So, I gotta get something off my chest. Apologies in advance for the public complaining. Hey, it's the internet - that's what it's here for, right? Commiserate and share stories as you like.
I'm out playing at Lafreniere Park today - nice day, ~55, though a good bit of wind - and I'm enjoying myself. About 2/3s of the way through my round I see these two kids - one guy, one girl, ~16 or so - milling about around a sizable hill that the basket of the hole I'm playing is on. I basically have the course to myself, so I'm rethrowing drives, etc. As I'm collecting my extra discs and setting up to putt, they make a show of running across the hill between me and the basket, giggling, etc. Whatever. I putt out, I move on.
A few holes later the pair walks up to me and the girl approaches me, awkwardly. She asks me if I found a phone. Nope, sorry, no phone. She kind of mills around though, as if she's expecting something more. So I ask her, where'd you lose it? What's it look like? She tells me it was on the hill she ran by. The course loops back around in that direction later on, so I tell her I'll keep an eye out for it, and call someone in the contacts if I happen to find it. Still, weirdly, they mill around the tee area after we talk, but I shrug it off and move on.
~10-20 minutes later, I've finished my round and am doing a bit of field work in an open, central area of the park. It's a perfect spot - dead flat, and at least 500-600 feet long and probably 300+ feet wide. Anyway, I'm in the process of collecting some discs after a series of throws, and a cop car comes driving across the field, heading towards me. Hmm, I think. As he pulls up, the cop beckons emphatically to me to come near. Am I about to get chewed out for throwing in the field? Literally one family was out there, and I was being sure to steer clear of them. I've thrown in this field dozens of times. Anyway, he rolls down his window and says in his best pissed-off cop voice, "Give me the phone."
"What, you mean that girl's phone?"
"Yeah, give it here."
I proceed to tell him that no, I don't have the phone. I explained that she had approached me and asked if I'd seen it, and that was all. As a show of good faith, I offer to empty my bag to prove my innocence. It's a Simian, so it's a process.
D) I pull out my pockets, I show him pictures on my phone to prove it's mine. The guy is kind of a dick about the whole thing, even after I think it'd be clear that I'm being forthright and don't have this damn phone. Meanwhile, two more cars pull up into the field - another police car, and a park truck as well - so I'm hemmed in on three sides by official-looking vehicles while the whole park looks on. I'm not a particularly prideful guy, but it's kind of embarrassing.
The bag is empty, my pockets are empty, I don't have the phone. The guy makes a joke about me being Houdini, having hidden the stolen goods, but then says "he's convinced I don't have it." No kidding, bro. As I pack my bag up, I tell him that I think the kids deserve getting chewed out for calling the police on someone who they've assumed stole something from them with no evidence whatsoever. The guy actually defends the girl, which doesn't make sense to me, but then again, neither does the SWAT-like approach on a Suspected Phone Thief.
Anyway, we disperse, and I try and do a bit more fieldwork, mostly to not just run to my car and leave immediately after the incident. I stop in the bathroom as I'm heading out and see the kids hanging near a set of exercise equipment. I am very torn/tempted to go say something to them. It's not okay to call the cops on someone like that. It's absurd. Worst of all, I've actually found and returned phones to the park office out at that park before. I'm a good guy. I'm not going to steal your f*cking phone.
I think of chewing them out, of threatening violence, of rationally talking to them to make the point that reasonable people who don't steal phones also come to parks and you should probably not call the cops on them when unwarranted, but decide that, a) I could really lose my temper getting involved into this sort of a conversation and, b) no good's going to come of this. If they're dumb and disrespectful enough to call the cops on a guy with no material cause, they're not going to glean any lesson from a conversation with said guy. I see them eyeing me as I walk away, but just suck it up and get into my car. I ended up heading to the local comic shop and picking up a bunch of new things to read. Stimulating the local economy helped vent my frustration for some reason.
