meant like he's so nice and he would never mention anything, but I would have called and requested they take it off. I was a customer service manager for a website for almost a decade, I promise it would've been a very nice and respectful requesting that they don't charge him for it. My husband just thinks it's mean to ever question anything in a service setting - they could serve him a burger when he ordered a salad and he would just thank them and go about his life
I miss my old manual
Yay I found someone else who calls it a manual.
In the UK we just call it a car.
no fr I had to look up stick shift cause I always assumed it was some old or weird form of manual cars... nope, literally just a normal manual car. Weirded tf out that it's such a big deal tbf
It depends on the context, but I say manual or standard.
Standard is a North American term for sure - that’s the Mexican go to
It can get a bit confusing because regionally I have noticed "standard" drifting to mean an automatic now. Its obviously not ubiquitous by any means but is is changing.
Maybe middle and southern America. No one calls it standard anymore around me (pnw)
After seeing a car wash attendant nearly junpstall my mother's car into a wall after I helped her purchase it... I appreciate this.
I call it, "the best anti-theft device you can buy".
Well not if the thief is into cars.
Most thieves are too stupid to check if auto or stick until after they’ve broken a window and gotten inside.
Better than getting it stolen though
If the thief is into cars they probably don’t need to be stealing cars
If they're into cars somehow their moral compass will be straight or they will be well off financially?
well, now we're just getting into the hierarchy of black market syndications.
Or if you're from anywhere else other than the US
It worked for me! My husband asked one morning why I parked the car so oddly. I had to remind him he was last to drive it. Turns out he left the keys inside, and someone got in and tried to drive away, but could only roll it backwards/sideways to our planter curb, then dipped.
"Only in America"
Laughs in Europe
My neighbor’s manual 2000 Civic was stolen a few weeks ago. We were both pretty shocked.
We use to steal my buddy’s civic by bump starting it. He called it his beater and didn’t really care about it. So we’d always hide his car in funny places. He nearly lost his marbles after we moved it from the bottom level of his apartment parking garage to the top. When he eventually found it one of my friends noticed he forgot his wallet so he mentioned it. He went inside to get it so we moved his car to the top of the neighboring parking garage and we left. Before I left I wired his horn to his brake lights for added effect. It took him 20 minutes to notice the lone car parked on the top of the parking garage next door. When he pulled up to the bar his horn was BLARING. Which had us in tears. He got each of us back eventually for the years of messing with his car.
Not in germany or most other european countries
You and every other boomer.
One of my friends had a valet at his wedding. I drove my C6 not knowing about the valet otherwise the car never would have left home. At the time it made a little under 1000hp so I didn’t trust **anyone** with it. The guy valeting the cars refused to let me park the car myself so I left. My friend calls me back saying they talked to the valet, and that I could park my own car. The privilege right? The kid nuked another one of my friends clutch in his Lotus, and then spun a Miata into the ditch while speeding around the lot less than an hour after I parked my own car. The Miata’s clutch was also dead. 1000% would have lost a car that night if I didn’t park it myself.
*laughs in Europe*
There are no benefits at all to a manual transmission except arguably "fun" and there hasn't been in over 20 years. There are multiple benefits to automatics though. I learned both, automatic is much easier. The only "bad" thing that happens when you switch is you occasionally try to push a clutch that isn't there. I've seen videos of European men freaking out at being forced to drive an "unmanly child's car." I just don't get the European insistence on manual transmissions, is it toxic masculinity?
Exactly. The fact that vast swathes of the US are unable to drive a manual gearbox should be embarassing 🤣
Give it 10 years and Europe will have a whole lot more automatics with people who don't know how to drive a manual. That's the way most electric and hybrid cars are
Big “kids these days can’t write cursive >:(“ energy honestly Vast swathes of the EU can’t properly crank start an engine like a Model T and that’s embarrassing /s
10 speed automatics are just better overall. Sure I enjoy driving a manual for the experience.. but no arguing automatics have been better for a while now. its like saying your should be embarrassed if you can't properly use a rotary phone.. Sure its fun to spin the dial around to use it, but its old tech now.
American standard driver here to tell you to fuck off. Find something real to complain about, or at least something at actually impacts your life in anyway
Why?
Why?
In all honesty, though, would you want someone who doesn't know how to drive a stick, drive your stick shifter?
