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She’s ducked a swinging motorist and had tickets torn up right in front of her. Just a few days ago, an irate motorist threatened to run her over.
It’s all in a day’s work for one of the city’s most reviled workers: the meter maid.
“You just have to always be aware. … You can’t trust people because they might try to hit you with a car,” a 20-something parking enforcement officer said yesterday as she made her way along a congested Boylston Street near Hynes Convention Center.
“It can be very dangerous. … You have to deal with ignorant people. … The other day — I got threatened to get run over by a car three times,” said the parking enforcer, who has been on the job for five years and requested anonymity.
The meter maid’s offense: She had simply asked the driver to move their car.
“People are mean and rude,” she said. “It’s an easy job, but it just depends on the person you encounter.”
As she sees it, the angry backlash has gotten worse over the years, as drivers have become cash-strapped.
“People are struggling, and people are more miserable, it seems,” she said.
At least three drivers have ripped up tickets in front of her — acts of defiance the officer easily shrugs off. “It doesn’t bother me,” she said. “You’re going to pay the ticket. It’s all on you.”
She’s also had a cup thrown at her. Luckily, it was empty.
One of the worst on-the-job encounters took place when she first started. She had just given a woman a ticket for double parking when the driver came at her — right in front of her supervisor.
She “tried to swing on me,” the officer recalled. “She yelled at me, screamed at me and tried to hit me. I saw it coming, so my supervisor kind of intervened, and I also backed up.”
Needless to say, the cops were called.
Despite the abuse, she said, meter maids have to keep their cool.
“You’ve got to act like you’re in your uniform,” she said. “You’ve got to try to be as professional as you can and try to remember that they need to hit you first.”
Yet some people are courteous, she said, and “can accept a ticket” without rancor.
“It’s a really good experience,” she concluded, “but you just have to be well aware that you’re dealing with other humans that have anger issues.”
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