It never hurts to ask for a little grace.

Redditor SpaceMonkey9001 recently posted a photo of two notes on a vehicle's windshield.

The first note was from the vehicle's owners, asking for a little pity from the Ottawa parking official they knew would soon arrive to ticket them:

"Dear Parking Official," they wrote, "We have lost our key. We are trying to find it! Otherwise, we have to go and get another one out of town. Please take pity on us!"

The officer wrote back, tucking a note in lieu of a ticket under the windshield wipers:

"Driver, I sincerely hope you find your key. Consideration granted for today, June 11th, 2013. Best of luck."

The photo immediately incited passionate discussion on Reddit about parking-ticket experiences, both good and bad.

Some shared similar stories of kindness:

"In Albany, NY, my car battery was officially dead and i was just waiting to ask the parking cop not to give me a ticket. Instead of giving me a ticket, she called her mechanic boyfriend, got me a new battery, and didn't charge me for it," Redditor smithd685 wrote, adding that he makes sure to "always buy her coffee when I see her around now."

"I'm from Tallahassee, cops are actually helpful and will give you the benefit of the doubt as long you don't have an attitude," wrote aceofspades1217.

Other Redditors just considered the tale yet another reinforce of Canada's kind stereotype:

"I spent a spring break in Montreal a few years back, and since I was a poor college student road tripping, I stayed in a hostel. Parking wasn't super easy around there, but if I moved my car to a different street about once a day, I was fine. One morning I slept in because we had stayed out really late and I was hungover. Next thing I know, one of the hostel workers came in and woke me up, asking if I had the black VW. Apparently, it snowed a lot the night before and they were street cleaning. When I came out to move my car, the tow truck was already there, but they were super nice and waited while I went to move my car," wrote IggyPups. "Unfortunately, my little Jetta was stuck in a three foot snow bank. I sat there sweating and panicking, until the tow truck drivers came up and told me they would pull me out of that bank, free of charge. Nicest experience with a tow company I have ever had. Thank you for being so kind, Canada."

"Oh Canada, you never fail to impress me with your kindness," wrote SkittlesNTwix.

"It's Canada. Where honesty and kindness prevail," wrote johnny585.

Have you ever experienced some unexpected kindness from a parking official?