Can You Stand in a Parking Spot To Reserve it For Someone Else?

What would you do if you saw someone doing this?

Sometimes parking in the Hudson Valley can be a complete nightmare. This kind of behavior should not be tolerated.

This happened to me over the weekend and it's absolutely ridiculous.

There are all sorts of written and unwritten rules when it comes to driving a vehicle on the road. Who would have thought that parking lots needed a set of their own.

This is New York. I know we are not in Brooklyn or Manhattan but even in busy parts of the Hudson Valley like Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and Beacon parking can be quite the headache.

Up until this past weekend I thought that I had seen everything.

I'm curious if you have ever encountered this before.

I drove into the parking lot of a local mall. It was packed and hectic. I had trouble finding a spot. It was looking grim and like I would have to park in the very back. When suddenly I saw glimmer of hope. I saw an open spot towards the front.

As I was turning into the spot I was forced to come to a halt halfway in.

A woman was standing in the middle of it. She was talking on her cell phone. I did what I feel any other New Yorker would have done. I laid on the horn and shouted at her.

She proceeded to tell me that she was holding the spot for her friend who would be there any minute.

She wouldn't move and I didn't run her down. I ended up just parking in the spot at the end but did I miss something? Is this allowed?