SEEING
GREEN
A day in the life of the most hated workers on campus A day in the life of the most hated workers on campus
BY | SEAN BOWER PHOTOGRAPHY | MICHAEL MASSAS
After following a UCF parking patroller around for part of her shift, I’d say some UCF commuters are lucky Parking Services can’t give out citations for ignorance. Minutes into a ride-along with Callie Wright, senior patroller, it became obvious that the bad reputation the ticket-writers have is undeserved. Wright, who normally patrols on foot, was allowed a car to bring along senior patroller Miguel Guzman, Centric photographer Michael Massas and myself. After departing from the Garage D office, Wright drove slowly through lot H4, making sure that all vehicles were parked correctly, with a current decal and a valid license plate. Nearby, a red Mustang with a green decal pulled into a faculty and staff parking spot, where red or blue decals are required. Rather than wait for the students to leave and write a ticket, Wright drove up and asked them to move to a section of the lot designated for green permits. The passenger said he was unaware they had parked in a faculty spot, despite being just yards away from a sign that said so, and agreed to move. 20 | Centric
“We give people opportunities,” Guzman said. “We try to keep everything regulated in a positive way.” Fifteen minutes later, we returned to lot H4 to find the red Mustang in the same faculty spot. I couldn’t believe the obvious disrespect from the students who left the Mustang. I was irritated, and I wasn’t the one who politely asked them to move. In contrast, Wright showed no anger. She calmly wrote down the license plate number and vehicle description, took pictures of the vehicle, scanned the decal and left a wrong-lot ticket — a $25 fine. Students aimed disapproving looks our way as Wright wrote the citation. That’s because some people, like TV Production major Ryan Francis, have a negative outlook on patrollers and their work. “I’d like to think it’s for our safety, but it’s always nice to have a little revenue too,” he said. Rather than giving out tickets to build UCF revenue, the parking patrollers said they do so for a different reason. “They seem to think that we want to be mean,” Wright said. “But the main reason we give tickets is because there are people who pay