Making someone's job easier?

[SleepyKitty]

So, I have a question that may fall under the "nice vs. polite" category. I'm currently house-sitting for my sister in a different state. She lives in a condo, with six units and a small parking lot that has spaces for twelve cars. My sister and her husband have two cars, parked in their assigned two spaces. Normally, I expect plowing a parking lot of this size to take maybe five minutes, tops.

Last night it snowed, and this morning the guys hired by the condo owners showed up to plow. I was snuggled in bed, still in my sweatpants and watching TV (because hey, this is the closest I get to a vacation). After twenty minutes - yes, I started timing it - the doorbell rang. I answered it to find one of the plowers, who asked me to move the two cars so that he could plow the spaces they were in. I explained to him that I only had keys for one of the cars, and could not move the other. But there was really not that much snow, since the two cars were only "boxed" in by a thin line of snow, and I said I would simply shovel it out myself after lunch and they shouldn't worry about it. He nodded and moved on, and I went back inside and hopped in the shower.

When I was finished, I was surprised to *still* hear scraping noises (those of you who live in snowy areas know how distinctive the sound of a shovel or plow blade against pavement is). I had been in the shower for a good fifteen minutes by this point, and really - this was a very small parking lot. I could not believe they could possibly still be plowing it, so I peeked out the window (after dressing of course) to see that they had shoveled the two cars out by hand and were doing the same for three other cars also left in the lot.

Now I feel bad - in retrospect, I'm assuming that the terms of their job were to completely clear the parking lot of snow, even around the cars. I've never really heard of that before, since in my state plows clear out the main areas of a parking lot but you're responsible for the immediate area around your car. Still, since they spent in total almost an hour just on this small lot, it must be in the terms of the contract. I feel like they had to go through the trouble of doing something by hand that they could have done with the plow more quickly and comfortably just because I didn't really feel like getting a coat and boots on and moving the car. There was no good reason I didn't move the car, I was just feeling lazy. Should I have gone out and moved the car that I had keys for to make their job easier?

[CakeBeret]

No, I think you're perfectly fine. Their job is to see that the snow gets removed; moving the cars would make their job easier, but it's not your responsibility. As long as you do it politely, I can't see any rudeness in declining to move the cars.

I would have done the same thing. No way am I getting out of my cozy warm spot to go move cars in the snow.

[heartmug]

No, I think you're perfectly fine. Their job is to see that the snow gets removed; moving the cars would make their job easier, but it's not your responsibility. As long as you do it politely, I can't see any rudeness in declining to move the cars.

POD.  And what if you were not there housesitting?  The same thing.  No one to move the cars and they have to figure out how to work around that.  People leave early for work, travel, etc.  Someone is not always home.

[siamesecat2965]

In my apt complex, they are pretty good about snow removal. Where I live, the parking lot is also the access in and out of the complex. I live in the very back corner, so there is parking on one side, right behind the one building, then the access roadway, then across, more parking.

Since I'm in the back corner, there are always empty spaces. They usually plow the roadway first, then the empty spaces. I do have issue with the fact if my car is the last one, they'll plow snow right up against the tires, but I digress.

What normally happens is I'll go dig out/clean off my car, then move it to a cleared area, as do my neighbors. then, eithre that day. or maybe the next, they'll come back when the other areas are free of cars, and plow that. But I also live in a 900+ unit complex, so it takes a while for them to get it all done.

[Bees]

My theory is if you can move your car without the snow plow coming through then the lot didn't need plowing in the first place.
The worst thing in the snow plow /parking area is that wall that builds up on the edges right behind your car.
That turns to solid ice blocks very quickly and is really hard to break up.

Just for getting along with the world, it would have been kind and courteous of you to go and move the car you have keys for. You were there, it was possible, and they asked.

[jpcher]

I think you're fine.

I have a service clean off my driveway and they have never asked me to move my cars. They do have to shovel on either sides of the car, but I have nowhere to move my cars to (can't park on the street due to street plowers.)

Services are used to this and they know what they're getting into. Like heartmug said, what if you weren't house-sitting? They would have had to shovel around the cars anyway.

[EnoughAlready22]

My theory is if you can move your car without the snow plow coming through then the lot didn't need plowing in the first place.
The worst thing in the snow plow /parking area is that wall that builds up on the edges right behind your car.
That turns to solid ice blocks very quickly and is really hard to break up.

Just for getting along with the world, it would have been kind and courteous of you to go and move the car you have keys for. You were there, it was possible, and they asked.

I agree with this.  If there was enough snow to plow, wouldn't you have had to clean off the car before you could move it?