Think Co-Worker Let Air Out of One of my Tires 4

[casseopeia]

I don’t really want to get into a great deal of detail, but I am fairly certain, say 91%, that a coworker let the air out of one of my tires yesterday. Tire was fine, not even low when I left home and drove to work. Went to my car in the afternoon to run an errand to find the front passenger tire completely flat. Not just really low. Hanging off the rim flat. So I jacked the car up, put on the spare and took the tire to a tire shop (not a chain outlet either) two blocks up the street. I know the tire guys well and one of the tow services they use is owned by a good friend.

So I asked them to really check the tire carefully for damage from road debris, and to check the valve for damage. It was a fairly new tire with about 10,000 miles on it. The tire guys found nothing, so they filled it up with air, tested it for a slow leak and put it back on my car. The guy who checked it out had the same thought, that the air was deliberately let out.

I’ve since driven about 60-70 miles without loss of any air. I also have not parked next to this coworker's car.

So do I send out an email to everyone in the office to caution them about ‘malicious mischief’ in the parking garage without naming anyone? Or do I try to reproduce the parking situation I believe prompted the tire flattening to see if it recurs? Confront the guy about my suspicion?



"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Reproduce the parking situation, but leave a motion activated video recorder running from a suitable vantage point. If they are caught in the act, then you can decide a more suitable response. The responses you suggested could make you appear to be paranoid.

Any reason the co-worker might have done this? Have you upset him/her? Did you park too close? Do they not like Hondas?

Is the co-worker a friend of Crystal Beth?

 

[SomptingGuy]

How much did the tire shop make out of this event?

- Steve

 

[oldfieldguy]

Cass-

You need to keep better company...

old field guy

 

[drawoh]

casseopeia,

Could the air letter outer be a passing vandal?

Consider all the possibilities.

JHG

 

[KENAT]

You had to post this one in Ethics not the pub.

If in the pub I'd say something like "stuff the email, assume they are guilty until proven innocent and return the favour, only 'deflate' the tires in a manner that can't be repaired and do more than one"

However that's unethical so I couldnt' possibly condone such action in this forum.;-)

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[casseopeia]

CBL, We have a parking garage that provides too few parking spaces, is poorly designed and poorly striped. I was left with the only remaining spot between Mr. Suspect’s immaculate, shiny, new, slightly girly sedan and another co-worker’s pickup. Normally I’ll take the top space in my sketch and back in as close to the column as possible, but this guy pulled in forward and had to hug the right hand stripe to clear the column with his car door. The pickup needs a pretty wide space, about the full width of the striping. So I backed my car in, about 10-12” away from Mr. Suspect’s car, passenger side to passenger side. Not enough room for either of us to get into the passenger side, but just enough room for me to get out of my car and for the pickup driver to get into his.

Other than that, I have no work-related interaction with this guy. He’s been here less than a month and our jobs do not overlap. I don’t think I’ve said more than about 5 words to him since he’s been here.

And I don't think it was my neighbor, Crystal Beth. She would have thrown eggs or doggie droppings on my car. That's more her style. Besides, things have been pretty quiet with her since I was granted a TRO last week. But I'll save that story for the Pub.

drawoh, we do get an occasional vandal. There has been one stolen car (keys left in it), a couple of smashed windows with items stolen from inside the car and several instances of people using the garage as a giant outdoor toilet. This was more of a retaliatory gesture, not an opportunity to obtain some drug money or answer the call of nature.

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I take back my previous offer of moving into the house on the other side of me from ctopher... you just attract an unsavory element.




If it's not a bother, I would do exactly as CBL suggests... proof is so much easier to work with than suspicion.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[KENAT]

Can anyone else tell Cass is an Architect just from the pretty picture? Mine, such as when reporting a traffic accident to insurance, are a lot simpler.

How big is your place, big enough to just let HR know there's been some more 'vandalism' in the parking garage and that people should keep an eye out?

Also, weren't you the person that posted the PC recomended way to talk to someone about an issue in some poor female engineers thread a while back. Any nuggets of wisdom in that you can use?

Some claim a piece of gravel the correct size in a valve cap does a nice job of creating a slow leak, just so's you know;-)

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[SomptingGuy]

Car parking politics!

Someone wrote "Tosser" and clipped it under the wiper of a car deemed too closely parked where I work a while back. It sparked a bit of a war of words. Sounds like the same kind of thing.

- Steve

 

[jmw]

Sounds like sufficient incidents for the operators of the car park to install CCTV.
I'd log the incident, with any comments or concerns just to get something on record. You might suggest a need for CCTV.

