Most Expensive Vandalism?

[Ryu]

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

my college is the same way
its SO annoying
even if we WERENT AT COLLEGE WHEN IT HAPPENED we still owe money!!

[Imogene]

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

Thank you, I've never seen Flashdance, and that particular occurence happened years ago at this point...

[Tanasi]

my college is the same way
its SO annoying
even if we WERENT AT COLLEGE WHEN IT HAPPENED we still owe money!!

Way back in the olden times I was a dorm director and had to deal with vandalism on a daily basis, sometimes hourly. If I couldn't directly attribute the damage to specific folks then the whole floor or dorm got to pay (why should the school). It wasn't fair but those were the rules coming in and the residents and/or their parents signed a contract saying they read and understood the rules. The weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth was tremendous not to mention the whinning. My answer was always the same, "You know who did it , be a man standup and point them out." Never once did someone willingly tell.

My last summer there one kid on the third floor father was an administrator/prof at a nearby community college and brought sonny boy with him to discuss the assessment. I had prepared a list of all damages so I could address them directly. Sonny boy was an OK kid but he ran with the most likely perps. I flat out told his Dad that I didn't think Sonny-boy did the vandalism but he knew who did it and was most likely there when it occured. Dad then turned to SB and demanded he name names. SB refused. Dad asked me and the director of housing for some privacy. We stepped out side, when smack-boom-bam occured and dad asked us back in and SB spilled his guts and saved dad several thousand dolla.

So in a round-about way what I'm saying is those that do the damage are stealing from you and it would behove you to findout who did it and turn them in. I know it's not cool to tattle-tale but when did it become cool to steal from your dorm-mates? Ryu I know you're a young fellow you want to fit in and you're still finding your way in the world but sooner or later you have to take a stand for what's right, at that time you can call yourself a man. Good luck in the upcoming school year.

[Lehk]

i don't know if blanket punishment in the form of collective liability is such a good idea. if i was the one who was telling students they had to pay $100's or $1000's for something they didn't do, i'd be paranoid every time i started my car, turned on a light, answered a phone, or opened my door.

all it takes is one unstable kid to put a [bomb] (probably not a good idea to go into how someone would do such a thing, though it's certainly well within the abilities and resources of a desperate and menatlly unstable college student) bulb into your office lamp

[One-Fang]

I think having to split the cost of vandalism with the dorm-mates would be very unfair on a non-participating person.

However, them's the rules. You don't like it, don't live there.

No school is going to launch into some kind of criminal investigation to try to find out exactly who did the damage. As Tanasi pointed out, people don't squeal.

So sadly, as unfair as it may be on the day, it's the only reliable way for the school to not have to be lumbered with the cost themselves. And, as above, you can always choose not to live there in the first place.

[Lehk]

No school is going to launch into some kind of criminal investigation to try to find out exactly who did the damage. As Tanasi pointed out, people don't squeal.

i iknow the policy makes sense, i just would never want to be the one telling students how much they owe because of what somebody else did.

[Mixed Bag]

Maybe you're right about people knowing, but...I wouldn't expect to. As a relative loner uninterested in trouble I rarely had firsthand knowledge of who committed antisocial acts (rumours sometimes, which I suppose can be a starting point).

I can't imagine wanting to be loyal to anyone who was costing me money like that, and I can't fathom why being a snitch is considered such a crime--except by those who have something to hide, or in petty matters.

[Ryu]

well heres where the problem for me comes in
they instated this policy in the middle of the year, WITHOUT IT BEING IN THE CONTRACT we already signed agreeing to live in the dorm and pay for the costs we already agreed to, nothing about other peoples damages too
hence it was semi if not entirely illegal

[Lehk]

well heres where the problem for me comes in
they instated this policy in the middle of the year, WITHOUT IT BEING IN THE CONTRACT we already signed agreeing to live in the dorm and pay for the costs we already agreed to, nothing about other peoples damages too
hence it was semi if not entirely illegal

drop the semi, that is simply illegal.

