How a Line Gets Confirmed

The four rules of a question

A number or a time, never an adjective. "Is the gate attended between ten at night and five in the morning" gets an answer. "Is the lot safe" gets an assurance. About half of all deflections turn into facts when an adjective is replaced by a time or a count.

One question per message. Two questions in one email reliably produce one answer, and the second is the one that mattered.

Ask for the date. "As of today, is that the current pattern" turns a habit into a dated commitment, and a dated commitment can be repeated in a reservation honestly.

No leading. A question that suggests its own answer gets the suggested answer back. This counter does not write "you do clear around standing cars, correct?" because the reply is worthless.

What is actually sent

Plain, short, and identical from lot to lot so that answers are comparable:

Good morning. A customer is asking about parking on the dates below and I would like to give them your own words rather than my summary. Could you tell me, as of today: [one question]. If you would rather not put it in writing that is fine and I will record that the question was asked.

That last sentence is deliberate. It makes silence an acceptable answer, which raises the reply rate and keeps a refusal from feeling adversarial.

What happens to silence

It gets printed. Three shapes:

• No reply at all. The quote says the question was sent, when, and that nothing came back.
• A refusal. "We cannot commit to that." Printed as given. This is what both closed lines are made of.
• A general assurance. Printed as a quotation with nothing added. Reading an operator's answer explains why it is not summarized.

What never happens

An answer is not paraphrased into something tidier. Several lots are not averaged into one claim about the area. A confirmation from a lot is not described as a confirmation from this counter. And nothing that arrived by telephone becomes a written answer without the lot putting it in writing.

Do it yourself

There is nothing proprietary here. Telephone the lots, ask one question at a time with a time or a number in it, ask for the date, and write down who did not answer. This counter exists because that takes an hour and most people would rather spend the hour otherwise, not because the method is a secret.

If you do it yourself and get an answer this site has recorded as unavailable, that is a correction and it is welcome: corrections says what happens to it.