Tires

[elizilla]

There's a house across the street where the mother has a new boyfriend, and she has moved in with him in another city. She's left her son living there alone. The son is, I don't know, 20? He was a toddler when we first moved here. Anyway, he's working at Target, and he has friends of similar age and lifestyle. One of them has a junky old car, and spends a lot of time over there. Apparently this friend has enemies, and while the car was parked over there, some unknown person vandalized it. The car has been sitting over there all week with four flat tires. Today, the kid started trying to fix this. When I went out to pick up the mail, he was over there trying to jack it up. I loaned him a better jack than the one in the car's kit, and told him if he needs the compressor to let me know. Then I went back to my desk (today was a work day for me). Well, he thrashed around out there by himself all afternoon, and about an hour ago, came over to ask if he can use my compressor. Sure.

Well, it turns out his "fixing" this afternoon? Was to put duct tape over the holes. Of course it did not hold air. So then we got out all the various plug kits I have bought over the years, for the bikes, and M tried to plug one of the holes. Unfortunately this didn't work so hot, because the holes are slashes.

This kid is gonna have to get different tires. But we left him with the sticky string kit and the compressor. He's going to take a shot at each of the other tires, see if any of them can be made to hold air. But even if he does manage to get them to hold air in the driveway, I seriously doubt they'll hold air on the road. I suggested maybe he can get some used tires; there are a lot of used tire shops in Ypsi.

Comments

[lyudatwa.livejournal.com]

This is better than reading the comics section :)

[elizilla]

Considering the distinct lack of parenting they get over there, it doesn't surprise me that he's got no clue about tire repair. I bet he can't balance a checkbook, write a resume, or get a security deposit back at the end of a lease, either. I feel sorry for him, even as I wonder what kind of interpersonal mess he's gotten himself into, that someone slashed his tires rather than just letting the air out.

He did return my compressor and tools. But he reported that he was unable to get any tires to hold air, and when I look out the window it looks to me like he went away and left the parking lights on in the car. Maybe tomorrow I will be lending him jumper cables.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I've known lots of kids from 'good homes' (myself included) who were drastically lacking in life skills as young adults. As a kid I learned how to excel academically. That other stuff? Not so much. Granted, I also managed to make it out of my 20s without killing anybody, ending up in jail, catching an STD, or getting anyone pregnant, so my parents must have done *something* right.

To end up with slashed tires, all you have to do is piss off the wrong person. Sometimes, people get pissed off at the darndest, most trivial things, despite your best efforts to act reasonably.

Here's some other amusing news from Ypsilanti I found on Fark:
http://www.annarbor.com/news/ypsilanti/ypsilanti-township-asks-judge-to-order-a-stop-to-overwhelming-marijauna-odor/

[elizilla]

I wouldn't call this a 'good home'. I don't know them super well, but I have lived across the street from them for almost 20 years. When I have occasionally posted about craziness with my neighbors? This is that neighbor. Dogs running loose. Bizarre amounts of trash. Noise issues. I've never been inside the house, but the other neighbors report it is a disaster of epic proportions in there.

[lyudatwa.livejournal.com]

This is better than reading a comics section :)

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

The only that that might work are internal patches, but you've got to unmount the tires to even try that.

That really sucks. Even cheap tires aren't really cheap.

[schmi.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sucks.

But duct tape? Really?

[(Anonymous)]

Sometimes it's random vandalism. I had the soft top of my convertible Corvair slashed for no reason other than it was at the right place for the wrong people. A costly act by someone who was bored.

-B