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!"

 

[TheTick]

For a talented, attractive working woman with a penchant for drama, the possibilities are nearly endless...
[ul][li]Any woman in your workplace might be holding a grudge[/li]
[li]Any man in your workplace might be stalking you[/li]
[li]Any ex-boyfriend[/li]
[li]You parked too close (by vandal's standards)[/li]
[li]Crystal Beth[/li]
[li]Random act of mischief[/li][/ul]

 

[BJC]

IF the car is conventional ( not a ront wheel drive) a plastic cable tie on the drive shaft is easy and very noisy.
IF you want to make life unpleasant for the guy and the lug nuts are common and exposed (Not under wheel covers and cheap) you can do this. Buy four identical lug nuts. file the corners off the nuts so they are round. Remove one from each wheel, replace with the rounded one. Replacing them requires the right tool. I had to er er I mean the person I head this from used large channel lock pliers.
Your revenge may be wasted on a tire shop employee or it could be way out in the sticks when a tire goes flat. You don't get to see it.
You could probably do it with some keyed lug nuts but they didn't exist when I did it.

 

[controlnovice]

Cass,

Letting air out of someones tires can be done by someone who is just a little mischievous. It doesn't have to be intent.

Why, as a small boy, I can remember letting the ....no, wait, uhmmm, I mean ...letting the dogs out of peoples yards...ya. That's it....

Now...in a company parking lot, that is different.

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[jmw]

I'd like to suggest installing CCTV in the car but it would probably be noticed.

Incidentally, some cars have CCTV already anyway (surprised me when I reversed a new Audi loan car to see the integral sat nav display switch to a rear view CCTV display - confusing when it is the right way round and the mirror image is reversed) it won't be a big step to including more than one camera and recording to hard disc with overwrite of oldest data.... not for our convenience, but for accident investigators and law enforcement - a feature we might normally be unaware of ... for example I was surprised to discover that the air bag systems store recent speed data and impact speed that can be accessed by accident investigators..... its a bit like all that data Bill Gates stores on peoples computers we don't know about and is hard to route out until the law grabs someone for some reason or other.

How legal is it to collect and use such data? doesn't it come under the self-incriminating status? Must be some of our rights being compromised here.

Ah well, just tether the car in sight of a hide and sit up all night with a 30.06 or a Saturday Night special... Just Kidding... set up a camera, borrowed from one of the nature film people, disguised as elephant droppings or whatever. Or, you could ask your local police to try parking their trap cars there for a while (the ones they use to lure in unsuspecting criminals and then immobilise and which are full of cameras).

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[FeX32]

Interesting topic. Although, in light of the "professional ethics in engineering" thread, I would have to say let it go. This is the most ethical thing to do.
If it happens again, that's another story

Fe

 

[KENAT]

Just get a bunch of, "I love my country but fear my government", NRA & similar gun rights lobby stickers for your car.

Of course, may increase liklihood of vandalism other places you park but if you're clever maybe you can get magnetic ones that you take off except when parked next to the suspected loser or something.

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

 

[MacGyverS2000]

"Guns don't kill people...
I do!"


Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[casseopeia]

No political hot button slogans on my car, unless you consider a sticker from a favorite belly dance instructor that says “Shut up and Shimmy” along with an outline depiction of Jasmine, the Disney character, objectionable. Just as macgyvers2000 suggests, it’s not me specifically, just my perceived parking job. I pretty much get along with everyone I work with, including all the women, impossible as that may seem.

My neighbor that I’ve nicknamed Crystal Beth for her methamphetamine addiction is the most logical suspect, and I’d love to pin it on her, but there are too many factors that rule her out. So far no further drama in the company parking garage. I guess pink lip gloss on the valve caps is working for now.

An interesting aside regarding installing recording devices, I was informed by my attorney prior to filing the TRO not to offer the court my recordings of my neighbor's screaming and arguments, even though I recorded everything from within my own apartment or on my deck. I also recorded a couple of conversations where my camera was around my neck, but did not announce the filming nor get prior permission from the people being filmed. She said only to bring a transcript of a threatening phone message left on my cell phone, but not the CD I burned of the message to my hearing. Stupid.

I converted the phone message into an audio file using Garage Band and exported it to my iTunes as an .aiff. I guarantee that it's a far more accurate representation than the transcript I typed. I actually think the transcript seems worse than listening to the voice message.



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

 

[nuche1973]

Interesting thread. I ran into a cad tech from another division, but in the same building, at a bar. After a few minutes he went nuts and stated that if he would kill his boss. All I could think of was "Wow, and I thought my division was under alot of stress". Chalked that episode up to the booze.

 

[kontiki99]

casseopeia,

I think you should have publicly acted as if nothing had happened, until you had actionable information.

Why let on that you are suspicious or give someone the satisfaction of knowing they got your goat?

I have also carried one of those cigaret lighter tire pumps in my vehicles for decades. They are indespensible. I also know how to plug a tire and do keep the tools, cement and plugs in my tool box.

I use that stuff more for damsels in distress around the apartment complex than I do for my self.

 

[corus]

Clearly vandalism in the USA is of a very poor standard, and lagging behind the rest of the wrold. In the UK they'd just have stolen the whole wheel.

corus

 

[jmw]

In Liverpool, if you stopped at the lights, they'd have had all four.

Seriously, I do hope you catch the b***rd and that you then post a picture of your catch tied to the bumper of your truck - like any other hunter would.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[mechengdude]

punch all your co-workers in the throat...it's bound to have been one of them.

Or you could just forget about the whole thing since you have no proof.....

 

[MacGyverS2000]

When they cry out "What the hell was that for?", make sure you exclaim "You know what it was for!". If they still look bewildered, they weren't the one...

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[jmw]

macgyvers200, sorry, that won't work.
It is a standard tactic of wives, and presumably women in general, to give you grief for some imagined or non-specific crime.
You don't have to have knowingly done anything wrong to get ticked off.
So the natural male reaction is to look moderately guilty but as contrite as hell.
This tactic would reveal a conspiracy of all the male employees (including farting draughtsman, if he is still there).

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[SomptingGuy]

Hence the phrase used often in my failed marriage: "Is it my fault yet?"

Ironically, mother-in-law found that funny and started quoting it herself.

- Steve