Ghetto Deck Uneasiness

Today was a pretty cool day. Almost. Last Wed. night I finished up all of the new Show-N-Shine updates and the new design. As far as I can tell, that site is done being updated fopr a while. Hopefully.

Also, I got to flex my creative muscles at work by designing and putting up a Dating Disasters survey on our Intranet. Employees were asked to submit their worst dating stories and the winner would be selected by a company-wide vote on our Intranet! (Pollit to the rescue, again) I was really happy with the way the whole thing turned out, and I think the empoyees will enjoy it.

So, what a fine day. And then work was over and I walked to the (ghetto) parking deck. I disarmed my truck as I walked towards it as usual. Two chirps and two flashes: "everything is OK", says the truck. I open my driver's door and notice that the rubber molding is coming off the door jam. Strange, I thought. As I pressed my finger on the molding to snap it back in place, my eyes focused in on a new blemish just barely outside my door jam and my heart dropped down in my stomach. I stood and inspected the blemish. What would cause such a blemish? My mind raced through a million different things. "Have I ever noticed this before?" No. "Was it there this morning when I got in my truck?" No. Screwdriver. A screw driver could cause damage like that. I partially closed the driver's door and exmined the marks just above the door and the rubber molding. They lined up. This was no accident. Someone had tried to break into my truck today.

I immediately walked around the truck and inspected for any other signs of attempted break-ins. Nothing. It wasn't until later that I discovered the other peice of evidence in this story: a small area on the lower-right side of the driver's door window had been brushed clean of all of the salt and grime that's been building up on it for weeks. In other words, someone wanted to see if my door was unlocked and they couldn't see through the dirt and 20% tint, so they cleaned it off with their hand.

Even 7 hours after discovering this, my hands are still shaking as I type this I'm so mad. I haven't felt victimized like this since Mom and Dad's van got broken into in Baltimore when I was younger. Boy, I was shaken by that incident..and it wasn't even my own vehicle.

All night, I've been mentally preparing myself. Preparing myself to be really paranoid over the next few weeks. Preparing myself to be scared and angry (Note: already there). Preparing myself for another possible attempt. Since the person was not able to sucessfully break into the truck, I'm guessing they walked away with one of two thoughts:

1. Well, I couldn't get into it, plus I saw a red blinking LED..it must have an alarm. I'll move on to an easier target.

2. Well, I couldn't get into it today. I'll bring back bigger tools tomorrow.

It's really a shame that our Martin parking deck charges $80/month parking. This is definitely at least strike one for the Ghetto Deck. I'm not even sure I'll give it any more chances. Do I pay the extra money and move up to our building (where I can't even be sure security will be any better) or tough it out in the ghetto deck? It's been 2.5 years without an incident.

I'm on edge...and it sucks. That scooter down there is looking pretty appealing.

Posted by Jeff at February 14, 2003 1:11 AM