I got this email at work......tell me what you think

No, there are no gray areas on Fridays. Is your house on this plugshare.net? If I come over, how much of your power can I use? Can I run a hose from your house so I can do my laundry? I take it you don’t believe in private property; so can I have your house?

 

I think I am going to add this topic to my next company's employment application. This might be the best way to screen out some little minded people.

"If you were the facility manager at my company, would you allow plug in vehicles to use the outlets in the parking lots?"

If you answered, "No", please stop here and put this application in the trash bin on your way out.

 

You were the one that brought up not getting caught. If your not stealing, then there is nothing to not get caught about.

 

How about I just give you a beer from my cooler and we call it good?

 

You will be filling a lot of trash cans. I find most businesses don't like hiring thieves.

 

Are you stealing time from your employer right now, playing on the internet?

 

i once caught a (former) employee making a personal phone call.

 

No, are you?

 

As I posted earlier, I am comfortably unemployed.

 

You havn't worked in the financial sector have you?

 

^

 

I realize I took this argument out to the enth degree, but there is a reason for that. Most businesses don’t mind if you charge your phone at work, or something similar, as long as it is kept within reason. They rightly assume that happy employees do better work, but one should not see this tolerance as evidence of some sort of entitlement to a company’s property. This country was founded on the right of people and businesses to own property. This property is privately owned. The owner is free to share it with whoever they wish, but that doesn’t mean that you can just walk up and take it, you must have the courtesy to ask for it, and be courteous if your request is refused. It irks me to no end, when people trample on the rights of others to their own property. I keep asking how you would feel if the actions you suggest were done to you, and not some business, because a business has the same private property rights as you do. Some businesses may have places for folks with EVs to plug in, but I don’t see how anyone can assume that any unlocked outlet is for your use in charging your car. I would never assume something like that, any more than I would assume that the faucet for my neighbor’s garden hose was for me to hook up my clothes washer to. When you take something that doesn’t belong to you and that you didn’t pay for, it is called theft; how you can rationalize it any other way is beyond me.

 

I'm with you Reedja.

 

If your company doesn't have a policy on charging EVs, I would also investigate what policies they have for carpooling, biking to work, public transportation etc. In most metro areas employers of a certain size (over 400 I think) are required to have programs to help the local area meet EPA air quality goals. This often materializes as preferred parking, prize drawings, or even small cash or gas card incentives for regular carpoolers, free or reduced cost public transportation passes, gift certificates to bike shops for people who bike to work regularly etc. If your company has some of these other programs in place to encourage employees to reduce commuting emissions, you might have an easier time convincing them to create a policy to provide you free charging as a similar incentive. Quantifying the actual (fairly low) cost of charging is probably an important component, as often I think employers believe you're using a lot more power than you are.

If they won't do it for free, then hopefully you can negotiate with them let you still charge and pay for your usage. Maybe you could offer to track it on a Kill-A-Watt or something to demonstrate that the cost is actually pretty low.

As others have said once they have asked you to stop, you should do so and then try to work out a compromise. In general you'll probably be most likely to have success with this at a higher level, as the facilities people probably won't want to deal with it unless there's a policy to cover their butts.

Rob

 

I understand your reasoning, but if an employer offers the free use of electrical outlets to employees for hair dryers, coffee pots, space heaters, etc ... then why shouldn't an employee feel comfortable plugging in their PIP? A PiP takes about $0.30 for a full charge, a Volt about $1.30, and that is at residential rates. Commercial rates are often a fraction of that.

 

Thanks. I once lived in a house that was divided into 2 apartments. Each one had an electric meter, and a water meter; and each one had hook ups for a washer and dryer. A person moved in to the other apartment, but he didn’t have a washer or dryer. I figured the guy would use the Laundromat down the street; then a month went by and my electric and water bills came in and they were through the roof. I also noticed that my laundry soap was disappearing. He had moved his girlfriend in and they were both using my washer and dryer, my water and electric, and my soap too without even asking; plus he was defrauding the landlord by having two people live there without paying the dual occupancy rent rate. They got evicted, but not until they had cost me, and the landlord a lot of money.

 

You should have shared his girl friend. At least she did laundry.

 

They must have been from NYC and not upstate.

 

There are no hairdryers or space heaters aloud where I work; coffee machines are provided. I can't imagine any company that would allow Hair dryers and space heaters for both power use and safety reasons.

 

"power can I use?” & "do my laundry?” &"private property; so can I have your house?"

What, no demand for use of the wife and kids?

I could battle a case of diarrhea of the keyboard about why this country was founded, but this thread passed from "epic yawn", entirely skipping “rake on a chalkboard”, and has landed squarely in “icepick under the toenail” so I’m going to go watch my car charge for enjoyment and glad tiding.