Mauled by The Beast
Opening later. Closing earlier. Not running the gondola on a weekday after a snowstorm. Spending $2.5 millions on a World Cup ski race, but not hosting a single local snowboard competition. Refusing to invest $250k in building a superpipe, yet claiming for full two weeks on its website that the superpipe was groomed and open for (sic!) skiing. Those are just the usual shenanigans we are used to from our premier world-class skiing destination, Killington, VT.
Killington is such a skier mountain, that could care less about snowboarding. As its leader, Mike Solimano, wrote: "As part of the World Cup host agreement, the host venue is required to provide all food and lodging for athletes and coaches, plus, all prize money ($260,000), infrastructure, security, and of course the snow surface. Our total costs for the event exceeded $2.5 million and many generous sponsors helped offset costs, but Killington Resort still incurred over $1.2 million in net costs once the World Cup dust settled."
$1.2 million for two days of races. Let that sink in. Yet, during the time of waiting for the World Cup race, and watching for a month the groomed snow on Superstar trail, that nobody could use, he told me that the resort had no plans on spending the $250k on building a superpipe, that "no one would use." There is no commitment to local children who compete, just to a world-renowned established skier competition that can add to the prestige of the resort and flatter its leader.
How reminiscent of some post-communist Eastern European country! City of Zagreb, Croatia, where I grew up, did the same. They turned their 1 lift, 3 trails, city ski resort, left over from communist times, into one super-expensive trail, approved for World Cup, and hosting one two day race event a year at an obscene cost to the city's taxpayers, solely for the purpose of aggrandizing its mayor.
Killington is also known as a horrible place to work. Whoever can, moves somewhere else pretty quickly - except for a half a dozen rude and obnoxious people in senior management, that are there for decades, despite numerous changes in ownership. Killington was chastised by senator Bernie Sanders for firing dozens of locals and employing J1 visa holding foreigners, and then it was sued by those foreigners for not paying them enough to cover their rents they paid back to Killington. Indentured servitude 101.
It again rose to the levels of Eastern-European corruption when the senior management used the money, left for tips to employees by corporate vacationers from Yahoo - for a lavish party reserved only for the senior management team. Killington's nickname is The Beast. That is probably not because the mountain is beastly, but because its senior management is bestial. They behave as if they are top dogs, and their employees and customers are fire hydrants.
Just like Walmart, Killington pays its employees so low, and for not long enough hours, so they need to supplement their income by taxpayers paid welfare: food stamps, medicaid, reach up. Killington is not here for fun, it is here to maximize shareholders profits. Shareholders need not to be skiers or riders, or to be in Vermont at all, and they most often are neither winter sports enthusiasts, nor Vermonters. They are just money hoarding enthusiasts.
And in the same way like Walmart does, Killington extracts value from local community and takes it elsewhere - by paying subsistence wages to locals that work for the resort, it effectively impoverishes the local community, while enriching the wealthy investors, the shareholders of the company, who live and spend that money somewhere else - not at Killington, or at Rutland, or in Vermont. Now, trying to recap its outrageous World Cup costs, Killington resort wants to claw back $100k of their taxes from the town of Killington. Yet, they can't invest in local competitions? This is again just further enriching their shareholders at the expense of the local community.
Hence, it is disingenuous now for some in Killington corporation and in Rutland city to propose to re-brand Rutland, after being impoverished by Killington, into the Killington Valley. It is disingenuous to push the Killington Village and Killington Valley at the same time. Solimano is just hedging his options. And I think Rutland will end up holding the bag. I suggest Rutland would be more properly called: The Killington Valley of Tears. I don't think Killington Resort could be considered a serious partner under the current management. Their ignorance is toxic. Solimano says: "We have a lot of visitors coming to the resort and they keep asking me, 'How can I live here,'" he said, adding, "It's figuring out how to convince the people who are already predisposed to come here to stay here." Mike, I stayed here. For 20 years. You managed to drive me away. You convinced me not to stay here...
