24 Hour Fitness Owes Us All An Apology

So this afternoon while I was in the gym someone got into my truck and took my 3 year old backpack, 4 year old laptop / tablet, 2 year old Akai midi controller and 5 fully loaded usb drives. I had that stuff sooooo long but I took such good care of, they could have lasted another 3 years. My usb drives had beats, my own music catalog, concert photos, family photos, graphics, logos and contracts. That backpack was very important too me but the 24 hour fitness staff and Eastvale police made me feel 100 times worse.

After getting back to my truck I immediately knew my bag was missing. I was 100% sure it was in there because I charged and brought it along specifically so I could go to Buffalo Wild Wings after the gym and finish by blog entry about LA Fitness while I watched the Sunday Night Football Game. So I went back in the gym and asked the cashier to find someone I could speak with about getting access to their parking lot surveillance. The cashier appeared to be compassionate at first and said I'm sorry. She even said " It has been happening alot lately"

Shortly after, their "Sales Manager"  and "Assistant Sales Manager" approached me and gave them both fist bumps and told them what happened. I explained that these guys didn't break any window or locks but when I was arriving I noticed tow trucks outside. So logically I assumed it was the tow truck drivers... Knowledge and tools.... Plus its not the first time I found tow truck drivers to be breaking into vehicles. So even thou it was a long shot I was hoping 24 hour fitness would see if there was any weird activity going on near my truck during that time frame.

The Sales Manager tried to tell me that if I wanted them to access the surveillance footage located on the gym's building,... I would have to call the cops and file a police report first. WTF!? Can you believe that? I know I'm not the only one that thinks the video should be looked at first. It's actually common sense. So I asked the manager "why would we call the cops and waste their time if there is nothing on the surveillance footage for them to identify" Then he explains its company policy not to lets customers see the surveillance footage.

Okay bro let me put it like this...I'm asking you to help me, you can easily accommodate that but your telling me you wont because " its company policy"

You cant imagine how I truly wanted to react at that very moment. It's moments like this in life when I realize that there is a very thin line between an Angel and a Terrorist. To put it lightly I wanted to go into a Tasmanian Devil , Jon Conner esqe frenzy because at that moment Mark Reel Jr's decided to tell me that I was no longer talking to a human being whom I asked for help but instead I was communicating with a robotic cyborg extension of " the company" that was programmed to follow a specific playbook with thousands of loop holes designed to defend the company's financial bottom line. So in the spirit of the resistance.... I wanted to flip out and murk a couple robots.

Why??? Well let me simplify it for you.

If Mark Reel Jr's mother or his neighbor's vehicle was broken into today,.. We all know damn well his Bitch Ass would have looked at the video well before the cops arrived.

Needless to say, I got the cops called on me for putting someone in their place. I did nothing illegal, I was a disgruntled customer voicing my displeasure and Mark Reel Jr decides to tell me I was trespassing and If I don't leave he will "have to" call the cops.

Once again... I was about to end up in jail for being the victim. FML! I didn't leave.. Instead I got louder and the conversation went like this. "Your cashier just told me this has been happening all the time, you haven't hired a security guard and now you're not even trying to look at the surveillance footage for me. That is when Mark announced with such conviction that 24 hour fitness doesn't own any parking lots and are not responsible for the cars parked outside. O.M.G. 

S.M.H. what the hell does the ownership of the parking lot have to do with anything? I don't care who owns the parking lot and I never said the gym was responsible.(when in fact, in court their NEGLECT could be deemed responsible)

Mark was talking to me like I was child his assistant was talking to me in a way more respectful tone but they were both saying the same shit and I had to break it down for them. They have a camera that may have recorded a the person that stole my stuff. They have access to the surveillance footage and instead of helping me they  are telling me they don't own the parking lot and they are not responsible.

I hope everyone reading this is paying attention. 24 Hour Fitness and their staff does not care about your well being. In fact I have been to four different locations and each parking lot has broken glass not to mention signs posted on the main entrance telling customers of the frequent thefts. The don't care about the safety of your vehicles while you and YOUR CHILDREN are inside their facility. The company was well aware of the problem but chose everyday not to hire a security guard.

