Workplace Nightmares·
THE LOST TIRE
A California tire shop accidentally throws away a customer's tire, sparking a tense standoff as a reluctant replacement price and a demand for justice unfold.
Should the shop replace it or should the driver pay?
Be one of the first to vote.
A tire shop in California lost the one thing a driver actually needed: the tire itself.
The poster had dropped the car off to get a leak patched, expecting a routine repair. Instead, when they called later to ask if it was ready, the conversation took a strange turn. The man at the shop said that when he set the tire against the wall, another employee thought it was meant to be discarded and threw it away.
The explanation came with a shrug and a word that did a lot of work: the tire was "accidentally" thrown out.
The poster immediately asked the obvious question, if the shop had lost the tire, would they be given a free tire to replace it? The answer was no.
According to the poster, the man did not offer a straight replacement. He offered a discount instead, and said he could sell a new tire for $85. That set off a long back-and-forth. The poster pushed for the shop to make it right. The man would not budge.
The details only made the situation feel stranger. This was not a customer who had damaged the tire, or a repair that had gone wrong. The shop had the tire in its possession. The problem, as the employee described it, was a mix-up inside the shop: one worker set the tire by the wall, another assumed it was trash, and it was thrown away.
That left the poster in a bind. They were still without a repaired tire, and now they were being told to pay for a new one. The poster said the whole thing felt like the shop was trying to rip them off.
They also noted they didn't have a lawyer or anything, and asked the internet a blunt question: "What should I do?"
For now, the facts are simple enough. The tire shop was supposed to patch a leak. Instead, the tire disappeared inside the shop. The shop admitted it had been "accidentally" thrown away. It refused to hand over a free tire, offered to sell a replacement for $85, and left the customer stuck asking what options they have next.