I saw the most absurd thing the other day and it involves the State of New Jersey.

Now, let's be frank. We all know the state does a lot of bizarre, inefficient, and head-scratching things, but this one really just took the cake. If for no other reason, it's just kinda funny.

This particular situation takes us to Egg Harbor Township and it involves quite a few state-owned vehicles.

Locals know the English Creek Shopping Center on the Black Horse Pike as a large center of commerce. Shop Rite, Ollie's, Dollar Tree, several restaurants, and more are all there. It's a huge shopping center.

That huge shopping center, naturally, has a huge parking lot. So far, so good.

Recently, chatter popped up on an EHT Facebook page about a large number of signs that went up at that shopping center that designated a large number of parking spaces just for state-owned vehicles. So, naturally, I had to take a look.

Some comments suggested that the State has some office space at that shopping center now. I have not confirmed that, nor did I go out of my way to look. It was cold, and I didn't feel like looking around. But let's just assume that's the case.

Now, here's where it starts to get funny. Yes, the state has reserved parking spots there now. But there aren't just one or two signs...

NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
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Three or four? Oh, that's not enough.

NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
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How about 12? Nope! Those are rookie numbers. We're talking about the State of New Jersey here.

NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
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What about those 12, and then we add another 22 individual signs?

NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
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Yep! Almost three dozen signs should do the trick. And here's where it gets even better.

All of these signs are out at the end of the shopping center's parking lot. In other words, they're not near any stores. No one ever, ever parks there. The only time anyone ever stops there is if they grab food at Burger King or Wendy's, they park there to eat it, and then they're gone in five minutes.

Even so, there are dozens and dozens and dozens of other empty parking spots that are almost always empty. There's no reason to have all of these parking spots specially marked just for the State.

Empty shopping center parking lot in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
Empty shopping center parking lot in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
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And now for the icing on the cake. What do you notice about all of those state-reserved parking spots?

NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
NJ state-owned vehicle parking sign in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
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All but two are empty.

That's because all of the state-owned vehicles in this lot are parked in spots that are NOT designated for state-owned vehicles. They're all parked near those spots.

State-owned vehicles not parked in the state-reserved parking spots in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
State-owned vehicles not parked in the state-reserved parking spots in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
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Dozens of them and almost none of them are in those state-marked parking spots.

State-owned vehicles not parked in the state-reserved parking spots in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
State-owned vehicles not parked in the state-reserved parking spots in Egg Harbor Township NJ - Photo: Chris Coleman
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So I have to ask, why "reserve" all of these parking spots that are in the middle of nowhere in an area that will never have a shortage of parking spots and none of the people driving state-owned vehicles are using those state-reserved parking spots?

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