If you think that is sad, picture this! I looked up into the security camera and noticed it 4 different lens inside, pitched like a fork of eyes to see a 180° spread. So I knew that If I could watch the footage I could find something. So when the cops arrive I approached officer Issac and explained it all.

In total 3 cop cars showed up which validated my opinion that we should have looked at the film before we even bothered them. Then after 30 minutes of me standing outside waiting the cops came out with surveillance footage of someone that said was me. The accused me of walking in the gym, checking in and immediately walking back outside. I looked at the footage and it was soooo obvious that it wasn't me but Officer Morales ( Badge #4859 ) argued with me about in a very disrespectful tone. The challenged my statement, they gave me a hard time because I couldn't remember exactly what time I checked in but my account checked in at 12:34pm and the footage they had of 12:34pm obviously was not me! Then as Officer Morales went into the gym for a second time. Officer Issac asked to see my truck. It was like they didn't believe me plus they wanted to be nosey but I didn't have anything to hide so I showed them my truck and once again explain what was taken. During our walk back toward the front of the gym Officer Issac made me aware that the cameras attached to the 24 Hour Fitness building to oversee the parking lot were actually motion censored cameras. WTF!? Really Man? That kind of technology makes sense for a home owners driveway but not for a gym parking lot with their doors open 24 hour. So for some reason want to save data space on their servers (*company's bottom line) but any criminal who knew this could just approach on foot. Not to mention the constant traffic would trigger so many recordings that I would assume the savings would be minimal to say the at least. So You mean to tell me this million dollar company, That has dozens of staff members just talking at the front desk every time I arrive wants to get petty, but at our expense while risking our safety.

After another 45 minutes they both come outside to tell me that they can't help me because they cant find footage of me walking in the gym. I put the cop in his place by telling him it's his job to mediate that. Their system is off, their time stamp is off or they just don't know how to work it properly but I was told That I had to call you for help and after I did, you coming up with excuses for not being able to help me.

You know what Officer Morales Bitch Ass did? He turned on his vest camera and tried to aggravated me.  Once again he challenged my report, he gave me the same bullshit excuses and with this nervous twitch of his he began to bend my driver license, ( because for some fucked up reason the were checking my record ) so I asked him to stop bending my license and asked if I could have it back. he literally looked at my license , thought about and decide not to replying it will be fine.... now he is wiping his herpes infested lips and adjusting his crotch to piss me off. At this moment I looked at Officer Issac straight in the eyes and told him the last thing I wanted to do today was inconvenience him but the only I was going to get 24 hour fitness to help was with your presence. At that moment  Officer Issac walked back toward the gym entrance, I had a feeling he believed me... and for some  godly reason he actually tried to help.

It took him another 30 minutes to figure out I actually checked in at 12:33pm and the whole they were looking for me, checking after 12:34pm because the time stamp was off by a few seconds. So he told me I was right I was wearing completely different clothes and apologized for accusing me of walking out immediately after checking in. He said now they could check the parking lot footage starting at 12:33pm but it would be a long shot  because their system if all jacked up. Motion sensors, the lobby camera had them arguing with me about who wasn't me and the spot my truck was parked. and on but I was so worked up from he way 24 hour Fitness staff and Officer Morales treated me I just asked him to call me if he found anything on the footage. I had to get out of their and medicate.

Bottom line was Eastvale Police and 24 Hour Fitness staff had no regard for my vehicles safety and no motivation to help me try to recover my stolen property. Both companies were insufficient, unprofessional, disrespectful and made the situation much worse that it was. In fact it could have escalated even further if I wasn't so mature. Someone less wise, less in control could have beat the shit of Mark Reel Jr or Officer Morales but I didn't. So give me my brownie point... or how about just a brownie to comfort me after such a stressful evening.

Stay tuned Fam! My next blog entry is very informative! Every Parent, iphone owner and tech savvy person such know what I learned. In fact my next blog entry will be like a part 2 to this entry because I would not have learned what I now know if my backpack had not been stolen. So make sure you park as close as you can to your gym entrance because until we file a class action suit and force 24 hour fitness to hire security all they technically owe us is an apology. Until next time Fam, Be good!