Car wash criminals

[soapy]

I think it would be a good idea to have a recurring section in the paper dedicated to the stories of car wash criminals. Every car wash owner has a bunch of stories and most of them are about stupid criminals. I bet you could get several stories for each publication that would be funny and educational at the same time.

 

[Kate Carr]

I love this idea and I think it would be a terrific spin off to the "Darwin at the Carwash"
Section. It reminds me of the often shared story about the operator who was losing money to the coin-picking crows at his wash -- and then at least two other operators discovered the same! We need more operator-to-operator tidbits that have practical advice as well as some entertainment value. Have any to share to get us started?? I wonder if I might have some success bringing it up for discussion at the ICA show in April. I'm planning to use my tape recorder at the booth to get some "man on the street" type stories.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Owner reaches into bay vault to get $ and feels a "cow udder" hanging down the coin tube. He had given employee key to the meter box to fix jams etc. Employee knew his collection schedule which he changed this date for whatever reason. Employee had periodicaly put a condom over the drop tube to catch quarters and would remove condom and $ before owner came to collect.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Not really a SS story but could be. Employee counterfeits discount / free coupons. Substitutes coupons for actual sale or pockets discount.

 

[Randy]

I love this idea and I think it would be a terrific spin off to the "Darwin at the Carwash"
Section. It reminds me of the often shared story about the operator who was losing money to the coin-picking crows at his wash -- and then at least two other operators discovered the same! We need more operator-to-operator tidbits that have practical advice as well as some entertainment value. Have any to share to get us started?? I wonder if I might have some success bringing it up for discussion at the ICA show in April. I'm planning to use my tape recorder at the booth to get some "man on the street" type stories.

Kate, bring a couple of extra cassettes for your recorder. I can tell you stories for hours about the car wash criminals. I might be able to get rolling on the floor with laughter at what we’ve done to some of them.

 

[Robert2181]

we had a brave sole or soles stripe shingles off the roof until they had a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood exposed to get to the equipment room & get to the changer/equipment room. He/she fell 12 foot & knocked out for 5 hours(according to video for a pick up ride). No hospital reports by police.Still got nothing.

 

[Randy]

What no alarm system, we put motion sensor up in the attic for that very reason. We also put a motion sensor in the equipment room.

 

[Bethel Car Wash]

I had someone (more than one person) recently dumping their house trash in my cans. I finally caught someone on video but because of the entrance and angle I was unable to get a license plate number. The first of six bags I ripped open had the temporary license plate from the vehicle in the video and a magazine still sealed in the plastic with the home address on it. The local police put the info in the computer and everything fell into place. Another "dumbest criminals caught on tape" moment!