Ain't No Cure For the Summertime Dibs

By Karl Klockars in Miscellaneous on Jul 29, 2010 4:20PM

Yes, those are plastic chairs in the street, and yes, it's nearly August. That, astoundingly enough, is an example of mid-summer "dibs." I was hoping I wasn't going to have to bring that term up for at least a few more months, but in the hopes that this is an isolated event as opposed to a new trend, I thought I'd open this up to the floor. I've seen this a couple times around my neck of the woods recently and wouldn't bring it up except I'm hoping to have my fears dispelled and my faith in humanity restored. Have you seen this anywhere in your neighborhood?

And if you have, is it really that surprising that people would take the concept of "dibs" to a different season? Self-entitlement knows no temperature range, and in a city where this is a tradition that is generally overlooked by the power structure (to a degree), why shouldn't people go ahead and call dibs when and where they like?

So, Constant Readers, what would you do? The vengeance in my heart wants to liberate all the lawn chairs I've seen, my better nature wants to believe there's a valid reason for it, and the law-and-order portion says "inform your alderman and walk away."