Everyone has pet peeves.

Mine?

People who back into parking spaces.

Specifically, waiting behind people who back into parking spaces.

The parking garage at my old office was old-school. Narrow. Two-way traffic. Dangerous turns where you can’t see oncoming vehicles.

As I was heading up to my usual area on the fifth floor (I park in the same place so I don’t have remember where I left my car), I passed a full first floor.

A full second.

And a full third.

Halfway up the fourth floor, one space remained open.

A space between a truck and a support pillar.

Not an easy space to get into – even for a small car.

Still, the man in the SUV in front of me chose this spot.

As if the space wasn’t difficult enough to get into, he decided to back in.

One Unhappy Copywriter

As mentioned, the parking garage is narrow.

If someone decides to back into a space, you can’t go around.

You have to wait.

So I waited.

He backed halfway into the space.

Then pulled forward to get a better angle.

Then inched back.

The angle was still not right – and the space was so small that there was no margin for error – so he had to pull forward again.

Then he backed up. Inch. By. Inch.

Then he pulled forward again to readjust the angle.

Then he rolled down the window, stuck his head out and looked back to make sure he wouldn’t hit the pillar.

All clear.

Slowly, he backed in.

By this time, I was totally annoyed.

Once his car was three-fourths of the way in, I had just enough room to maneuver around him.

I did and made my way toward the fifth floor.

Rationally, I understood that my anger made no sense.

I had lost maybe 30 or 45 seconds of time.

Still, it was annoying.

And rude.

He knew I couldn’t pass, but chose to hold up traffic anyway.

As I made my way toward the fifth floor, I passed dozens of open spaces on the fourth.

And even more on the fifth.

I parked and walked down the stairs.

Here’s the ironic part.

On the fourth-floor landing, I looked back and saw that the driver was just now getting out of his car.

I had taken the longer route.

And the longer route was faster.

If the two of us were in a race to get into our offices that day, I would have won.

It got me thinking.

Forcing the fit rarely results in the desired outcome.

This Happens All the Time in Advertising

We know a client’s not a good fit for the agency, but they pay us, so we force the fit even though the account makes everyone miserable.

Even worse, we limit our possibilities and opportunities.

By trying to squeeze into a tight space, the SUV driver missed all of the opportunities one floor up.

We do the same thing in our agencies.

Forcing the fit with certain clients takes time away from the accounts that are good fits – as well as time that could be spent finding new and better clients.

As an agency owner, it’s difficult to walk away from a client (and the money).

But when we stop forcing the fit, we start to see opportunities we never knew were there.

 

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Photo by KS KYUNG on Unsplash