Picture this: after a long day at work, or of holiday shopping, you're heading back to your car and you spot a ticket carefully tucked under your wipers. The worst, right?!
Well what if you had the chance to donate to charity instead of paying that stupid fine?
Pay the fee or donate?
Residents in Innisfil, a small town north of Toronto, are granted the opportunity to do just that as part of their second annual Scrooge the Ticket program. Giving us yet another reason to love Canada.
Donations have to be in the form of children's toys, non-perishable food items or gift cards and are donated to the local community church's Christmas Outreach Program.
"No one likes to get a parking ticket, but this is a thoughtful way to have our residents give generously to a great cause leading into the holiday season," Mayor Gord Wauchope said.
When the program was trialled over 14 days last year, it gathered more than $1,100 worth of goods.
The idea, while awesome, is not the first of its kind. Similar "toys for tickets" programs run in other Canadian and US cities.
What an awesome way to give back!