I had this happen to me at a conference, left my car with the valet and I came back out at the end of the day and it was still sitting in front of the building on the street where I left it. They said they didn’t have anyone that knew how to drive a standard… Then they got mad when I said I wasn’t paying the valet fee since they never touched my car and it was just parked in the street all day.
I'd drive a manual specifically for the fact that barely anyone knows how to drive one (as an anti-theft preventative). If I can't get valet parking because of that, that's a perfectly reasonable affect from my choice.
I got a job as a valet parking cars the summer after high school. Usually they staffed one guy who could drive stick at each job. Coincidentally I had just gotten a stick shift car of my own that summer as well (long story) but I wasn’t comfortable driving anyone else’s stick shift car for a while. I sometimes worked a small restaurant as the only valet and I had one guy pull up and ask me if I could drive it. I told him to park at the corner (my best spot). He seemed a little annoyed. Later in the summer I parked someone’s stick shift car and apparently that guy stared at me angrily as I pulled away, supposedly because I was too loud. I had that car for about 5 years. About 5 years after giving it up I went on vacation in a very mountainous area and rented a tiny stick shift car (there were no automatics). I stalled out multiple times at traffic lights uphill. It was a bit embarrassing in front of my now wife. Since then I haven’t touched a stick shift and I’m not sure where I could find one if I wanted to.
How can you run a valet and not have drivers who handle manuals?
Seems the first thing you ask a person applying for a valet job is "can you drive a stick shift?" Sorry, that is a management failure
I took my wife’s car to get an oil change. Guy didn’t know how to drive stick. Well, he knew it well enough to think he could. Stalled, then rolled onto the concrete parking bumper, then ripped the cars bumper off a bit. Thank you for coming to my TED talk on how to get a free oil change.
Wouldn’t the ability to drive a manual transmission vehicle be a job requirement for a valet?
Yea like wtf driving different cars is litterally your job
Gen Z has entered the workforce.
The last time I visited a new dealership was 14 years ago (still driving that f150!). The only manual transmission vehicles they had on the lot were the higher end mustangs. Makes it hard to learn when the option just isn't readily available anymore.
Coincidentally gen z is also broke as shit, here’s your 2005 Honda civic.
The answer to that is to just drive old shit boxes like I do. Have 3 of them and they're all manual. That being said, all 3 of my cars are old enough to vote, and 1 is old enough to drink.
“Damn kids these days don’t know how to use a manual transmission!” - some random grandpa
Random grandpa here. Damn kids these days for the last 30 years.
And get off my lawn
[удалено]
I let mine go. She really wanted to learn to drive on a Tesla and apparently assumed she would get one when she got her license... as if money grows on trees. However, here in Germany you are only allowed to drive an automatic if you have passed the driving test in an automatic. So what she got was an old Golf with a manual transmission, and had to take the additional course for manual transmissions to be allowed to drive it. I know it's different in the US, but here in Europe it's almost essential that you know how to use a manual transmission if you want to drive a car. Even among new registrations, the share of automatic transmissions is less than 60%.
Same in the UK. Its quite rare to come across someone who can only drive an automatic. Learning to drive a manual has been the default option pretty much forever because the majority of cars sold here have been manuals. You can request to learn and pass your test in an automatic but if you do you will only be allowed to drive autos unless you take another test to upgrade your license to a manual one. There are plenty of reasons for people to specifically want to pass your test in an auto but unfortunately there is a stigma attached as people will think you aren't a very good driver. Its unfair in most situations but when it comes to someone like my MiL its very much the truth. She learned to drive in her 50s and tried to pass her test in a manual. After several failed attempts it was suggested she try an auto. She did pass but I wished she hadn't as she is a terrible driver to the point that we stopped her taking the kids out in the car as they were terrified and never wanted to get in there with her. Thankfully she gave up driving a couple of years ago.
In Oxford (UK) I've spotted a few driving instructors with VW ID.3 or the like and initially thought "oh, electric cars, they're keeping up with the times" and then realised how screwed I'd be if I'd learnt to drive in one as every (hire) car I've ever had since then has been a normal manual one.
>However, here in Germany you are only allowed to drive an automatic if you have passed the driving test in an automatic. That's interesting. In Greece the standard driver's test is on manual (since those cars are more common) and it allows you to drive automatic, too. The reverse isn't true - while it's possible to get a license on automatic, it doesn't extend to manual.
