So, yesterday turned out to be awesome. A group of ten of us went rafting at Pocono Whitewater outside of Jim Thorpe, PA. It was a great time, although the lead guide was quite slow and timid thus causing constant jam ups. Other than a little sunburn and a bruised forehead from a bailing bucket, we all came out fine. When we returned from the river is when the fun really started.
When we arrived back at the facility, we immediately headed for the car to retrieve or changes of clothes and check our phones, etc. Still happy and oblivious to the impending aggravation, we made our way through the parking lot and opened up the car. At first nothing seemed odd. Everything was in place, nothing was ransacked but when I went to look for my phone and money but it was gone. Now I started to freak. My wife checked her purse and her phone was gone as well but thankfully the missed her cash, Three other people rode with us but nothing was missing from them, fortunately. The criminals who did this looked only for cash and phones, as we would later find out. Neither of our phones were out in plain view. Mine was in the center console with my wallet, cash and GPS and my wife’s was in her purse on the floor of the back seat.
After about 10,000 f-bombs and assorted other colorful terms, I went back up to the gift shop and had them call the police. This is where more aggravation came. The girl in the shop was very helpful, the managers were nothing short of disinterested. While I was up there waiting another guy came in whose car was broken into. Later we would come to find out a third was also broken into. The third car was part of a group of Girl Scouts, which just really made my stomach churn that they had to deal with this.
We had to wait about an hour for the State Police to arrive and we wandered around aimlessly during that time I made the mistake of talking to another manager who said ” I don’t know what you had in you car, you could say you lost anything”, upon hearing this I actually felt my blood boil. I did not ask for anything from this man, except for information about whether this had happened before and a copy of the waiver we all sign before getting on the raft. At this point I just walked away until the police came.
The officer was very helpful and his competent handling of the situation was much appreciated. We all gave him our info and what was missing, he actually said that sometimes they do catch people who do this. I don’t hold out hope for that but it was nice to hear. After that myself and another victim went up to get copies of the waiver, which the manager had been dancing around about. Finally we received a copy and I guess after realizing how poorly he had handled it he tried to offer free passes to come back.
All in all, no one was hurt and nothing was missing that can’t be replaced, other than a few photos on the phones we may not have downloaded. It sucks and I want the person who did it to have their frigging hands cut off but it could have been worse.
