March 12, 2004
Bon Voyage
Last night I picked up Dave and we drove out to C & O Trattoria down by the beach for Jon's 29th birthday dinner. Dinner was great, the usual enormous portions of food, and it was great to see everyone who showed up. Afterwards I took Dave home, and then I noticed something: my camera had been stolen. See, when I got off work I put it in my armrest-holder thing and drove to pickup Dave. When I got to Dave's, I put my car stereo faceplate in there as well, and after picking up Dave I never put the faceplate back on cause we were just talking the whole time. When I got to the restaurant I valeted the car (as that's really the only option, or go pay about the same to park in a lot two blocks away). After I got the car back, I never checked in my armrest holder again till I dropped Dave off and I went to put my stereo back on. When I did that, I realized I had put my camera in there hours earlier, and it was no longer there, so I can only assume that the valet at the restaurant took it. First I have to say that in all honesty I haven't been using my camera hardly at all for a couple months now. I probably take maybe a picture a week on average, if that (which is quite different than when I first got it and snapped pictures constantly). Also, I was never much of a camera person before I got that camera, and only got that to take pictures to put on my blog here; but I found that most people really hate it when I did that, so I'd stopped doing it (or at least tapered way off on that). So anyway, the point is I don't really have a strong desire to replace the camera; however, I'm not really sure what I should do about the fact that it was stolen. I don't think I could identify the valet, as I didn't really give him more than a cursory glance (maybe I could pick him out of a lineup, but I doubt it). Given that, would it be worth it to call the valet company (they're not employed by the restaurant) and tell them one of their valets is a thief? Would it be worth it to call the police? I mean, I'm not that broken up that I don't have the camera anymore, although it does annoy me that I had something stolen from me like that, but do I have a moral responsibility to report it or something, or is it likely that reporting it won't really do any good? Oh well, thank god it's Friday at least, right?
UPDATE: I see that Jon also had some stuff stolen out of his car by the valet guy, so I'm sure we'll talk today and figure something out.
Posted by Yams at March 12, 2004 09:03 AMI HATE valet guys. I honestly would love to pull a sting on these guys. Between me and Jon we've got enough video equipment to record every inch of a car. I say we rig up one of our vehicles and go back there in a few days.
Posted by: riggs at March 12, 2004 09:55 AMI'm confused, Jon's now 29 and not 30?
Posted by: Koganuts at March 12, 2004 10:08 AMBTW, I'd be *really* pissed if something was stolen from my car by a valet guy. Sorry to hear that both you and Jon have had stuff stolen from your cars. Yet another reason why I absolutely do not valet! :o
Posted by: Koganuts at March 12, 2004 10:10 AMI would call the valet company and cordinate with jon to have him do the same. That is not cool. I hate that valets think of other peoples cars as personal shopping malls. Report his ass. At the least get someone fired. 
First, who said Jon was 30? My entry to him yesterday said "Make the last year of your twenties a good one!"
On to the theft, I spoke to Jon this morning and he said he discovered what was missing while he was still there and talked to the valet manager last night. The guy gave him the standard "we're not responsible" spiel, and said "that's why you shouldn't leave stuff in your car" song and dance, but Jon got the company's number and gave the manager his number and told the guy to call him by Monday or he was gonna go over his head. I am gonna call C & 0 today and tell them about it, just to see if they get other complaints about the valets there, and will get the number of the valet company, and then call them. I'm going to stress that I don't want them to reimburse me for the camera, as that is not really my concern; I just want them to know that their employees are stealing from customers and that I'd like to know if they're going to do anything about it or if they've heard any other complaints. I realize my camera is gone for good, I have no illusions about it being returned to me or anything like that (and as I said, I'm not really that heartbroken about it). But it is irritating and distressing that something like this happens. It sucks that you give someone your business and they fuck you for it. So much for having any faith in people being decent huh?
Posted by: Yams at March 12, 2004 11:34 AM