I read the article on the parking attendants’ strike by Nico Colombant (“Casting Lots,” 5/25) with great interest. When the articles written in 1993 by the Washington Post were mentioned, it hit close to home for me and my wife. She worked for Penn Parking, the successor to HMC Management Corp. Other than letting the parking-lot workers unionize, the only difference was that conditions were much, much worse. Her day started at 11 a.m., and, except for one half-hour break (when she had a relief worker), she was not allowed to leave the booth for any reason. There wasn’t a bathroom (or portable toilet) in or near the booth, there weren’t any buttons on the only phone in the booth, she was never given the phone number to the booth she was working to be reached in case of emergency, and her day wasn’t over until 10 p.m. It finally came to a head for us when she was robbed (with a gun to her forehead) and then accused of staging the whole thing. They gave her a polygraph test (which she passed) and then threatened her with termination. She ended up quitting. We tried contacting the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, which was no help whatsoever, and the same conditions remain. I would like to see a follow-up story on this—I guarantee the “before” and “after” would look exactly the same.

Hyattsville, Md.