Why are people jerks?

[cube_rat]

I haven't posted in quite awhile (I'm sure I've been missed :). I've been engaged in very un-ER like activities.

I purchased a 2002 Mercedes C230K. It's not the most expensive car on the planet, but it's nice and works for me. I parked it on my street over the weekend and noticed someone decided to key my car as they walked by our sometimes painfully quiet, residential street. The dealer will take care of the scratch for me, so I'm not worried about fixing the problem. I'm just beyond pissed that people (teenagers?? angry neighbor)think it's *okay* to damage someone else's property. The garage will be cleaned out next weekend and the car will be parked inside.

I've never in my most angry moments acted upon vandalism. I just don't understand the mentality of some people.

 

[laurence]

Welcome back! I've been absent for a while myself.

TH's Lexus got keyed, too. I think maybe you're just a front line soldier who became a victim of class warfare.

Somebody abandoned a stolen car right in front of my house. When I met the Sheriff outside as they were towing it, he expressed a concern my neighborhood would be this operators new stomping ground. I asked him, "why would somebody steal a car, just to abandon it a couple days later?". He said, "don't apply your logic to the situation, it's not theirs".

 

[Lazarus]

You have something they don't. They assume you don't deserve it because they can't see anyway for themselves to have it.

Sorry your property was damaged.

Funny to me in a way since I am never concerned about what cars others have. Not a status symbol to me in any way. Most are financed or leased.

 

[Maximillion]

I had a Mercedes on order, the i thought about exactly that scenario, so I cancelled the order, stayed with my 6 year old Volvo.

Our 2001 Honda CRV got keyed in Florida, but we just figured that someone did not like Canadians.

 

[Outtahere]

Ugh Cube, that would aggravate me to no end too.

 

[Cool Dood]

You need one of these.

 

[frayne]

Some people are just immature asses. I do question why you would leave it parked on the street rather than garaged.

 

[Nords]

You need one of these.

"Honey, my hands are full, could you get the door for me please?"

PSSsssssst-ka-WHOOOSH!!

"(oops.)"

 

[cube_rat]

You need one of these.

I do question why you would leave it parked on the street rather than garaged.

Our garage is packed to the rafters with junk. I'm preparing an ad text for Craigslist for furniture items. We're making cleaning out the garage a priority.

I'm still reeling from the mere fact that someone did this in front of my house. Maybe I should smile more at my neighbors

 

[youbet]

Our 2001  Honda CRV got keyed in Florida, but we just figured that someone did not like Canadians.

Well........duuuuhhh! Come one Max. Life is good in Canada. Do you have to come down here so something can happen? You already have the best of everything. Why keep pushing for more?

 

[youbet]

You have something they don't.

So, who is "they."

 

[unclemick]

Grrrr

They keyed my 1999 Silverado in the Mall parking lot -during Christmas holidays - ho ho ho.

Teenagers - ??Right??

heh heh heh heh

 

[Nords]

I'm not sure how to tell if someone's keyed my car. Does it leave a mark in the uniformly-splattered red-dirt anti-corrosion coating?

 

[youbet]

Simple Nords. "Someone" has marks on his/her back from being caned and they look remorseful. People in the USA are outraged. People in Singapore know they have just cured a "jerk." It's sooooo simple.

 

[Maximillion]

youbet, my dad is 87, he has lived in Hudson for 6 months for the last 30 years, we visit FLA just to make sure he is doing O.K.

 

[azanon]

It's not the most expensive car on the planet, but it's nice and works for me. I parked it on my street over the weekend and noticed someone decided to key my car as they walked by our sometimes painfully quiet, residential street. The dealer will take care of the scratch for me, so I'm not worried about fixing the problem. I'm just beyond pissed that people (teenagers?? angry neighbor)think it's *okay* to damage someone else's property. The garage will be cleaned out next weekend and the car will be parked inside.

Was your driveway empty? I wonder, in kind, how people think its ok to make everyone drive around their car for an entire weekend while their driveway is empty. I know I cant be the only one that is bothered by that. If it was full, and there was a party or many relatives/friends over at the house, then disregard this comment.

 

[lets-retire]

Max--actually we love it when people form other places than Florida come here. You buy stuff and pay sales tax, but don't use many resources. You keep up income tax free. Please keep coming.

Laurance--In my neck of the woods the car thieves normally dump a car when it is running low on gas. It is much easier and cheaper to steal another car than to fill it up, until they are caught. When we recover one we seach the area for a stolen car, typically Chrysler products.

 

[youbet]

he has lived in Hudson for 6 months for the last 30 years

Just seems like an odd choice. Superior living in Canada as a Canadian citizen or inferior living in USA as a visitor. You/your dad choose USA? I don't get it.

 

[Zipper]

Cool it youbet. You are out of line!

