But he says he only did it once -- ten years is about the longest single work shift I ever heard of.
I dont' see him saying he only did it once. I see him saying he parked there that day because he was running late.
Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I will assume he runs late a few times a month and parks in that lot, thinking he's taking a risk, but will pay a ticket if he gets caught.
It probably has been 10 years he's been doing it. If he parked there a few times and never got a ticket, he may believe the parking people rarely check there.
To the other guy, who goes in to work (also, what kind of crappy employer makes its employees PAY for parking?!?) he sees it "EVERY DAY", or, more likely a few times a month and extrapolates that he just missed it those other days. Could easily be a lot of people with mistaken impressions.
Yes, the parker wrong, but he was as wrong as someone speeding.
Of course, no one condemning him ever speeds, right?