[Tanasi]

well heres where the problem for me comes in
they instated this policy in the middle of the year, WITHOUT IT BEING IN THE CONTRACT we already signed agreeing to live in the dorm and pay for the costs we already agreed to, nothing about other peoples damages too
hence it was semi if not entirely illegal

You really need to read your housing agreement. I've read the few I had to sign and the wife agreed to. So far my daughter has continued to live at home while in school.
Simply put, if the housing dept. changes the terms of the contract, then you either have to agree to those terms, the contract is broken, or the contract continues as is. Unless there is a provision that the HD can change the term in the contract then they really don't have a let to stand on and IMHO you don't owe the money. Even though it's been 20+ years since the wife was in the dorms her housing contracts had clauses regarding damage deposits and such stuff. I'd dare say that your's also contains such clauses that you've overlooked. Another place to look in your college's student handbook, it should list the terms required by the HD.
The HD I worked for gave the residents a dead line to pay those damages and replenish their deposits or risk loosing their reserved dorm rooms, class schedule, and/or financial aid. They also would not release grades nor transcripts.

[Sceptre]

At the end of Year 9, some guys pushed a wire-wheel (you know the big 2ft radius wheels?) off a wall and it rolled for about a quarter of a mile before hitting a local chippy.

Same people trashed the Year 10 form rooms at the end of Year 10 and got the whole year into deep shit.

[kebable]

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.

[zeoquean]

There was nothing big at my store or anything...but there was an incident at my university 2 summers ago.

The school was building a brand new science building...all new labs and everything because every other room was just horrible....ancient facilities really. This new building has 3 floors, and its all air-conditioned (I have my lab in there now...and it is just amazing...I can't even begin to describe it).

So...RIGHT when they were almost done with it (this building was like at least 10 million dollars if I remember correctly, but I could be wrong) these punk kids snuck into the school in the middle of the night, got into the janitorial closet and hooked up a bunch of hoses into the whole second floor...going into another building as well.

Needless to say...the whole floor flooded...and they also broke windows and whatnot...busted through walls and stuff (how could 3 young kids do this anyways?) The building was supposed to open the next fall, but after that, it was pushed a year back (opened last fall).

The total damages done to the building were in excess of 2 million dollars. Three kids did it, the oldest one being 14 years old. The youngest? 12. After quite a while, they got fined and whatnot...I believe their parents have to pay restitution for them for half of the amount or something combined. I can't really remember.

But here's the kicker: they were went to juvenile hall....and are now being offered a FULL scholarship for the school as long as they are "rehabilitated" and wont do it again.

I wish I could get away with that and get free college.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

I have a few such tales...

Let's see, there was the party held in a $1million house not far from my place (11 acres in the woods, so I didn't hear about this til after), with alcohol and some drugs. Only three people were even close to 21, and a good number were in my class. (This was right after graduation.)

They managed to completely trash the place, even throwing a toilet out of a second story window. All were caught, and most were only chraged with tresspassing and underaged drinking, since only a few had done drugs and vandalized. One friend almost lost an ROTC scholarship because he was charged with tresspassing, though.

Some of these same idiots, right after their hearing, left the court and got ahole of another keg. The police caught them before they could open it. Young adults from my area around the right age are STILL viewed with some suspicion over it.

We had some minor vandalism today at the store, with some jerk pulling off the instruction stickers on the razor blade displays. And a friend told me of how someone managed to steal everything out of a locked display cabinet of iPods at her local Best Buy, while in a crowded store in broad daylight, with employees less than a few feet away.

But i will always remember the most baffling theft/vandalism at my store.

At my CVS, the electric razors are kept on special security hooks. These require a special magnet key to unlock. Some of you may know what these look like already, but let me describe anyway.

It's a regular pegboard hook, except that there are 2 hooks, one below the other. The top one has a white lock on it, with a groove for the key. The metal base is hidden behind a one-piece, molded plastic base that screws into the pegboard very securely. The metal parts are all one piece, in steel. These are quite sturdy and have been around for a while.

Now, imagine coming into work one afternoon after a quiet lunchbreak to find one of these fixtures missing, and only a completely empty plastic base, still securely screwed into the pegboard, and no trace of the metal hooks or merchandise on it, left.

I'm still trying to figure out how someone managed that one.

[Becks]

I'm still trying to figure out how someone managed that one.

Magic, don't you know?