You’d think this NY police officer would cut some slack for this overworked nurse working the front-lines, but no dice.
Doctors, Nurses, all medical staff, and everyone supporting them are literally on the front-lines, fighting cases of coronavirus on top of everyday hospital work. So it outraged Twitter when Hospital administrator Avi Bueno shared a heart-wrenching story he witnessed about how a nurse just wrapped up an overnight shift and returned to her car, only to find a parking ticket slapped on the windshield. When she asked a nearby police officer to help her out, and possibly reverse the fine, he flat out refused her any advice.
Check out the tweet going viral and picking up steam below.
Just saw a nurse, leaving an overnight shift at the hospital, remove a parking ticket from her windshield.
— Avi Bueno (@Avi_Bueno) March 20, 2020
She asked the officer if there was any way he could reverse it. He said no and told her to fight it online.
Not a single thank you.
Cancel fucking meters, @NYCMayor.
Overnight shifts for nurses are typically some of the most grueling shifts. Working in the middle of the night means during daylight hours you’re asleep. If you have family, juggling face-time with kids and loved ones is extra tough. Typically, these shifts run from 11 p.m.- 7 a.m. with some nurses coming in as early as 8 p.m. to prep.
And as it stands, New York, with a highly dense population, has been the hardest hit from Covid-19 with over 5,600 cases and dozens of confirmed deaths. Needless to say, that means some nurses are probably pulling over one shift. They are also literally “in the front-lines” vulnerable to the virus.
A little empathy from others goes a long way.
Several kind souls even offered to pay for the nurse’s parking ticket if the Internet IDs her. According to MyImprov, parking tickets are common and can cost upwards of $125. For a New Yorker that a large chunk for rent, several bags of groceries, or much needed cash that should be saved for rainy times like this.
If you know who she is, tell her to send me the ticket, I’ll pay it. DM me if you need to.
— Cheffrey (@cheffreywithaJ) March 20, 2020
Other followers pointed out how other cities including San Francisco suspended parking tickets all together so people can shelter in place properly and not have to venture out to move their cars every few hours.
San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area have suspended ticketing, in an effort to encourage people to park and stay where they’re at. It’s shameful that someone risking their life for others is penalized for it. We need to have more collective heart than this right now.
— Andrea Norred (@andreanorred) March 21, 2020
in Switzerland the same thing happened and as soon as the police realized what was happening they gave everyone that still has to work (e.g. nurses, employees in grocery stores, bankers etc.) free & unlimited parking passes in the whole city of Zurich
— You (@ALeMoNSter14) March 21, 2020
Parking is expensive in New York and even for hospital workers it can cost upwards of $1,000 just to park legally.
Healthcare workers pay a lot for parking in densely populated cities. This chart is for a hospital near me. The gold – only for physicians and surgeons. The blue is for anyone. But you have to have at least yellow if you work on weekends (and u always work on weekends). pic.twitter.com/KaU7ilUv9X
— Kayla (@Kayla_Resists) March 20, 2020
The tweet smartly tagged NY Governor Andrew Cuomo. With enough traction, this tweet will surely get his attention, or at least someone on his PR team.
But also, playing devil’s advocate, we can’t take Ari’s words for face value. Once a ticket is processed, there’s very little a police officer can do at that very moment to reverse it. Typically tickets are serialized and all accounted for. With digital ticketing, writing VOID on a ticket isn’t an option. Sometimes, the only legal way to reverse a ticket is collect your evidence and show up to court, like the police officer said.
That being said, this officer should’ve at least re-assured the nurse that he’d try his best to help her out with her situation and left his badge number and work number if she had any questions. It cost zero dollars to be a decent human on the clock.
One thing’s for sure, for the time being, ticketing parking meters should be suspended. We don’t need that additional stress in our lives, especially NY’ers, and especially our doctors and nurses.