ANYWAY, TL;DR: I had the cops called on me out on the course today for a crime I didn't do and got swarmed in public fashion. What crappy things have happened to you on the course?
I'm out playing at Lafreniere Park today - nice day, ~55, though a good bit of wind - and I'm enjoying myself. About 2/3s of the way through my round I see these two kids - one guy, one girl, ~16 or so - milling about around a sizable hill that the basket of the hole I'm playing is on. I basically have the course to myself, so I'm rethrowing drives, etc. As I'm collecting my extra discs and setting up to putt, they make a show of running across the hill between me and the basket, giggling, etc. Whatever. I putt out, I move on.
A few holes later the pair walks up to me and the girl approaches me, awkwardly. She asks me if I found a phone. Nope, sorry, no phone. She kind of mills around though, as if she's expecting something more. So I ask her, where'd you lose it? What's it look like? She tells me it was on the hill she ran by. The course loops back around in that direction later on, so I tell her I'll keep an eye out for it, and call someone in the contacts if I happen to find it. Still, weirdly, they mill around the tee area after we talk, but I shrug it off and move on.
~10-20 minutes later, I've finished my round and am doing a bit of field work in an open, central area of the park. It's a perfect spot - dead flat, and at least 500-600 feet long and probably 300+ feet wide. Anyway, I'm in the process of collecting some discs after a series of throws, and a cop car comes driving across the field, heading towards me. Hmm, I think. As he pulls up, the cop beckons emphatically to me to come near. Am I about to get chewed out for throwing in the field? Literally one family was out there, and I was being sure to steer clear of them. I've thrown in this field dozens of times. Anyway, he rolls down his window and says in his best pissed-off cop voice, "Give me the phone."
"What, you mean that girl's phone?"
"Yeah, give it here."
I proceed to tell him that no, I don't have the phone. I explained that she had approached me and asked if I'd seen it, and that was all. As a show of good faith, I offer to empty my bag to prove my innocence. It's a Simian, so it's a process.
D) I pull out my pockets, I show him pictures on my phone to prove it's mine. The guy is kind of a dick about the whole thing, even after I think it'd be clear that I'm being forthright and don't have this damn phone. Meanwhile, two more cars pull up into the field - another police car, and a park truck as well - so I'm hemmed in on three sides by official-looking vehicles while the whole park looks on. I'm not a particularly prideful guy, but it's kind of embarrassing.The bag is empty, my pockets are empty, I don't have the phone. The guy makes a joke about me being Houdini, having hidden the stolen goods, but then says "he's convinced I don't have it." No kidding, bro. As I pack my bag up, I tell him that I think the kids deserve getting chewed out for calling the police on someone who they've assumed stole something from them with no evidence whatsoever. The guy actually defends the girl, which doesn't make sense to me, but then again, neither does the SWAT-like approach on a Suspected Phone Thief.
Anyway, we disperse, and I try and do a bit more fieldwork, mostly to not just run to my car and leave immediately after the incident. I stop in the bathroom as I'm heading out and see the kids hanging near a set of exercise equipment. I am very torn/tempted to go say something to them. It's not okay to call the cops on someone like that. It's absurd. Worst of all, I've actually found and returned phones to the park office out at that park before. I'm a good guy. I'm not going to steal your f*cking phone.
I think of chewing them out, of threatening violence, of rationally talking to them to make the point that reasonable people who don't steal phones also come to parks and you should probably not call the cops on them when unwarranted, but decide that, a) I could really lose my temper getting involved into this sort of a conversation and, b) no good's going to come of this. If they're dumb and disrespectful enough to call the cops on a guy with no material cause, they're not going to glean any lesson from a conversation with said guy. I see them eyeing me as I walk away, but just suck it up and get into my car. I ended up heading to the local comic shop and picking up a bunch of new things to read. Stimulating the local economy helped vent my frustration for some reason.
ANYWAY, TL;DR: I had the cops called on me out on the course today for a crime I didn't do and got swarmed in public fashion. What crappy things have happened to you on the course?
