Maybe I was stupid, overly brave or just simply miscalculated the odds, but last night I drove Paula and Valeri e to a drag show at a gay bar about an hour away from where I work... In my company vehicle with a logo on the side. Now, before you you think "what an idiot", let me explain my rational.

My personal car was at my job locked behind a fence and I didnt have time to get it. I have a F-150 truck that I drive that is part of my compensation and we can drive them anywhere we like and even use the company gas card.

So,  Paula and I get ready at Valerie's house and we jumped on the interstate and drove straight to Lake Charles, LA which is 50 miles of high speed Interstate driving and it was hours past dark and I also have pretty dark tint on my truck. The bar was about a minute off the interstate and we parked in a crowded parking lot behind the bar. It was uneventful but we had a good time and left early about 12:30 since I have to get up at 6am. We went straight to Val's house, I changed and went home and was in bed by 2:30am (almost cried when alarm went off).

Too be continuesd

So this afternoon, my friends truck blew a valve and needed a company truck for a few days so I tod him to just use mine since my car was already there. I clean out everything I needed and put it in my car and I double checked that nothing "odd" was left behind. My boss (who is really cool and I consider him a good friend) is standing by the gate close to my truck and "K" is loading his stuff in the tool box and he hollers out "hey, you left a dead hooker in here"! We all laughed at the absurd statement and my boss is laughing and says, "well at least we know where he found her in Louisiana"..

It was all I could do to NOT look like a deer in the headlights.  Then he said, "You're truck was in louisiana last night, wasn't it?" If someone knew it was MY truck, then they must have seen the driver! All the work trucks are F-150's and all the same color. I was suddenly very ill inside but I forced a confused look on my face and said "it wasn't MY truck".  I havn't been to LA since last Thursday. He just smiled in a knowing way and said he has eyes EVERYWHERE and not much gets past him since he knows almost EVERYONE in two states.
He didn't push it much further and I suspect that he didn't want to embarrass me. Then with a friendly smile and a slightly quieter voice that no one else would have been able to understand, he said was that someone was pretty sure it was my truck and the driver looked kinda funny...

Now I'm wondering , what the hell does he know? And more important, who told him and what do THEY know. It may sound crazy but I bust up laughing every time I think about it. Maybe it's one of those "gotta laugh to keep from crying", kind of things.  LOL

Do the company trucks have GPS units in them, by any chance?

Uh, yeah, sounds like he knows. Is it possible that the company trucks have gps trackers and cameras for security purposes? I'm afraid that the only way you will know is if you ask him directly. Sounds like he might be cool though. I hope this doesn't have any personal or professional implications for you.

I'd know if we had gps on them since I'm the unofficial "technology officer" and would probably be doing the tracking...lol!  Being in louisiana isn't an issue at all. We have company vehicles all over LA &TX and it would not be questioned me being there. So why would someone have thought it odd enough to tell my boss?

My boss is really cool though and always goes out of his way to make me look good, especially to his boss who owns this huge privately held business. He's a bit METRO I guess. He shaves his arms and chest. I suspect that he didn't wasnt to embarass me but wanted to tip me off that there are a lot of eyes out there and things get around. I don't expect him to say anything else or to tell anyone.  But I am dying to KNOW what HE knows. I'm not going to ask though!!!!  LOL

Most likely the truck was spotted in the lot and some was watching to see who was driving.  They did not recognize the driver, and reported it.

How's that old cliche go ? You play with makeup, your going to get kissed...... no..... you wear a dress , someone going to see your panties....no... oh ye..., you play with fire , you going to get burned.

I think your not seeing the obvious here. Your boss is kinda metro? Shaves his arms and chest? Saw your truck at a nightclub the features drag queens?  Could it be your boss is one of the drag queens? That would make things a little easier, now wouldn't it.

  This might be a good thing. Instead of finding out all at once, this might give him a chance to warm up to the idea.

   Love and hugs, Roxy

He does kinda have those "Tim Curry" eyes, lol. I don't think it's a bad thing but a bit embarassing.      
Which reminds me, the only birthday gift I got was from my wife and it was a 1974 DVD.  Rocky Horror Picture Show!  lol

I think that maybe a subtle little hint that your wife wants to play along and maybe be included??? Just a thought,

   Hugs, Roxy

I wonder what HE was doing there?

yeah as soon as I read shaved arms/chest I was also like "hahahaha! yeeeeeeah he was probably there as well ...a la drag!". 

