"Dibs!"

W.I.P

In Chicago, dibs happens during the winter months after heavy snowfall. The unspoken rule goes like this:

If you dug a car-sized trench out of the snow, that spot is yours.

To mark it, you drop an object in the space—usually something loud, ugly, and unmistakably personal.

Common dibs markers

Lawn chairs (the classic)

Buckets, milk crates

Traffic cones

Broken sleds, folding tables

Occasionally… things that shouldn’t be outside at all

Why it exists

Parking is already brutal.

Snow makes it survival-level brutal.

Digging out a car can take 30–90 minutes.

Dibs is the city’s blue-collar logic: labor equals temporary ownership.

The unwritten rules

Dibs is not a law—the city does not officially recognize it.

It’s enforced socially, not legally.

Taking someone’s dibs spot risks:

Dirty looks

Notes on your windshield

Buried tires

Or worse—Chicago-style passive aggression

How long does dibs last?

That’s the eternal debate.

Some say 24–48 hours

Some say until the snow melts

Some say “as long as my chair is there”