I understand that Solimano is not necessarily looking forward that likes of me and my family stay here. He has loftier goals: "A CEO who comes to the resort to ski or mountain bike could be encouraged to move his or her business to the region," Solimano said. Stafford (the new marketing guru) agreed a campaign should try to reach that niche audience. What are you smoking, Mike? There is less than 2000 people with the title of CEO in the US, and they do not come to Killington. They go to Aspen. Or Vail. Good luck reaching that ultra-niche audience! How about setting some more modest and realistic goals? Maybe we will all be less disappointed then in a couple of years. I think the Killington-Rutland connection never worked out because a) Killington management was never interested in Rutland for anything else but a source of cheap labor, and b) neither Killington nor Rutland elites ever truly believed Rutland has anything else to offer.
And, also, it would not be the first time the resort makes a shitty business decision. For decades, Killington Resort was organized around the idea that American vacationers go everywhere by their cars. All the businesses are scattered along the 5 mile long access road, assuming that tourists just love cleaning their cars of snow daily, and driving in long queues on slippery roads everywhere only to have to walk a mile in their ski boots from where they managed to park their cars. It did eventually dawn upon them that it would be maybe smarter and more successful to build a village. But what others built in 1970's, before the environmental regulation, it is not as easy to do now.
Finally the ski-village is approved, in this recession, when less people can afford ski vacations, and with all those businesses already established along the access road. Not to mention the rapidly warming climate that portends shorter seasons. This is bound to turn into yet another colossal failure. I can see a bunch of perpetually vacant trailside lodging and empty commercial spaces, years of disturbed operations and cost over-runs (as this will cost far more than a World Cup race). It took decades to obtain that approval, and now it is going to take decades to dig a hole, that may never be filled.
After many years of sad inaction, warming climate eventually warmed up the resort management to the idea of mountain biking as the summer attraction. There is problem with that: unlike skis and snowboards, bikes can go uphill, and people can bike almost anywhere - they don't need to come to Killington resort for that. Which is why the Killington Valley idea was created to have someone else help offset the cost of promotion of the resorts biking expansion. The video about the Killington Valley focuses almost entirely on mountain biking. And on the resort. The city of Rutland is just a side show. But the city, being in such dire economic doldrums, would take anything, and pay for it, thinking, naively, that the resort wants to help the city. Nope, the resort just wants to reduce cost of advertising of their most recent expansion, and they are grudgingly willing to include ten or so seconds of not-resort-related footage in the process for the price of that.
I know all this for a long time but I didn't really care to talk about it. It is not really my business. Why then am I writing about that now? Because The Beast clawed me and bit me, and it injured my family, turning me from a net promoter to a net distractor.
On Saturday, 1/28/2017, on the day of the president Trump's anti-immigrant executive order, heralded as a new dawn for hate in the world, I received an email from the human resources director, Judi Geiger, informing me that Killington, my home mountain - the place where I invest my time and energy and where I am raising my family to appreciate and love winter sports for the last two decades - is going to issue a Notice of No Trespass to me.
I am heartbroken. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I just aimlessly walk around and stare at the sky. I think the order is unjust, unfair and cruel to me and my family. Particularly considering my pre-existing emotional condition. I need time to internalize and process the fact that I can't even walk in places that for the most of my adult life, I treated with love as a part of my backyard. I feel reliving the persecution of a displaced person in a civil war.
I allege that issuing of the No Trespass notice against me is equal in spirit and letter to refusing service to me. I allege that Killington Resort, as a private company operating on the leased public land, due to that symbiotic relationship, can be considered as a state actor in the spirit and letter of the Supreme Court ruling in the Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority 42 U.S.C. § 1983 case. Furthermore, I allege that their refusal of service to me deprived me of my rights, privileges, and immunities secured by the Constitution, namely the due process clause of the 14th amendment. I was outlawed and exiled by a state actor acting under the color of law, the Killington Resort, deprived of my standing, denied the liberty to walk on the Vermont public land, by an arbitrary, capricious, vindictive decision, without the due process of law. And there was no due process, any process at all, in throwing my family under the bus at the whim of the resort manageent after two decades of us giving our time and our health to the resort, and bringing customers over. I sued Killington Resort in the US District Court of Vermont, under the 42 U.S.C. § 1983, case number 5:17-cv-183, only to get my complaint dismissed in a rush (the same day) by judge Geoffrey Crawford, who also made sure to remark that any appeal to his decision that I might have would not be taken in good faith.
