freckles

so i have my lovely beautiful precious workcycles oma bicycle that i ride to work and park in the women's ada shower stall in the bathroom.... yes, there is a space to park it there and no one showers there.

a part of the shower stall is used by a housekeeping staff person to store extra supplies and weird random stuff- just the frame of a linen hamper- no bags to actually hold any linen, paper toilet seat covers, empty boxes....

anyways, someone is messing with my precious and i need some reassurance that she ( my precious) will be ok or i need to set up a bear trap

oma has the built in rear wheel lock and i lock the front wheel with a small d lock and run a cable from the shower grab bar to the d lock.

she has a double footed kick stand.

every once in a while, i notice someone has moved/pushed my precious oma and find her front wheel forced to one side so there is tension on the spokes where the d lock is going through.

or find her still standing but tipped to one side with one leg of the kick stand hanging in the air. and has pushed the rear wheel against the rear wheel lock.

i suspect it is one housekeeper assigned to clean the locker room and bathroom- a very coarse and sullen person who likes to roll a huge chair and sit it right next to/touching my precious.... not sure why anyone would like to sit in front of a shower stall and watch women go in/out of bathroom stalls with all the accompanying noises and smells with no ventilation....

i understand workcycles are made tough and have very sturdy spokes. i'm trying to talk myself down from over reacting. though my precious may get rough handled at times, will her spokes and general well being be ok? she is huge and doesn't fit inside the tiny bike locker at work.

calm down or set up bear trap please advise!

alan s 

How about you talk to the person in question and ask nicely if there is a problem?

Darth Lefty 

This is the 10ft pole with which I'm not touching this one

Kedosto

TIME FOR A SMACKDOWN!!! (ok, not really)

I'd spend the energy to figure out the who/what/why of the situation and resolve it amicably. Try kindness first, you can always go full A-hole later.


-Kedosto

Daniel4

Is the bike relocated to the same place all the time? If so, try placing your bike there first so this person doesn't do it because it's already there.

If not, then try to make contact with this person and get a resolution.

locolobo13 

My bike is parked in a storage area at work. When people need to get past it they move it. Nobody's done more than that. That's just the way it is. Unless I want to park it outside.

Abe_Froman

Is there really not a better place for the bike than inside of a bathroom, next to a bunch of cleaning supplies that workers have to use? It seems like they need to move the bike to do their work, no? I'm having a hard time picturing a shower with a bike, a cleaning lady, a chair, and a bunch of supplies. Doesn't sound like a lot of room left lol

freckles

i'm pretty sure its her but not 100% sure. she is the designated cleaner of the locker room and attached bathroom and likes to take her breaks/hide out chilling on a chair between the (2) shower stalls. she is a bit rough, pushes the cleaning cart into things.

when i first parked in the shower stall, i moved out 2 empty dusty not used laundry hampers. i asked her if that was ok to move so i can park my bike there and she said ok but every day empty hampers back.

i asked her why its stored there and she said its for laundry and i pointed out there are not bags to hold laundry and haven't been used for a long time, she replied back in another language...plus another empty hamper in the other shower stall. i put them all in the other shower stall.

i tried asking other housekeepers if they can help talk to her (translate) but they don't like her either

freckles

unfortunately, thats the best place where i can lock her up. its a large ada shower stall so 3/4 of her fits inside.

housekeeping has a whole department on another floor and have storage closets around this work area which is why i don't understand the random items that are stored there. its not actual cleaning supplies, but several bottles of soap that isn't used in our bathroom, empty hampers, random empty boxes.

seat covers and toilet paper too but seriously, she comes in with a supply cart stacked with that stuff...

freckles

so i shouldn't be bothered to worry about a bit of abuse to her spokes, right? i figure she is made of tough stuff and don't want to get wigged out if there is no need.

i don't like shopping carts hitting my car but i know its not going to break my car, chipped/dented yes but alignment unaffected.

General Geoff

You're parking the bicycle equivalent to a tank and worried about someone scratching the paint?

Don't sweat it, that Omafiets will be around for your great grandchildren to ride. Spokes are very strong, and are easily replaced even if one manages to break. Those are IIRC 36 spoke wheels, so you could break a few and still have a wheel that's stronger than 99% of bike wheels on the road.

wphamilton

You should bring her a small gift for guarding your bike all the time. People using the showers for storage need to stick together.

mgw4jc

Kinda sounds like a territory thing. This is her "room" so to speak and you're trying to move in. Yes, the bike will probably be fine unless she actually gets malicious and slices the tires or something.

But I like @wphamilton's idea - do something kind.

JonathanGennick 

The above has kind of been my thinking too. I also like @wphamilton's idea. Turn the lady into your friend. Ask her about herself. Get to know her. Be sincere.

Darth Lefty 

I said I wouldn’t touch this one but I guess I feel like I need to because I don’t think this viewpoint has been expressed by anyone else so far.

Get your bike out of the ADA shower. It doesn’t belong there, just like you wouldn’t block or occupy a handicap parking space. The ADA is enforced via lawsuits. You are exposing your employer to such a suit. They will be sued because a disabled person can’t take a shower. That will come to rest on your head. The type of your bike and what other people do in the shower are not relevant. Don’t tell yourself “no one is using it,” that’s a thief’s logic.

RubeRad

I really don't like the idea of regularly storing a bike in an ADA shower (nor do I like the idea of using it for janitorial supplies storage). How can you know that a person who needs that shower and is legally entitled to it will never come along?