Take your anti-Canadian bias somewhere else.

You are going out of your way to antagonize Howard.

You know he has a short fuse and you are deliberately trying to start a flame event!

You are a perfect example of the meaning of this thread.

 

[youbet]

Take your anti-Canadian bias somewhere else.

Zipper, I have no negative bias towards Canada whatsoever.  Check my history of posts.  You will find zero anti-Canadian rhetoric from me!  In fact, I'm looking forward to a vacation in northern Ontario in just a few weeks.  So much so, in fact, that I'll tolerate the unfavorable exchange rate to be there and enjoy.  IMHO, it's worth it despite being very expensive for Americans these days

I do get confused by the unconstructive, taunting, anti-USA rhetoric some Canadians on this board spew constantly.  Then they voluntarily choose to spend time here when they don't have to?

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Cube, sorry to hear that someone decided to share their vileness with your car.

Some examples of why I don't own a car:

1. Was in my brothers car and an old geezer next to him literally kicked open his own door against my brothers door. Then proceed to bang it several more times as he struggled to get out. My brother's car was parked exactly center of parking spot.
When my brother yelled at the guy he just said "sorry" and walked into the store. My brother didn't even get the dents taken out of his 6 month car.

2. Owned a beautiful black Chevy Nova Super Sport back in 71 and some cut all 4 of my tires.

3. Last car, someone laid a burning cigarette on a plastic portion of my hood.

A car is not only a big expense but it becomes personal quickly. And even if you catch the culprit, it usually gets really ugly and threatening for a long time.

 

[Andre1969]

When we recover one we seach the area for a stolen car, typically Chrysler products.

What is it about Chrysler products that makes them so easy to steal? I remember one year the Dodge Intrepid made the top (or near top) of the stolen lists. Now it's not a bad car (I have one, and have been happy with it) but it's not a car like, say, an Accord or Camry where there are tons of them on the street, and a massive black market for parts for them.

Now with my base model, all you have to do is break into is, smash the plastic on the steering column, play with the right wires, and you're off. But the uplevel models have a computer chip in the key, so it theoretically can't be hotwired. At least, not the 2000 models. Maybe it got de-contented in later years?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Didn't we have a similar discussion about CFB's new Lexus and a parking lot door ding ?

Sometimes it just may not be worth it to own a nice new car. That 8 year old beauty that runs just fine will cause you much less anguish and save you much money.

 

[Andre1969]

I still remember the first scrape that got put on my 2000 Intrepid. It was painful and irritating, but it was also my own fault, which may have helped a bit with dealing with it. I was able to force myself to not take it personally, remind myself that it's just a car, and I didn't bother to get it fixed.

At least, with keeping that first ding, it made it much less painful as the car acquired later ones!

Now one thing that WAS a bit more personal, was a pair of Dodge Darts that I had repainted. That was more painful because I had put a lot of time and effort into fixing those cars up, and my neighbor helped me paint them. The first was a 1969 Dodge Dart GT I had in college. Someone gave its new painjob its first ding in the parking lot at school. The second was a 1968 Dodge Dart 270, that got dinged here at work.

One thing that was really annoying about that '68, is that before I painted, people tended to avoid it like the plague. It was primer-black, and had an evil, hulking look to it. Kinda like "The Car", "Christine", the truck from "Duel", and that '71 Charger from "Wheels of Terror" all rolled into one. After I repainted it its original color, antique white, it's almost like people came out of the woodwork to run into it, scare me with a near-miss, etc.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

1.  Was in my brothers car and an old geezer next to him literally kicked open his own door against my brothers door. Then proceed to bang it several more times as he struggled to get out.  My brother's car was parked exactly center of parking spot. When my brother yelled at the guy he just said "sorry" and walked into the store.  My brother didn't even get the dents taken out of his 6 month car.

That's fine. You simply call in a vehicle accident report against the other driver. If the other driver refuses to exchange insurance information and drives away, you add "leaving the scene of an accident" to the report. If the police decline to take a report because the accident occurred in a parking lot while the vehicles were not moving, you can file a criminal complaint against the driver for destruction of private property.

Yes, this sounds a little over-reactive. But dents cost hundreds of dollars to remove from car doors. Why should I pay for them? The only way that another driver will learn not to do what the old geezer in your brother's case did is to make it expensive for them -- not you.

Then again, the easiest way to avoid the foregoing is to park far away from other cars. That way, you protect your car and get a little exercise.

It would be interesting if you could equip a car with a couple of pinhole cameras (fisheye lens) that record external footage and store it to a removable hard drive like a convenience store. I've heard of car alarm systems that come with an internal camera that record when the alarm is disabled/bypassed to catch car thieves. I don't know why a similar system couldn't be used on an expensive car to record casual damage in parking lots.