The intimidation of this event evokes emotionally traumatic past memories in me. I feel as a victim of a witch hunt - like in Salem or during the Stalinist purges: threats and intimidation, which my family and me continue to experience for decades at the hands of Killington management, remind me of my past persecution in communist Yugoslavia. I feel triggered.
And there are still weeks to go for me nearly daily putting myself at the risk of getting arrested for doing what so far were routine things for me, like driving my son to the mountain, snowboarding, working out, sitting in a lodge waiting for his practice to be over. From purely logistical standpoint, the physical and temporal extent of this Notice makes it particularly and unreasonably hard to conform my conduct to the requirements of law.
For the past 8 winters, including this one, my son is homeschooled, competes in snowboarding, and snowboards daily. His mother is often out of town, as someone in the family needs to work, and we have no extended family here. It is me and my son. Therefore it falls to me to drive him to the mountain, snowboard with him, or wait until he is done snowboarding with his coach or with the high school team. Every our day until mid-April is organized around that basic schedule as it was for the past 7 winters. This obviously exposes me to an outstandingly high risk of getting arrested multiple times. And it is only through my great care that this has been avoided in the past 6 weeks.
Given that the notice covers every square inch of land Killington resort owns (and indefinitely), it leaves me with very little to stand on. I did not even know how comprehensive it was until troopers told me that basically meant I could only stay on public road once I reach the resort. I have no choice but to come, if we want to continue with my son's snowboard program. This is why I think the measure is unduly cruel. It was aimed to cause maximum harm to me and my family out of spite, prejudice and envy. Its enforcement is therefore morally awkward, particularly for a community that ostensibly pledges to be welcoming to refugees and displaced persons like us. Besides, it covers even medical facilities! Would I be arrested if enter Killington Medical Clinic because of a medical emergency? And the assertion that Killington's authority extends to the Medical Clinic is of questionable legality. Doctors there told me that Killington Medical Clinic is not a Killington Resort owned building, but a Rutland Regional Medical Center and Vermont Orthopaedic Clinic ownned, staffed, and operated building. Their Notice should be invalidated for being improperly written.
I have hard times comprehending that I cannot even enter a building that I frequented nearly daily every winter for 21 years. There is just too many memories. Pico Sports Center is the place where my son learned how to swim. It is particularly cruel that our relaxing time at the Pico pool is taken away from us. It hurts me immeasurably to see him suffering. He did not yet even begin to understand the complete implications and ramifications of the order. It is devastating for him to see his father excluded from places he only remembers as places where he had fun with his dad from the earliest age. He literally grew up snowboarding Killington with me. There is so much in our lives that tie us together to that place.
I am long enough around here to remember when Pico Sports Center still had two hot tubs. That was not too long ago. Killington Resort bean-counters saw them as a total waste of money, heating the environment while being unused most of the time. They were technically not wrong. But so is the heated outdoors pool at Hotel Grand: a giant waste. However that one serves a different, more elite customer base. Not peasants from Rutland. It is very illustrative of the thought processes in the heads of Killington management. And also very ill-boding for the so-called Killington Valley marketing campaign.
Piece of me is right there in that gym. Literally. I left there my pull-up chain 15 years ago so a friend of mine could share it with me. It is still there. It is for gym-freaks who needed to add weight for pull-ups and dips.I feel like being in my backyard walking through that parking lot. I don't feel guilty doing that. Not as if I am actually committing a crime. How can I be now breaking the law doing something that I did for decades legally, and laws did not change?