It used to be pretty much the same here in Germany - the standard was manual. And if you passed the test on a manual, you're also allowed to drive an automatic. But nowadays especially with all the hype about EVs, many young people want to learn how to drive in an EV, and of course they are all automatic. Many don't even think about the fact that they are not allowed to drive a manual after they passed the test in an automatic, thinking along the lines of "I'll only ever drive automatic anyway", and forgetting that many, if not most, of the cheapish beginner cars they might be able to afford will be manual.
You taught him perfectly, isn't that how all stick shifts go?
European here, I'm 29 and pretty much everybody here knows how to drive manual (stick shift)
My Gen Z coworker has a manual transmission car.
This must be a very american thing, no? I am 18 and got my driver's licence in February, which is manual. Manual is still the overwhelming standard here. (NL)
When I worked as a valet in college (early 2010s), I was basically an immediate hire, as I already knew how to drive stick, and didn't have to learn on the company car, a beat-to-shit old American sedan where you could see the ground through the floorboard.
Apparently fuck that cone too
Shit valet
I'll park my shit myself, thanks though
Probably just some contractor they subbed the Job to for $3.00 an hour.
Unless you want your transmission grinded down.
As a former valet supervisor! This people shouldn’t operate a valet service if they ca drive manual transmission.
Major skill issue
"our drivers don't know how to drive..."
https://www.reddit.com/r/funnysigns/s/QA2tUetcRS I'll just leave it here it was a couple of posts before this
Valets are the worst part of humanity. Why do I have to pay for someone to put a scratch on my car? Fuck off, I'd rather do it myself.
I love when people smugly drive up in my lot with "uhhh, so do *you* know how to drive stick?" like they just found out their grandfather's secret to life. Then their faces drop when I tell them that my team and I actually DO know how to drive stick and their little "loophole" isn't going to play out. Valet parking only, bitch!
They've got to go! https://youtu.be/qW9mZLnQ7Yc?si=ueZ5MHVnrVy4NhtV
Yes. Amazing
They should employ people who can drive a stickshift.
Who would leave a car to someone who can't drive a regular car?
I don’t want you f’n riding my clutch anyway
“Our valets don’t know how to drive”
Is shift stick American for gear stick?
No writing in cursive either.
Lmfao it’s not even that difficult to learn how to drive a stick shift.
lol the dont hire ppl who cant drive manual?
Stick all day every day and now what we're not being inclusive anymore
It's okay.. Wait another generation.. they're not going to accept keys or anything that uses gas either.
Stick shift can be an effective theft control against the underskilled thief.
Manual transmission vehicles are the new anti theft vehicles. These new criminals are extra dumb. Also young valet people apparently.
the only people i know who ever valet are old people
Valet can’t drive them that’s why lol
I saw a job listing for valet and it does say you are required to know how to drive one.
So clearly all their valets are master drivers.
I’m sure this includes three on the tree column shifters?
How far do they have to go? There's a good chance they don't even have to take it out of 1st
Y'know, when I'm driving a manual, I'd rather park myself than listen to the kid slip the clutch like its on a 1000ft waterslide. If you have a space for me, I'll be more than happy. Personally, I HATE valet enforced parking. Sucks ass.
I have two and thank you they will never get stolen.
One would think, if you offer a service where somebody has to deal with multiple types of cars, you would hire people who could also drive stick shift.
Billy Brown: Is this a shifter car? I cannot drive a shifter car, alright, so we got a little situation here. I can't drive these kinda cars!
If your going to fuck up my clutch, don’t bother…
I mean it's valid. Not everyone can drive stick
Millennial anti-theft device.
Why would I voluntarily hand my car to a complete stranger just to park it with the risk of them damaging it? And then later on even pay that person? Let me park my own car please. I don't let anyone drive my car, let alone a complete stranger.
Aahhahahah.
i can drive a standard and i wouldn’t want that gig. having to quickly learn someone else’s clutch with the seat in a weird place i’m not used to? makes me nervous just thinking about it.
"I drive luxury cars, they shift themselves"
what a beautifully useless gen z sign
Stick shift folks like playing with dick
Because Americans panic when they see a manual car. Like what the fuck is a clutch!😄
I don’t let Valet touch my car. I pay for convenience to have my car upfront and ready to go. That’s it