You Gotta Be Kidding!

Man, I was ticked last night. I was on my way home from emceeing an event at the La Crosse Center. I had parked on Level 4 of the parking ramp across from the Center, and when I had arrived at 4pm I had to stop for the gate and get a ticket. Knowing I was going to be there for about 6 hours, I really didn't mind paying a few bucks for parking. So when I backed out of stall at the end of the night, around 10pm, I was not happy to find it was bumper-to-bumper waiting to get out. I figured there wasn't much I could do about it since everyone had to stop and pay on the way out, right? And after all, I had parked on the 4th level. Imagine my surprise when I got to the gate, put my ticket in, and the machine said I didn't owe a dime, lifted the gate and out I went. Now, I'm not griping because I didn't have to pay. After all, that was nice. But there's a sign right on the machine that says "If Gate Is Up, No Payment Is Due", so clearly they can set the gates to stay open. So why then, did they make everyone stop at the gate, put our ticket in, and then let us go for free? You see what I'm saying? I sat in line for nearly a half hour while everyone had to stop when the gates could have just been left up and we all could have been out of there in half the time. Again, thanks for not charging me, but when you have to get up at 4 in the morning, it's no fun sitting in the ramp for a half hour. What do you think, should I have just been thankful I didn't get charged? What are your parking pet peeves/
Drop me a line: john@kicks1063.com