What will you do?

[Nandy]

I come out this morning to crank the wife car and I find my step daughter sitting about 2 feet from my new 3 weeks old $45k truck PAINTING SOME FIGURINES WITH SPRAY PAINT, silver color to boot.....

What will you do?

[Thumper]

I'd tell you .... but I'm pretty sure it's illegal.

[jb]

This is what's called a "Teachable Moment"
In a calm voice explain to her (not sure the age) why it's not a good idea to do what she's doing where she's doing it.
Tell her where she should have done it, and next time to check with you before.
The stuff will wipe off, you're going to get nicks and scratches on the thing sometime anyway, it's a damn truck to boot, if you want it to be an untouched work of art hang it on the living room wall instead of driving it.
Kids do stupid stuff, I"m sure you can remember stuff you did. The truck is new, but you'll get rid of it a few years from now, your daughter is with you for the rest of your life, don't screw it up because of this.
When my 3 boys were growing up, I made a rule to myself that said, "I'll only get mad if it's worse than anything I did"
They never approached that level and now they are doing the same thing with their kids.

[Thumper]

That's all marmy-smarmy, but I'm still leaning toward the illegal response. ;)

[LJ3]

When I was little and could barely write my name, an older kid showed me how to write "fuck" (yes, my first F bomb).

I took permanent markers and walked out to the apartment parking lot and picked a nice new white rambler.

I wrote the F bomb several times and then Wrote my name all over the white car.

We were quite poor back then and my parents weren't able to pay for the damage except for installments.

I think I got my ass wore out every time my dad had to make another payment.

Good times!

[Big Muddy]

Nandy, plain ole WD-40 will wipe that drifted paint, right off your truck....or, SeaFoam, if you really wanna splurge. ;)

[Nandy]

She is 24 years old, college student, graduating this December.... She is not my daughter, im just the guy that pitch in instead of her dad (fucker dead beat), for the last 10 years. well, her mom thought I was a bit unfair and too strict when with a stern voice I told her "Really, spray painting right next to my brand new truck, you think that is smart?" She got all teary up and said she had not done anything wrong, I replied I was not arguing and she needed to move and do that somewhere else, like close to her car for example... She continued to cry. I would have done the same darn thing to my daughter, wait, I already have, like when she dropped my motorcycle because she wanted to look cool, sat on it, right the motorcycle and the darn thing went from under her. over $500 in damages, yeah, first I asked if she was alright, when she said yes I let her have it...

Yup, the truck will get scratches and so will the motorcycle but I rather do those than someone else. I had just polished it the day before and it has a film on it, doubt much the mist will stick to it but still, not a smart thing to do and I assure you now she wont do that to anyone else so it was definitely a teachable moment. I work hard and like to have nice things and I dont enjoy see my things damaged by others. Had she walked by my truck, slip and put a dent on it, I would have not said a thing because it is out of her control.

I had a talk with her last night, I told her that I was not sure if i screamed at her and if I did that was not what I wanted to do. She said it was alright, I did not scream and she understands. She probably never thought about it, I would not be surprised, but I am sure she understand it better after she told her boyfriend and he probably gave he a "you did whuuuattt????"

Thanks for y'all input.

PS - I do remember all the stupid stuff I did, stuff I knew was stupid, things it did not cross my mind it was a stupid thing, now I know those because I also "remember" my dad not cutting me any slack, whatever it was a whooping as a little kid, a slap in the back of the head as a preteen/teenager, or the worse, his face of discontent/disapproval as a young men....

[Chicken Dinner]

JMO, but 24!is plenty old enough to know better than to do something like that. You screw up a piece of equipment at work because you're careless or not thinking things through, a stern reprimand is the least of your worries.