When I was an engineering intern at a manufacturing plant, I often felt uncomfortable exercising the privileges that my salaried engineering mentors told me I deserved but were denied to the union workers, such as parking at the more convenient office lot, entering through the front door, using the restrooms in the office area, and so forth. Once a union manager who didn't realize I was an engineering intern and thought I was union told me that I couldn't park in the office section of the lot. He was embarassed when my manager corrected him, but I was even more embarassed to be caught in the middle of a privilege dispute involving what seemed to me to be arbitrary class distinctions devoid of merit. Why should a 60 year old union manager have to park farther away than me? It made no sense to me, and I tried my best to be respectful toward the union workers and to avoid flaunting any privilege that went with my job.

As an intern, you should do as your manager tells you, and try not to complain about it, as you're actually quite lucky to have that opportunity. Do your best to get along with everyone and you'll be invited back or be given a better recommendation. Park the bike outside with good locks which you can probably leave on the rack at night if you want; if weather is an issue get a rain tarp or get a beater bike. You can also politely suggest improvements to the parking such as moving it to an area covered by a roof, if available, but don't get too frustrated if the suggestion is not accepted. As a 41 year old Senior Principal Engineer, I still can't get the building management that leases the space to our company to move the bike rack to an unused area under the roof.

Thank you. The "factory worker" is as important as anyone in the manufacturing environment. They do the work engineers and technical people dream up.
In fact, my engineering director says "You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting one."
A 'factory worker' may have ratted you out - then again maybe not. Does it matter?

Ah, didn't realise an internship would be so short. The interns I've known (in the UK admittedly) have usually stayed around for anything up to 12-18 months while they learn.

simple ... n+1! :-)

THIS.

phil15341 wasn't asking for advice, he's just venting his feelings.

Now HTFU and go figure out your next move.

Laf - I'm guessing factory worker is 500 pounds, eats 7 cheeseburgers every 3 hours, washing them down with a gallon of cola, smokes, and drives an 8,000 pound SUV with a 427CID engine.

(P.S., I'm not bashing factory workers. I'm bashing people who find a problem with a bicycle tucked away in an unobtrusive fashion.)

And yet, you bash factory workers pretty thoroughly right there.

Get the first lick in with the padlock, and all you have to worry about is not being under him when he falls. I see that guy every day at work; he's loud but he's slow. (Physically and mentally. BTW, how do you know him?)

Invest in some locks and cable, and by investing I mean put down the good money on them. watch the vid for some tips =)

As someone else said, 2 locks. A heavy duty one attached to the rack at work, and a light one you you take with you in case you need to make an emergency 7-11/whatever stop. Maybe a 3 chain one if you're worried about your seat or something. And get some lockable skewers.

For what it's worth, I work for a consulting company so I'm getting shipped all over the city for stints of varying lengths at other firms. Over the years I've been located at a lot of different office buildings. During my entire 23 years of being in the work force, not once have I ever worked at a building where it would have been proper for me to bring my bike inside. I lock my bike up outside every day. Most of the time there isn't even a bike rack available for me and I just have to make due with what I can find. I've never had a bike stolen or messed with while I was at work.

I've had two stolen out of my garage. I'm guessing had they been locked up inside the garage I would still have them.

Oh, and to the poster who said, "rumpy pumpy." That made me laugh out loud.

No matter how I look at it, I think I need two bikes. Looks like you're in the same position.

Nice bike for social just-because rides; and a beater I can let out of my sight without having a heart attack. I have a beater now - commuting to work every day on a $160 bike that's 30 years old. Works fine and it's not worth the effort of busting a U-lock to steal. It's stupid to say you can't commute anymore, there are solutions.

Thank you all for the helpful (and not so helpful) responses. It's just nice to be able to vent my feelings online without the repercussions I would get if I openly vented my frustration in the workplace. That being said, I was still trying to be as respectful to everyone as I could. I have nothing against factory workers. The only reason why I mentioned it was because my supervisor told me that it was a factory worker who complained. As for getting a beater bike, it is just a little impractical at this point considering I only have a about a month left in my internship. I do have a car to get to work, but nothing beats the satisfaction of hopping on my bike immediately after a productive day at work. I know I am being paranoid about leaving my bike locked outside, but it is my bike and my judgement call not to leave it outside. From my standpoint it'd be a lot easier to pay for a few tanks of gas as opposed to a whole new bike. Thank you all again for the responses and for listening to my story.

If this sort of thing defeats you and you're that concerned about the condition/appearance of your bike do can probably forget about doing any bike touring.

Yep you can.

Don't give the guy the satisfaction of knowing that he could stop you from riding. Get a good lock and even a bike cover if you want to keep it out of the elements and ride it every day.

The rules are the rules. Follow them and it will benefit your carreer in the long run. Doubtful they will make an exception for an intern and I wouldn't even ask for an exception as you know what the answer will be.