Otherwise, I would start from a nice (passive-aggressive?) position. Move the bike as far out of the way as possible (in the position you find it moved to), and maybe leave a sign like "if this bike is in the way, please call "freckles" at NNN-NNNN".

If you're concerned about your spokes, try harder to remember not to engage the frame/wheel lock, and rely just on the cable lock.

RubeRad

I agree with Lefty, although I tried to be gentler about it.

freckles

the same issue is ongoing but kind of worse because now my manager is involved but i found out there is a bicycle ordinance that the company is not following- so yay for a bicycle ordinance!


i'm in california and work in a department on a restricted floor that has further restricted access from the rest of the department and the rest of the building.


the type of work required can only be done by able bodied persons until we get injured and have to transfer out (common). and only assigned persons can use this particular restricted locker room. but the department does not fall under OSHA standards requiring one to take a shower before entering the restricted access area, we only have to change from "outside" clothes to employer provided "inside"/restricted access uniform before entering the restricted area within the department.


a bathroom stall and 1 of 2 showers within the locker room is ada compliant but the locker room is not ( aisles are too narrow ) and the series of doors (three) needed to open to get inside the restricted area requires greater than 5 pounds of force ( per ada) because of the pressure difference in the whole department and just being superheavy fire ******ant doors with bad hinges. literally have to lean on the door to open while pushing the handle.


if there would be any exposure- chemical/burns/body fluids... there are emergency showers and eye wash areas within the contained restricted access work area as it would need to be treated asap and transported to the emergency department.


if a person- visitor or employee outside the department would need to use a restroom- they would use the ones outside the restricted area where they are readily available and ada accessible because they would not be inside the restricted area anyways.


so now my manager said someone complained but refused to say the nature of the complaint and said its a safety issue because a shower is not intended for bicycle storage and directed me to park outside in a unsecure area that is known for homeless persons to hang out and bike theft is rampant. there are homeless encampments full of stolen bikes all around the neighborhood. she said there is a camera (to monitor a side entrance) near the stall and so it should be fine for the whole day, ugh.


oma is my main mode of transport so i had a panic attack, got sick but did a bunch of research (since i couldn't sleep) and found out about the bicycle ordinance- difference between short and long term parking, minimum long term parking lockers required, found out the very few bicycle lockers present are not compliant with the standards, and read thru some OSHA standards.


and learned that the company is in the process of changing and increasing one area with bicycle parking and sent an email to the point person to request updates.


so armed with some knowledge about the bicycle ordinance and upcoming bicycle lockers, i contacted my manager, informed her i parked in the locker room ( she never said when i had to stop) and went to her office to discuss the ordinance- the unsecured stall outside is for short term parking vs long term, employer is not in compliance with the minimum number and size of long term lockers and upcoming locker construction and she said she didn't care about any of that and threatened to call security to cut off the lock.


i know the shower isn't intended for bicycle parking but it fulfills the ordinance for long term parking- safe, secure, protected from the elements, ease of use, meets minimum standard size whereas the few non vacant lockers do not meet the safety issue ( key is the round and easily defeated) nor the minimum size per ordinance- oma couldn't fit!


i plan to file a compliant to hr about manager and contact a head director re- bicycle advocacy (compliance with bicycle ordinance, great pr, healthy, encourage more bicycling/multimodal commuting, frees up some car parking, congestion etc)


am i crazy? has anyone fought something like this? do i need to buy a folder? i want a new job!!!!!

Cyclist0108

Nobody touches my bike.

If I couldn't lock it in my office, I would not ride it to work.

The only other suggestions I have is to buy a piece of junk that you can park outside and you don't mind losing, or a fold-up you can keep with you or within sight.

Teamprovicycle

Nuke first ask questions a short time after..

daoswald

My employer's office building has a key-card-access cage in the parking garage with bike hanging racks mounted to the walls. I pay $5/month for my building access card to be activated for that additional amenity. Another $5/month gets me access to the locker room / shower room. I'm pretty happy to pay $10 per month for both of those amenities combined.

If your building doesn't provide any of these sorts of amenities, how about contacting other buildings' management in the area to ask if you can pay for work-time storage in their secure facility. It might be easy for most of them to say no thanks, but it only takes one reasonable person to say yes, and then your problem is solved.

Fighting your manager on something like this isn't very good for your career. Maybe that's not something you care about. Going to HR might be a more reasonable approach than getting confrontational with your manager. It's not really part of your manager's daily routine to deal with where people should park their bikes. But HR might consider it part of that they can address. You may not need to get confrontational with HR either. Simply express your concerns calmly, identify areas where they can improve their regulatory compliance, and ask if they can do anything to help you with your need. Especially if it's a short-term issue while they get to work on building safer bike parking, you might be able to politely work out a short-term solution.

jasnooks

Agree 100%

wphamilton

That's not a battle I would choose.

I also wouldn't think it reasonable to insist on storing the bike in the shower area that is required for the secure facility, and that you will lose that fight. Doesn't your company have a secure parking area, given the constant theft by transients that you're worried about? Find a place there to lock up, rather than the bike rack.

MMACH 5

From reading the OP, I'd not try fighting it out with your employer or the cleaning crew. I would just lock the frame to the shower grab bar with the u-lock or wrap the cable around something to shorten it. If the bike is snugged in and tightly locked to the grab bar, it can't be pulled away and left cockeyed.

acidfast7

It's a bicycle. It's bought to use.