After a little oopsie involving some questionable parking spaces, a closed dentist office and a cup of Turkish coffee – I accidentally landed myself on national news this week over a parking sticker of all things. Definitely not something I had on my 2025 bingo card but here we are.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/windsor/video/2025/04/08/stickers-on-unauthorized-parked-cars/
I’ve always tried to keep my page focused on showcasing the positive side of our community and highlighting amazing local initiatives, businesses and organizations but unfortunately not everything that happens in YQG is sunshine and shoutouts. Being a community advocate sometimes means calling out questionable behaviour, even if it feels a little petty in the process. I try my best to approach these situations with a bit of humour and meme on serious topics to make light of them.
After parking in a spot that was adjacent to the alley next to Troya Cafe in Windsor Ontario, a “nearly impossible to remove” sticker was put on the driver side window of our car. I questioned the cafe about the sticker and asked them to clarify if those specific parking spots weren’t theirs – the person I spoke to seemed defeated and apologized profusely, saying that they had complaints from customers previously about stickers and they weren’t sure if the dental office was paying someone to sit around on a Sunday just to sticker peoples cars.. because they were closed anyways.
The next day, I tried reaching out a neighbouring business to see if they had security camera footage to see who did it but I got impatient and figured I’d call the dental office directly to enquire. To my surprise, they told me I shouldn’t have parked there and after a brief hold admitted to having security there on the Sunday and claimed responsibility for the sticker.
While I respect the confidence and honesty, it also kind of pissed me off at how casual they were to admit to this instead of following proper legal avenues to enforce their parking lot. After the phone call, I slapped together a video and posted the experience removing the sticker online to vent a little and bring some awareness to what felt like a disproportionate reaction to a simple parking mistake. I didn’t really expect it to pop off this hard but people seemed to relate to it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DIJ_ZTWvWT-/
Since posting, the comment section on the video has garnered a lot of support and brought together others who’ve experienced the same situation. While writing this blog post, the video currently sits at 138,000 views on Instagram alone.
While I’ve been informed that the sticker could technically warrant a mischief charge (which I joked about in the original post after being advised of that) … I think that’s a bit excessive. I can only hope that they got the point that what they were doing is wrong and reconsider their actions in the future.
As for seeking damages, my lawyers are busy and I don’t really want to bother them for $4 in Dollarama supplies and some elbow grease.
Anyways, I sincerely apologize for the parking oopsie but next time just tow my car or something.
To answer some questions I’m sick of answering:
- The news reached out to me – I thought it was important to agree given the community reaction to the video. Up until now, I have declined every news interview request that I’ve ever gotten so, no, this wasn’t an attention ploy. I hate being a public person and on camera despite being a “content creator’.
- I acknowledged in the original post that it’s private property and we oopsied. This also wasn’t taking spots away from customers as the office was also closed on Sundays, but thats not the main point.
- I encourage them to continue enforcing their parking because I’m sure it’s frustrating having people park in the lot, but the sticker being so hard to remove is excessive and I would’ve preferred getting towed or ticketed. I also don’t think it’s entitled to ask that your car isn’t vandalized instead of proper LEGAL enforcement.
- If this is an ongoing issue with the cafe (which it seems to be) I recommend working together to come up with a solution to notify their customers – like a sign on the wall?
- Yes there are signs on the dental wall and fence, but the spots by the alley and exit/entrance don’t. The CIBC down the street has good signs along the lawyer office wall which are stand alone posts where there is no wall to attach, I’d recommend those.. or a cheap chain to close the lot on closed days/after hours.
- We removed the sticker on the spot because the window sometimes gets stuck and were concerned with it becoming a safety issue.
- The window has scratches on it from trying to get it off, despite using alcohol and goo gone to dissolve the adhesive.
- Someone that was stopped at the light saw us taking off the sticker and came back around with goo gone. Absolute legends.
- I think it goes without saying that I don’t condone any harassment to the office.
Links:
Thanks to Sanjay for reaching out and covering the story, AM800’s Dan Macdonald Show and Mike & Meg for continuing the conversation and the YQG community for always supporting ya boy.
CTV news article by Sanjay Maru: https://www.ctvnews.ca/windsor/article/driver-questions-use-of-hard-to-remove-stickers-for-parking-enforcement-at-windsor-business/
CTV Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ctvnews/video/7491390502424612101
CTV Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfJUDLAc298
AM800 Mornings with Mike & Meg: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/962-mornings-with-mike-and-meg-76578045/episode/is-this-fair-or-foul-272109455/
blogTO – Becky Robertson: https://www.blogto.com/city/2025/04/ontario-business-no-parking-stickers/
