April 01, 2016
Anything can happen on April Fool's Day, even things that happen every day and aren't the least bit funny. Several organizations in Philadelphia took the opportunity Friday to get in a gag or two, but none of them surpassed the cruel provocations of the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
A Reddit user posting in /r/mildly interesting shared a photo of a familiar PPA ticket (the one that usually says you owe them $26), only there was nothing filled out in any of the categories until the Violation ("April Fools!) and fine ($0) sections.
It's not clear how many of these fake tickets were dispersed around the city. Attempts to reach the Philadelphia Parking Authority for comment were not immediately returned. What is clear is that the post generated a couple hundred comments that read as a catalog of insults, weak rationalizations and PPA nightmare stories worthy of commiseration.
From Binbrook_Bertha:
April 16 rolls around..."Payment of your parking violation fine for [$0.00] has not been received within the 15 days allotted. A late penalty of [$45.30] has been added to your fine. Please pay fine within 15 days to avoid further late penalties."
Many of the rest of the comments cannot be reprinted here, but suffice it to say, you should check out the new Parkadelphia app to keep yourself clear of actual tickets.
This wasn't the PPA's only prank of the day, however. It also teamed up with Yards Brewing Co. on a supposed "Philly Parking Ale-thority" beer.
Exciting new collaboration with @PhilaParking called "Philly Parking Ale-thority" #PPA #AprilFools #BrewUntoOthers pic.twitter.com/nlvhgdZdUb
— Yards Brewing Co. (@YardsBrew) April 1, 2016
If you see a ticket on your car tonight, keep your fingers crossed that it's one of the prank tickets and not the real thing.
