back to article Dead Steve Jobs owed $174 by San Francisco parking ticket wardens

Steve Jobs is owed $174 by San Francisco parking attendants. It's not just the deceased co-founder of Apple either. PayPal co-founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel is owed $170; Napster co-founder and Facebook's first president Sean Parker $320; Salesforce's Marc Benioff $94. But top of the pile comes, ironically, CEO of …

  1. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    "CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick, who is owed a significant $510..."

    Uber CEO owns a car? That he has to park? Sometimes illegally?

    Really?

    Has his own car to avoid those sometimes violent Uber drivers?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Re: "CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick, who is owed a significant $510..."

      > Uber CEO owns a car? [...] Really?

      Who do you think Uber's first driver was? Gotta start somewhere. :-)

      1. Mark 85
        Coat

        Re: "CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick, who is owed a significant $510..."

        Who do you think Uber's first driver was? Gotta start somewhere. :-)

        Maybe his wife or one of the kids... ???

    2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: "CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick, who is owed a significant $510..."

      And that's everything you need to know about Uber. If their CEO doesn't use it, why oh why should I?

  2. JamesSmith1

    Why VCs don't get tickets....

    They're all way way too drunk to drive. Judging from my friend (a SF VC), being a Venture Capitalist is a lot like being homeless, except you get to have money.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Bait?

    We owe you xxx amount of cash, please contact us.

    Aha, so there you are: you also owe us yyyy amount of cash, please pay!

    ???

    Profit!

    Why does that go through my mind? :P

    1. RIBrsiq

      Re: Bait?

      Unlikely.

      My bet is that while government apparently finds it exceedingly challenging to track down people it owes money, it doesn't find it that hard to track down people who owe it money.

  4. MrT

    And if you owed them...

    ... would they leave it as long?

    And why the outdated way of refunding? It's almost as if they have "Make it difficult" as a mantra and even at point of refund they are desperately trying to hang on to what's not theirs for a few weeks longer.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    They probably never realised they had a ticket

    One thing we've learnt in the past week is that being wealthy, successful San Francisco residents they probably thought the ugly Interceptors were just the equivalent of slightly upscale cardboard boxes, sheltering an offensive minimum-wage loser inside - nothing to do with them. An outrage, frankly, that they should be forced to even see them as they went about their successful entrepreneurial lives! And in any case, spending their valuable time begging for a paltry $100 refund would just make them look like poor people themselves.

    1. Someone_Somewhere

      Re: They probably never realised they had a ticket

      Not a problem: https://medium.com/halting-problem/tech-bro-creates-augmented-reality-app-to-filter-out-homeless-people-3bf8d827b0df

      It works like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR6SsQcupao

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Do they get interest & penalty bonus?

    As far as I know, every parking ticket system in the world is supported by a particularly aggressive fine system where costs quickly rack up when the fine is not paid timely.

    In the interest of balance it would only be fair to apply that to refunds, and I think I have just given myself an idea for the next incorrectly issued ticket. Not because I need the extra money, but because that would be an *excellent* precedent to establish for ending the tide of "mistakes" that just happen to make money. Making it cost could make a difference, and may prove entertaining to boot.

    It's a shame I don't like publicity..

  7. John Tserkezis

    "They would never leave money on the table – even if it's $30?"

    Whoa, hang on there, just slow down for second there...

    Are you trying to tell me that a parking ticket cost $30?

    These guys must have no testicles - Here in Australia, depending where, you could be knocked off for the better part of AU$500 if you dare park where you shouldn't (according to the council gods)

    1. leexgx

      how can they justify that large amount of ticket (most driving offences in oss land are not that much)

  8. Simon Jones [MSDL]

    What's a "parking day"?

    "Having lived in San Francisco for a number of years and suffered under the depressingly efficient little machines of Satan called Interceptors – particularly on parking days – we have a much more precise theory: crappy web design."

    I have no idea what you mean by "particularly on parking days". What is a "parking day"?

    1. Martin 47

      Re: What's a "parking day"?

      I think it's a day when they eat http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1751649/yorkshire-parkin

      ......although, typically they are spelling parkin wrong

    2. Martin Summers Silver badge

      Re: What's a "parking day"?

      I would imagine they are working days when everyone and his chihuahua are trying to find somewhere to park and hence the parking restrictions are in force. Like in the UK when it is free after 6 in most municipal car parks but you'll be charged before and fined if you overstay or don't pay.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What's a "parking day"?

        Free after 6pm? You must live in a Utopia that is on a planet far, far away.

        Here in N.E. Hampshire the parking charges are 24hrs a day every day. It is little wonder that people vote with their feet or rather steering wheels and shop outside the borough?

        And the ALL effing Bus lanes are 24/7 and most of them are totally devoid of busses after 7pm.

        Not even Boris Island (London) has 24/7 on every bus lane. No wonder our MP wants out of the EU.

        1. oddie

          Re: What's a "parking day"?

          For a while I read N.E Hampshire as New Hampshire and wondered how you managed to have an MP that wanted to leave the EU.

          1. MyffyW Silver badge

            Re: What's a "parking day"?

            @oddie - my mistake too. I read New Hampshire and thought Boris was wading into the Free State Project

            Wouldn't put anything past the careerist bounder.

