Think Like A Criminal

Sabotage by Barse-Miller

Stolen from The Gregarious Loner

The last shop I worked in, a few years ago, was the backroom of a used car dealer.  Nice place, and the dealer was a truly decent person.
On my first day I was given an auction car to go over,  with the goal of reconning it to reliability for our lot.  I don't recall the make or model, just that it had an ABS module under the hood.
The vehicle had a dash lit like a Christmas tree, with all sorts of warning lights on.  It only took about 15 minutes to zero in on the ABS module under the hood, and a physical inspection found the gang-connector had been backed off enough to lose connection.
Now, the connector on that thing carries a locking tab, and simply can't back off by accident.  Not without destroying the whole shebang.  It had been disconnected on purpose.
When I showed Dean what I found, and the easy fix, I made the comment "I have no idea how that could happen".  Dean laughed, and explained.
It was 'auction sabotage'.  Buyers (car salesmen mainly) purposefully sabotage the cars going into the sales lane in hopes the warning lights and inoperable features will drive down prices for them.  The thing is, it never works because everyone there knows all about it.  That doesn't stop the idiots from continuing to do it though, even at the risk of being permanently black-balled from the auction.
Huh.... I had no concept of a thought process that underhanded and deceitful.   It presented an entirely new challenge, and not long after that day I  transformed myself into an expert on the ways of scheming, low life, sack-o-crap, auction car-buyers.

He goes on to compare this mindset to some of the shenanigans going on in Washington D.C., but this was the best part.