Most Expensive Vandalism?

[Mixed Bag]

Fair enough.

Didn't mean to make light of the collateral damage--and I forgot to mention that I was thinking more of items with like a 100% markup, which I realize is less likely at those levels.

[Antisocial_Worker]

So far, and knock on wood, our most expensive vandalism was the several hundred dollars it took to replace the carpet in one room when someone set off fireworks in the room.

[hecubus]

...pick up a copy of Flashdance (I think it was... or footloose...) and say, "This chick's copying Avril Lavigne by wearing a tie!"
'This chick', of course, being Jessica Biel.

I think you mean Jennifer Beals. Jessica Biel was one year old when Flashdance came out.

[blas]

Oddly enough, I never really encountered a lot of what is considered vandalism at the gas station. Customers were fussy and did throw cups and lids on the floor at times (if two were stuck together.....their little brains couldn't figure out that you seperate them and put the extra one back).

However......this could be considered vandalism (although we never made the guy pay for it, all we did was call the cops, have him arrested, and have him banned from the store). On a CS board many, many hacks ago, I posted about how at the gas station, we'd started closing an hour early on Sundays. This one particular regular SC was not pleased, and I kind of hid in the little cubby behind the counter as he violently pounded on the door and proceeded to throw beer bottles at them. I was able to reach down the phone and call the police.

My manager and the owner had to wake up and come down to the store late at night to see the damage (there wasn't really a lot of damage to the door or windows, just a LOT LOT LOT of broken glass).

But we got all the glass cleaned up and he was/is forever banned. Doesn't stop him from still driving his Red Mustang around the parking lot, trying to scope out for new employees who haven't heard the story yet. I haven't seen him try and pull in there since February or March....but it wouldn't surprise me if he hasn't tried to lately, with all the people my ex manager hired as I was getting ready to quit.

[ForestDragon]

A drop in the bucket compared to the 320k story, but one night a few years back we had some rotten little SOBs break a window into the storage room of the boiler room of the school where I was working at the time - they bagged themselves a container of the lubrication oil for the boilers and proceeded to paint several of the outside walls, several doors and windows, spilled part of it on the play area pavement and ended up dumping what was left down the play area storm drain; the "Drains To Stream" storm drain. I don't know what the final butcher's bill was, but the fine from the EPA alone was in the neighborhood of 20,000 bucks.

I don't even want to imagine how much damage was done to everything living in the stream due to these little bastards.

[Lehk]

but the fine from the EPA alone was in the neighborhood of 20,000 bucks.

I don't even want to imagine how much damage was done to everything living in the stream due to these little bastards.

did the school have to pay the fine? or the kids responsable?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

At my college last year, a group of rugby players living in upperclassman housing (aka townhouses; they were seniors) thought it would be a fantastic idea to rip all of the kitchen cabinets off the wall, smash all of the appliances (stove, refrigerator), remove the kitchen sink, allowing the kitchen, living room, and downstairs bedroom to flood, destroy both bathrooms and punch massive holes in the drywall. This does not include the furniture that they decided would make great kindling for their fire pit. All and all, $32,000 in damage was done to the house and the college was forced to close that townhouse down for the duration of the summer while everything from carpet to drywall to kitchen fixtures to bathrooms was replaced. That's my story, not nearly as insane as the $320,000 for one machine, but pretty bad nonetheless.

Please tell me the rugby players had to pay for the damage.

And I'll bet alcohol was somehow involved.

[SteverinoNY]

Please tell me the rugby players had to pay for the damage.

And I'll bet alcohol was somehow involved.

Yes the rugby guys did have to pay for the damage to the townhouse. There were 8 of them that lived there, so they were each responsible for $4000. As far as I know, alcohol (and lots of it) were involved. In addition to having to fork over $4000 each to the college, each of them were expelled three weeks before graduation (therefore forfeiting their diplomas) and were required to do community service on top of that. Karma came back to bite these guys hard in the ass.

[Mixed Bag]

If one of the residents didn't partake in the damage, would he have been beleived? Not having grown up hellacious, I'm not hip to the dynamics of determining which members of a group deserve punishment.

[SteverinoNY]

If one of the residents didn't partake in the damage, would he have been beleived? Not having grown up hellacious, I'm not hip to the dynamics of determining which members of a group deserve punishment.

The college would call each of the residents in for a meeting to discuss the damages. As residents of the house, they are responsible for what goes on inside. If they invite someone over and that guest does damage, the residents still need to pay up, unless the guest steps forward and takes responsibility. If one of the guys claimed he didn't do anything, he'd be given the opportunity for due process to show evidence he was not there.

[Dreamstalker]

If one of the residents didn't partake in the damage, would he have been beleived? Not having grown up hellacious, I'm not hip to the dynamics of determining which members of a group deserve punishment.

My college nailed every resident in a hall if there was damage to the common area in said hall. Yes, everyone uses the lounge, but that shouldn't mean everyone has to pay for the two idiots who heaved a coffee table through the window. You had nothing to do with it but know who did? It still comes out of your damage deposit*.

* Those are the biggest rackets...I don't think I ever got mine back even though I left my rooms the cleanest on the hall on move-out day

[skeptic53]

This wasn't vandalism, but it kinda sorta fits this thread. It happened in either 1985 or 1986 in Washington State. I had an acquaintance who was a medical resident at the time of the story. He had gone to Harvard Medical School, which means he was plenty smart. But this once, he had insufficient common sense.

He and some friends were backpacking in a very arid forest area. He had read somewhere that the "eco" thing to do was to burn your used toilet paper, rather than burying it. He wound up starting a forest fire that burned a very large area and cost millions to put out. To his credit, he reported the fire and admitted his role in accidentally starting it. Unfortunately, for his truthfulness, he got hammered pretty hard. The US Forest Service billed him for the cost of the fire, he had to declare bankruptcy. The story was front page news in the Seattle papers, the fact that he had gone to Harvard and that he had read a "how to backpack" book got prominent play.

He was a nice guy, a damn good doctor, and I hope he's doing well these days.

This tops the $320,000 but I don't think it should count as it was not deliberate vandalism.

[MsChief]

check this out

http://www.flickr.com/photos/somebody/sets/269279/

take a look at the pictures of this fire at a local Plastics factory... it was started by 2 kids farting around with a lighter in a storage area behind the main building ...it caused ten million dollars in damages to the business, lost wages damage to neighbouring buildings etc...
we still haven't heard the end of it... but they did catch the kids and law suits are in the works.

[ForestDragon]

did the school have to pay the fine? or the kids responsable?

I believe the school district had to pay - as if our schools weren't (and aren't) strapped enough for money. They could hardly charge the kids responsible since unfortunately they weren't seen, let alone caught. It was one of those cases of coming in in the morning and "Aw, crap, look what they did last night!"

[dispatch]

well, not really vandalism and it doesn'ty take the cake for expenses, but some bored teenager called in a bomb threat on one of the ships in the fleet and topld the authorites she kept seeing the "bomber" in different places, when they took her aside to get a full statement after searching the ship bow to stern and colors to keel and finding NOTHING she cracked.
security on ships is just like airports, don't even joke about it, FBI and coast gaurd pop up out of nowhere and stops everything in it's tracks, I don't even want to know what they pay all these guys an hour for hazard pay, gas for the overloaded SUVs, guns, flak jackets, dogs, electronic equiptment, helicopters and boats.
not vandalism, just a bored posh teenage girl that wanted to watch the crew running around crapping their pants!