        2. H in The Hague

          Re: What's a "parking day"?

          Ermm, what's the connection between your district council imposing 24/7 parking charges and your MP wanting to get out of the EU? Enquiring mind wants to know.

          1. Boo Radley

            Re: What's a "parking day"?

            At Ohio State University, we had Football Days, when, if it was a home game, they would simply tow your car. The signs simply stated No Parking on Football Days. Any other time, there was no charge to park, and no other restrictions. My roommate used to lose his car at least once a month - who pays attention to if its a home or away game (cars only towed on home game days.)

    3. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: What's a "parking day"?

      Some kind of art thing where they take over parking spaces for something other than parking a car. Perhaps the author suffered traffic warden rage and they ran over his artistic expression in one of them.

      http://parkingday.org/about-parking-day/

  9. Highroads

    Cake I will survive

    The little car reminds me of the video to Cake's I will survive.

  10. Andy Taylor

    How did they give Steve Jobs tickets?

    As Jobs famously drove cars without a number plate (thanks to local laws regarding new cars and registration), how did they know it was him?

    1. kain preacher

      Re: How did they give Steve Jobs tickets?

      That light thing in the left hand corner called a vin.

    2. Fink-Nottle

      Re: How did they give Steve Jobs tickets?

      Jobs also infamously parked his cars in disabled parking spaces, so in my book he deserved every penny he was fined. No refunds for Dead Steve!

      1. Kubla Cant

        Re: How did they give Steve Jobs tickets?

        Jobs also infamously parked his cars in disabled parking spaces, so in my book he deserved every penny he was fined. No refunds for Dead Steve!

        To be fair, being dead is about as disabled as it gets.

        1. Fink-Nottle

          Re: How did they give Steve Jobs tickets?

          To be fair, being dead is about as disabled as it gets.

          When it comes to illegal parking, death is no excuse.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How did they give Steve Jobs tickets?

      As Jobs famously drove cars without a number plate (thanks to local laws regarding new cars and registration), how did they know it was him?

      Roll neck recognition cameras, of course..

    4. PNGuinn
      Happy

      Re: How did they give Steve Jobs tickets?

      Parking on rounded corners?

  11. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    I suppose refunding via the card was another concept too difficult for their s/w designers.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      If the list starts 12 years ago, many cards will have expired.

      1. Adam 52 Silver badge

        The card issuers will give you the new expiry date if you've taken payment against the card (for a fee). Search for "account updater" for Visa and "billing updater" for Mastercard.

      2. Old Handle

        Plus they didn't need to wait 12 years, did they? Apparently they've known this was happening at least since 2004.

  12. johnfbw

    Name and Address

    They have the name and address for every person on that list - why have they not just sent a cheque? (or check - it is America!)

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Name and Address

      It seems they just have names and licence plate numbers. You need to give them an address. Seems like the it's the perfect opportunity for ne'er do wells to get up to some mischief.

      Also note that they don't give very long to apply - till the 3rd of March (or 4th of March, depending on where you read). After that they keep the money. Anyone would think they have an interest in making a inefficient error-prone claim-back service.

  13. kain preacher

    I'm shocked

    Mostly at the fact that SF would give refunds for parking tickets.

  14. Herby

    Yes, parking in "The City" is a B**CH!!

    It always has been. Long time ago a group of abused citizens found out the name of their local "meter maid" who was particularly aggressive on the timing of meters. They got together and bought a complete junker of a vehicle and parked it on her route. They also blessed her with the title to said vehicle. Dutifuly the meter maid applied ticket after ticket to this parking outlaw vehicle. After a month of tickets, I believe that the vehicle was towed, but it had many many parking tickets (worth big bux) on it. Add on to this the penalties for not paying on time and towing fees, and the meter maid got her just rewards.

    As for VC's they all live on Sand Hill Road (where parking is much more plentiful).

  15. Tank boy
    FAIL

    Well then

    Who pays parking tickets anyway? Beggars the imagination.

  16. GBE

    Thanks for not abusing "begs the question"

    "Another question begging to be asked:"

    You have my very sincere thanks for not misusing the phrase "begs the question". The inappropriate use of this much-abused phrase has become so common that you'd think it would stop irritating me by now, but alas not. I suppose eventually we traditionalists will have to give up and concede that a language is defined by its speakers/writers and the meaning has changed since my days in an undergraduate philosophy class. But I'm still fighting on this one...

    1. Fink-Nottle

      Re: Thanks for not abusing "begs the question"

      I suppose eventually we traditionalists will have to give up and concede that a language is defined by its speakers/writers and the meaning has changed since my days in an undergraduate philosophy class.

      The Oxford Dictionary of English states that the more general usage of the phrase has arisen "over the past 100 years or so" which begs the question of when exactly you were a philosophy undergraduate.

      1. GBE

        Re: Thanks for not abusing "begs the question"

        "The Oxford Dictionary of English states that the more general usage of the phrase has arisen "over the past 100 years or so" which begs the question of when exactly you were a philosophy undergraduate."

        Let's just say it's been more than 1/3 and less than 1/2 of a century.

  17. John H Woods Silver badge

    yes ...

    ... ironically if you use the phrase petito principii the people who misuse "begging the question" ask why you feel you have to use Latin

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like