Don't expect anything to happen but if something else untoward should happen then you are building a possible case against the operators, if they have a duty of care they are not fulfilling.

Not much that can be done about the design but you could comment on the poor stripes and maybe consider any other possible issues too such as whether there is proper lighting for night time etc. The operators probably won't want to be faced with any litigation because of due diligence or reasonable care failings.

Temporary Restraining Order? Against that nice Crystal Meth who throws eggs and doggy doo? I must have missed a few episodes.... (its getting to be a bit Wisteria lane with never a dull day in the Cass saga).

PS I was originally invited to join the pub but never took the offer up and suspect my invite might no longer be valid....so please spill the beans here Cass, you can't tease us temperance folk that way!

"Slightly girly sedan?" is it pink? newbie seems to have made an impression already!


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[itsmoked]

Probably a Miata. (Girly car if ever there was one.)

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[KENAT]

jmw, I'm sure you'd still be welcome, they let in all sorts you know;-).

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[btrueblood]

"Some claim a piece of gravel the correct size in a valve cap does a nice job of creating a slow leak, just so's you know"

An even nastier method, harder to trace, is to buy a valve stem wrench from local auto supply shop, and use it to loosen the valve stem about 1/8 to 1/4 turn. Slow leak (refill of tire about every 1~2 weeks) that is a bear to find if the shop isn't smart enough to take the cap off the stem, and even then it can sneak past 'em...<insert evil grin smiley here>.

 

[casseopeia]

itsmoked, I’m not that critical about cars, but there is no way I would ever describe a Miata as slightly girly. That’s a stripper’s car...ubergirly. Mr. Suspect’s car is kinda on the level of the Scion, the kind of vehicle you would normally see college girls owning. Not the kind of car a good-sized adult male fits into easily.

And I really do mean immaculate. Nothing out of place...no papers or files like I have in mine. No inspection gear or tools either. I’ve got a giant box of tools in my hatch, including laser levels, a moisture meter, several tape measures, various picks and gauges, and a full protective body suit including canister mask for going into or under moldy or rat-infested buildings.

I’ve seen him blowing little bits of dust and leaves off of his car in the morning when he comes in. I don’t even bother to wipe the doggie nose prints off the inside of my windows that I got when I was dog-sitting for my friends 5 month old pit bull puppy. I don’t think the inside of my car was that clean after one week of driving it. Now, 2 years and 40,000 miles later, you could probably keep from starving for 3 days subsisting entirely on the half empty water bottles stuffed in the map pockets and food crumbs between the seats and the console. And if that stuff runs out, there are the Dora and Pink Pony gummy candies in the little kid-sized packets stuffed into the side panel for emergency use during the transportation of my SO’s 4 yo daughter.

It’s like Junior Metrosexual v Terminator-SoccerMom.


jmw, come on into the Pub. I'll buy you a drink and tell you all about Crystal Beth and the Sheriff's Department.



"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

 

[msquared48]

Cass...

Guys, and little boys, do these things to girls they like or attracted to. I know...I know... Nevertheless, do not ignore the fact. These things do happen.

Does your parking lot have any extrerior video monitoring that you could view the recordings of?

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[rhodie]

Fill your tires with triple expanding foam instead of air.

Of course, from that point forward the tires will never be separable from the rims, but you can laugh glibbly at yourself for preventing the 'tire flattner' any joy from his serialzed transgressions.

 

[Ron]

Yeah, Cass.....Like Mike said, he's hot for ya!


You might try re-piping HIS gas line...

 

[HgTX]

If your point is to send a subtle message to the perpetrator, then I think the most you can safely do is send out a general "watch out for vandalism in the parking lot; the air was let out of my tires". Without proof, you can't go to anyone over this co-worker's head, and if he's that nuts, you don't want to confront him either.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[jmw]

Oh, that wasn't a misprint? It is Crystal Beth and not Crystal Meth?
Where'd I get that from I wonder?

I never trusted anyone who could keep their car, desk or nest neat and excessively tidy....but maybe that's because I'm a slob and a reflection on me not them (but a natural conclusion since the various Brown-nosers I have known shared that characteristic - not even, I suspect, leaving DNA traces).

Deflating the tyres is better than a key scrape in the paint but I guess from what you say Cass, with your paint job you would probably not notice if it was gored by a rhinoceros so a flat tyre is an attention getter (except perhaps with Citroen DS21). But I do get what Msquared48 says, but it would never have occurred to me that that was the way to a girl's heart (etc.).
(Hmmm, maybe I've been doing things wrong all my life?)



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com