I’m not sure who edited the current entry for “Valet Parking” on wikipedia.org but they apparently seemed it relevant to include an entire section on “shenanigans,” or slightly shady parking practices for special clients. In a relatively short entry, its surprising to me that this kind of information would deemed important to the topic. You can judge for yourself:
Shenanigans
Valet Parking waiting stations, found usually on the sidewalk or curb in urban areas, directly in front of bars or restaurants, will often use the available parking on the street as “extra-fee” parking. To keep the vehicles owned by famous individuals such as sports stars, actors and actresses, local officials or establishment owners (and his friends), the Valet service attendants and/or drivers will park these vehicles in short-term or prohibited parking spots on the street. It is common to find expensive vehicles directly in front of a popular bar or restaurant for hours or an entire evening, even though the parking space used is a 20-minute maximum spot, a red zone, loading zone or other similar parking spot that can be easily manipulated by shuffling vehicles after the Meter maid makes his chalking of the car tires. Handicapped Parking spots are infrequently used due to the very high penalty associated.
Parking in these special parking spots is usually obtained by the Valet attendants through use of cones or the employee’s car. An attendant will park his vehicle in the time-limited spot early in the evening. As the evening runs on, a local baseball player or similar frequent visitor will drive up and present a $50 or higher bill and ask for the car to be parked “up front”. Upon recovery, the vehicle owner may present an additional $50 or $100 to have his keys back. He will then simply walk to his car with date(s). Sometimes the owner may ask for his car to be prepped with a certain song playing upon recovery, in which case the establishment manager will present the owner’s ticket before the vehicle owner leaves the establishment. The car will simply be started and warmed up for an even higher monetary tip.