QuoteThen with a friendly smile and a slightly quieter voice that no one else would have been able to understand, he said was that someone was pretty sure it was my truck and the driver looked kinda funny...

Yes, he knows and he was probably trying to get you to open up.  Maybe he has some things he wants to share with you. 

OK so a group goes for a night out to a gay bar.

That means whatever you want it to mean.

Lots of people go to gay bars, especially of they have good entertainment.

He could probably do a good "Frank N. Furter", lol.  I'm sure he wasn't there though.  I have no doubt that someone somehow, saw a company truck with TX plates and it was deduced that it was mine but there is "plausible deniability" unless someone recognized "me" and not just a woman or someone in drag, driving a truck.  What worries me is that something was "off" enough with what was seen for someone to tell him the next day. We have truck all over the place so my truck simply being in that area wouldn't be unusual in itself.

Nothing seems off today with him and he is as cool as usual. We've been working on financials for a small $800k job together and he doesn't question my expertise or opinion at all. That may sound like a lot of money but it is one of the smallest projects of it's kind that I have ever worked on. Most of the projects I work on have 7 or eight digits in them!

I think what he said was a polite and friendly way of saying "be discrete, there are a lot of eyes out there". I don't really expect anything else to be said. Even worst case scenario of what he may know, my only worry is WHO called him and would they run their mouth. I have no doubt that if someone saw EVERYTHING and told him, my boss would have told them to keep quiet about it.

the person who saw you probably was at the bar themselves ...  especially if it was dark and your truck had dark windows.... so probably happened when you were getting in the truck or leaving it...

you are very lucky to have a boss like that ....

your boss seems very likely to have been there or perhaps knows someone close or from his description ... perhaps in a relationship with someone there?!!

also are you certain that there is no electronic surveillance or GPS on the trucks? .. most companies tend to hire smaller firms to take care of this to decrease security risks...

chances are that if the person who saw you wanted to blab... they would have done so by now .... so IMHO you are safe...

Hope things go amazing!

::hugs::

well if he shaves his chest and arms he is a bit more in touch with feminine things than Bull Durham so take it you were seen and read - now you need to wonder if he was on stage or in the audience or even behind the bar.

Parking a corporate/company vehicle at a bar (no matter what kind of bar it is) is a bad idea unless you have business there.  The company is liable for that vehicle no matter if you are on or off duty.

Quote from: Vibes6 on December 17, 2010, 01:56:08 PM
your boss seems very likely to have been there or perhaps knows someone close or from his description ... perhaps in a relationship with someone there?!!

also are you certain that there is no electronic surveillance or GPS on the trucks? .. most companies tend to hire smaller firms to take care of this to decrease security risks...

I can't imagine that if there was someone that was with our company and they saw me there, that they would risk outing themselves to tell my boss and if he were there in drag I'm sure he'd have said HI!  I would if I was in drag and saw him in drag...

I'm also sure that we don't have outsourced GPS tracking on the trucks as I probably would have been the one to outsource it.    I  surely woud have been in on the details. Heck, they dont even really track my american express card much less my whereabouts.

Does your company buy the vehicles, or like most companies lease them?  I'd be shocked if major commercial leasing companies do not have such 'black boxes (your GPS is not the only thing they are tracking) on their vehicles.

ProTip - almost all rental cars have these black boxes anymore.

Quote from: tekla on December 17, 2010, 02:26:25 PM
Parking a corporate/company vehicle at a bar (no matter what kind of bar it is) is a bad idea unless you have business there.  The company is liable for that vehicle no matter if you are on or off duty.

If my boss saw my truck at a bar here in town, he'd probably stop and have a few with me then tell me to be carefull driving home. Managers have a LOT of latitude on things and if someone has to borrow a managers truck, like mine, to go into a refinery- they always ask if there is anything in the truck that they need to know about since the trucks get searched to enter the refinery. They ask because there could be any sort of guns, ammo, whisky,etc. One of our shop guys got run out of the refinery one time because they found a handgun under the seat of my bosses truck! lol  I also know of at least 3 guns here in the main office. It's a strange business culture! LOL