Bally Of The Damned

I was a victim of an attempted robbery this past weekend. The incident left me feeling upset, vulnerable, and violated. Thankfully the attempt didn't involve an attack on me but rather an invasion of privacy. Once again my locker was tampered with at the Bally's I go to.

The incident happened sometime this past Saturday afternoon. I went to my local Bally's to get a lower body workout. I spent a total of two hours working out. Afterwards I headed to the men's locker room to get my stuff. I was shocked to find another lock in place of mine.

I looked around in shock not believing that I was experiencing the same bullshit again. A couple things about the experience were the same. I used the same locker as last time. It was the same damn Bally's. But there was one major difference this time.

You see, experience is a very good teacher. What I lacked in my dealings with men, I made up for (somewhat) in my dealings with Bally's. Other than my coat and my Bally's ID, I had nothing else of value in my locker.

It was freaking cold, though, and the thought of leaving without my coat was upsetting. I quickly went to the stalls to see if my coat was there. I recalled in the last incident my bag being found there. Of course there was nothing.

I went to the front desk and like last time, they weren't helpful at all. One of the ladies working there made me explain the situation to another guy. He went with me to the locker to see the other lock there. I was adamant that I had used that particular locker (I should know since it pretty much is the one I usually use).

The initial lady at the front desk than gave me a lock breaker to bust the lock. In retrospect, she probably misunderstood and assumed I forgot my combination. Did I mention that the Bally's staff wasn't really all that helpful. Not thinking of the risk I was taking (in the sense that whoever had the lock could come back at the moment I'm breaking the lock), I broke the lock. Once I opened it, I discovered a whole other set of clothing inside.

So not only did I not find my stuff, I inadvertently risked someone else's property being robbed. Not that it mattered anyway, seeing how whoever was able to take my stuff pretty much busted my lock.

So I decide to look through some lockers to see if maybe it was dumped somewhere else. No luck. I'm at a loss for what to do next. A snippet of time passes and I overhear another guy talking about his stuff missing.

Misery loves company so I immediately gravitate towards him. (If I were a more suspicious person, I'd say his talking about missing stuff seemed a mite bit convenient. But that thought didn't cross my mind until much later.) He mentioned that he came up to his locker, opened it, and found his bag missing.

We start looking through lockers again and he finds my coat in one locker and my broken lock in yet another. He eventually finds his pants with his phone but still claims to be missing a bag.

At some point, the helpful Bally's staff directs Vic2 and myself to a back room. She fills out two separate reports with our information. Before she's done, the local police are called in to take our report. The one thing that I wish I didn't do was give out my information loudly when asked. If Vic2 was putting on an act about his stuff being missing (and I have to admit some of his recollection on times was off), then all he had to do was get my information and maybe he'd use it for ill purposes.

So after all reports are filed, Vic2 eventually leaves. I wind up sticking around since I busted someone else's locker. But after waiting another thirty minutes (which in actuality was in addition to the hour since I had finished my initial workout...so actually 90 minutes) with the owner not showing up, I finally left.

My company was having its annual holiday party that evening as well. Unfortunately by the time I got home, I pretty much had to get ready for it. I didn't have my time to rest and later bitch and moan how I really didn't want to go. So I got ready and decided to bitch and moan in the car....*LOL*.

I told my guys about the incident and Eugene scared me when mentioning that I might've been targeted. Perhaps they may have even been looking for my car keys in hopes of stealing my ride. That kind of made me suspicious that Vic2 may have been an accomplice.

Rock was concerned if I had my house keys, wallet, and other personal stuff in my locker. But as I mentioned earlier, I fortunately didn't have anything else in the locker.

One thing I did do tonight. I decided to open an account to monitor my credit. I figure it's a good idea to do this in general just to be safe. You really never know when identity theft (heh...I was a victim of that once or twice too) will rear its ugly head.

At least I got to see my man Rock for a bit Sunday. Our last time seeing each other was just before Thanksgiving. So I was able to salvage an otherwise sucky weekend.