Ride safe,

Jeff

my 2 cents.

cent 1) if you haven't noticed, 1 out of 10 people in this country who would like to work, can't find a job. you could do a quick survey of all the college students who graduated last year and are trying to find a job, only realize that your best shot at fulltime employment is through this internship. i wouldn't rock the boat too much, unless you want to join the ranks of college students waiting tables post graduation.

cent 2) welcome to the corporate world. look at this way, you'll most likely spend more years in this soul eating machine than your current age. nothing buying more bikes can't cure.

good luck!

is it possible it could be stolen from the cloakroom? It might be safer locked to the rack.

Aha! You will be gone by August!

Normally I don't condone murder, but seeing as this is an exceptional case you should know something. If that factory worker were to disappear the complaint might be withdrawn and your precious could stay in the coat-closet unmolested by passing eyes.

I agree with you on this. It's nice that some people are allowed by their employers to bring their bikes inside, but I've never been able to, and I would not expect that to be the norm. For the people that are able to bring their bike inside, I would definitely consider that a 'perk' and not something that should be expected or guaranteed.

I wouldn't trust everything i heard from the boss, i've actually caught the boss throwing an innocent unaware fellow employee to the wolve so they dont have to be the bad guy before, if u can imagine that. tread lightly & dont be discouraged so easily.

At the 3 sites I've bike commuted to, bikes were to be parked outside and were not allowed inside. In one building I was told that they did not want me to cause a hazard carrying the bike down 6 flights of stairs in case of fire. Who would do that kind of crazy stuff if there was a fire? Of course I would.

If you just like riding right after work, you can bring the bike to work in the car and ride after work; then drive home. You can also alternate bike commutes with car commutes and keep your bike inside the car during your workday.

Bosses do not like it when they have to waste their time and energies dealing with things they do not feel are important especially when they are not related to doing actual work. Figure it all out and keep the bike commuting low profile.

My manager once told me that I couldn't bring my bike into the office. It pays to be nice to the clean up crew and security. I complained to them and by the day's end both had neat hiding spots set up for me to put my bike into.
Ernest

In my opinion the factory worker is jealous/envious of you. Maybe he sees in you what he could have been [under different circumstances] and the only way he can have power over you, is to bring up this issue. You are letting him have power over you, and it is eating away at you.

Forget about it, and count your blessings. Put yourself in the position of the factory worker. He is so miserable he has to resort to this kind of petty, backbiting behavior. Be happy that your education and circumstances have allowed you to travel a different path than that of the factory dude, who probably hates his job but can't quit because he has financial obligations, and zero skills.

Also, this kind of petty behavior is commonplace. The guy probably hates you because he sees you going places, and he sees himself going nowhere.

This thread might not have had the scales tipped so negatively towards the OP if he hadn't started with a defeatist notion. That and parking in a small communal location is a stretch in its own right. Other than that I see his point.
I'm a factory worker turned office employee. I earned it, but in there somewhere is still a factory worker. Here's an interesting twist....
Several years ago we had a different General Manager. One day his #2 brought a very nice bike into the office. The GM told #2 he couldn't do that though there was no company policy against it. Anyway, that's just the way it was.
For the last couple years there has been a new General Manager. Not knowing of the formers GM's ruling about parking bikes in the office, I asked if I can chain my bike to a handicapped parking sign post in the Office Employees parking lot. This lot is around the corner of the building from production floor employee parking lot. This newer GM invited me to park the bike in my office, just asked that when corporate came to town I not bring the bike. Company doesn't come real often so not a big deal. I bought a SuperRack and the expensive bike is always clean. I do nothing to bring additional attention to myself when parking in my office. I get to work early and leave late (but I always have) so changing cloths and bringing the bike in or out is never a scene.
A couple weeks ago, a production floor employee I've been friendly with for years cornered me about bringing my bike upstairs. He was rather negative about it, and for no good reason at all. Since, several others have made wise remarks about it. I don't know why.
There is a bike rack on the production floor side parking lot. There are always several beaters there. Now, you'd have to know the business I work in and I won't go into that but in general, theft and vandalism runs ram-pud. Other things happen on the floor, regularly, that just can't be substantiated. Let it suffice, that office employees simply could not park a bike in any condition in the plant floor workers parking lot and management won't let us put a rack outside on the managers lot. OK. I might get away with a beater in the production workers parking lot. I have made no known enemies. I AM paranoid that one day somebody might raise enough hell that I be asked not to bring my bike into the office. So....I've considered bringing a different bike. Yet, I have flats and want at least a bike with quick release tires. That won't fly in the production workers parking lot either. One day a tire will be gone. And I like really hard tires for some speed so I can get to work in in a timely manner so I need a road bike.
I just can't help but feal like somebody is going to ruin this great thing for me and anything less than parking in my office will become problematic for me. Las Vegas sun ruins anything left in the sun, fancy or not. Theft or vandalism is a massive issue where I work and I will never be sure I have an operational bike when it is time to go home. I'd say bike commuting in this country is still in it infancy.