Car-jacked by Whiteface Employee

I'm not here to complain, but simply to share an experience that may prevent many of you from losing your vehicle this season. Over Christmas break, I skied Whiteface Mountain. The skiing was great, but one strange event made for a rough start to my day.
         As my father and I were unloading ski equipment from our SUV near the lodge, I noticed an unfamiliar face in the drivers seat. Whe hadn't been there more than two minutes. I quickly went over, opened the door, and said "Ma'am, what the hell are you doing in my car?" She replies, "you have been parked here too long, and it's my job to move vehicles that have been parked here for more than three minutes." I'm surprised my father didn't notice as he was unloading the back, that someone got in his car. I told the lady that we were almost done unloading, and to get out of my car. My father finished unloading, and parked the car far away. What would have happened if I didn't notice? Perhaps we would have had to walk to the Wilmington town hall to retrieve our vehicle, and our keys! Not to mention the last of the ski equipment we hadn't unloaded yet. I mean if she took off with our vehicle how would we know where to start looking? It's just craziness. Especially since the back was open, and we were unloading. I mean how about a "Sir, I need you to move quickly, and get your car out of here as soon as possible." That would have been nice.
         Has this happened to anyone before? I just thought I would share this so that if you ski at Whiteface, this doesn't happen to you. Don't leave your keys in the ignition, and pay close attention to your vehicle.

Wow. If she is an employee of the great state of New York ,who is giving her instructions of how to carry out her duties?

Ha. That's funny.  I bet there is another side to that story. Did you end up having a good day?

Had a great day! Little whiteface Only,  but the snow was excellent! I'm not sure what the other side to that story is, but in thinking she was probably doing her job, but being way too aggressive about it.

Ethan,

This actually happened?  That being the case, you almost got car-jacked by one smooth-talking lady.  No way would any employee of any resort in any industry, (save shit-kicker bars everywhere) condone such behavior. Pretty sure WF Management would like to talk to you and your Dad.  Worth some Comps or beers at Hyde's.

Ski you on the Hill.

She was most likely instructed to keep the holiday crowds moving in the unloading area, with 3 minutes as a guide for unloading each vehicle.  Like a true box of rocks, she took this to mean she would have to physically move (steal) any cars that went over the 3 mins.  Might be too late now, but I would call The Face to complain, you might get some comps out of it.  If it happens again, call 911 and report it as a car jacking.  

The obvious question: Was she wearing a Mountain Host jacket?  I've never heard of any 3 minute time limit or WF employees or Mountain Hosts preemptively moving a vehicle.  Something does not sound right here.  Hopefully you didn't wait till now to say something to WF management about this.

She was wearing a Whiteface badge on her jacket which leads me to believe she was an employee. I never did contact management, because I was more interested in skiing than stirring up trouble. After all, my fathers car never actually went anywhere.

You are correct TJ there is another side.

The lady in question was a 65 year old grandmother who stands about 4’ 10” who is a Mt. Host at WF. At WF there is an unloading zone in front of the base lodge where customers are asked to move in and out as quickly as they can during holiday periods because it is very busy and customers want to get skiing as quickly as they can. Unfortunately sometimes customers leave their cars there for long periods of time which ties up the drop off area and stops other customers from getting their cars in and out so that they too can enjoy their day.

The lady in question was trying to move the car up to the front so that others could get in behind. She was not trying to drive it away to a parking lot, she was trying to let other customers in who were waiting their turn.  I know this lady felt badly because she could tell the customers in the car she tried to move were upset. She could tell the customers were upset because they were both screaming F bombs at her. She apologized to them.

I know her supervisor told her never to do it again. Although her only intention was to help move all the customers along so they could start to enjoy there day her action could potentially make her legally liable and possibly put her in a physically dangerous situation. I know she was shaken by the experience.

She is one of the most kind, selfless, caring person I know.

HPD

Glad to hear there are two sides to the story. Oh, and what she did constitutes attempted grand larceny. So there's that.

This really happened. What makes me think it was an employee was the fact that she was wearing a WF badge on her jacket. Could have been fake I suppose, but she continued to direct traffic. Should have talked to management, but my father wasn't interested, and I just wanted to ski. I just take it as a learning experience. Don't leave the drivers seat unattended when there are keys in the ignition.

Given HGTVfan's post, I have to say this is one crazy story.  It also sounds like the woman had complete brain fart and if you were to kick up a storm she may lose her job.  

For the record HGTVfan is HPD (Highpeaksdrifter) and we can't figure out why he can't log in with his correct screenname.

HPD if it helps I've given HGTVfan signature privileges, so you could identify yourself if you like. Again apologies.

HGTV fan, are you telling me that you Were a witness to this event? What you just described is exactly what was happened that day.

The only thing that made me upset was the fact that we hadn't been there barely 3 minutes. She claimed it was 10, but it happened right as she was exchanging shifts with someone, so I think she was confused. If she was really only moving it up a few feet, I suppose that wouldn't be so bad, but she just told me she was "moving it" and that could mean anything. Another thing that sounds a little different is she was not apologetic at all. She simply looked at me, and said "thank you very much" in a rather sarcastic voice.

She seemed stressed out, and was being aggressive as a result that day. It sounds like this has happened more than once. Because she did not apologize to us. If she apologized to someone else than it must have happened a second time. Thank you for sharing this.

I'm comforted knowing her intentions were good, but when you see a random person about to drive off with your car, your first response is  what the * My apologies.

Believe me, if she made it anywhere with my fathers vehicle, I would have kicked up a storm. Fortunately for both of us, she couldn't figure out how to put it in drive, and that slowed her down.

This is funny.  Whiteface really is toughest of the east. Lol!

Hmmmm. Has the heroin problem hit the LP area yet?

Crazy story!  I wonder if she would have been able to drive ky car with a manual tranny. One of the advantages of driving a MT these days is that not as many people know how to drive a stick anymore.  I park at a lot for work sometimes and need to park it myself because the kid who works the afternoon shift can't drive a stick!

I like to watch HGTV too

I just wanted to get that out in the open as well as post in this very important thread.

Did you get the deal that you can come back later in the year comped because Ma Nature was not playing ball this year?  Glad you had a good time and everything worked out.  Come back in late Feb, march the conditions will be much better....I hope.