My son is still a member - but whom is he going to "battle" in the pool? Who is he going to train with in the gym? Children need to be supervised in the gym. He needs to train in the gym to get in shape for the competitions. He cried when he realized that Pico gym was also included in the order. And the Pico Sports Center is included in the Notice twice, separately - I am unclear why that special emphasis, unless the cruelty needs to be emphasised. Killington broke his heart. Killington broke my heart. Killington broke his mother's heart.
I am so used of driving there, as I did for the most of my adult life, that it is hard for me to adjust to the new situation and internalize that now suddenly it became a crime for me to do that. I am incapable of appreciating the criminality of that conduct now, just because a couple of people, that really hate me for their own bigoted reasons, a minority within the resort, but a minority with power, decided to capriciously write that Notice.
How can something as harmless be off limits to me now and why? I cannot bring myself to believe that this is happening, that anyone would want to hurt me this much. I am disoriented, confused, and hurt. This cause me mental and physical pain, anguish, distress, and inconvenience. Additionally, as it is incumbent upon the plaintiff, in an action for trespass, to show damages based on the result or the consequences of an injury flowing from the act of trespass, I want to reiterate here that I do not believe that I ever, in 21 years being here, did anything that damaged the resort, destroyed its property, or harmed its customers or employees, that would invite and provoke such a draconian, irrevocable, and indefinite order. I challenge the resort to prove otherwise. Furthermore, Killington human resources submitted to the State Troopers that I drive a green Toyota Tundra truck, causing injury to my wife, who is a co-registrant on that truck.
Also, based on this history and given the hate and prejudice in existence against us, who will be morally responsible and legally liable, if anything, God forbid, happens to my son, while he is riding alone? Is that a risk the resort is willing to take? And for what? What did really happen here? How did it come to me being here in the first place?
It all started at the very beginning of this season: before Thanksgivings. What happened on 11/25/2016, a day before the World Cup race, at the K1 gondola was a minor spat unworthy of any further discussion. My son and me came to Killington and had 3 runs of Snowdon quad and then we headed to K1 Gondola. There, our passes did not scan, and the ticket checker (Courtney, from Poughkeepsie, her name-tag suggested) told us we were not allowed to proceed. It was one of those days in early season when staff and dependents are not allowed. But it was Friday, and we did not expect that, and I failed to check the privileges hot-line before coming to the mountain.
I gave an irritated response to the ticket checker saying that the information was not there at the hot-line last time I checked and that we were already let on lifts that day elsewhere. She was also irritable as she said that she already had to turn away many others like us. Her colleague suggested that we should leave, because we won't be let on lift anyway, and that our only purpose of still standing there was to give her hard time. To which I half-jokingly responded that maybe I am standing there precisely to give her hard time, since she just gave me hard time. But we did leave after that, as other people approached, and there was no interruption in operations. My son remembers it well, since he was present and neither he, nor me, nor my wife can connect the dots, between a 30 seconds spat with a ticket checker, and one sarcastic comment, with no disruption of operations, and the torturous retaliatory measures the resort resorted to against me after that.
Was I rude to that ticket checker? Was my behavior inappropriate? Perhaps. Was this "incident" outrageously different from what happens daily at K1 gondola on busy days without much further ado? No. But, within 90 minutes after the "incident", my wife received a call from Geiger, who said that my pass would be taken away because of it. The "deal" was offered to her on a take it or leave basis. She could keep her job. Her son could keep his pass. But her husband's pass would be taken away.
I was devastated. We as a family were devastated. My wife holds this job only for us as a family to have the passes. Homeschooling and competitions drain our resources, time and money. Our snowboarding budget is precariously tight and it is made under an assumption that we will have free Killington passes. To ask me to buy a pass mid-season disrupts not only my life, but also the life of my son and of my wife. My son's performance suffers when he is exposed to such stress of suddenly losing his riding partner and being exposed to the uncertainty of how his training will proceed and be financed. In other words, Killington Resort's actions against me and their behavior towards me hurts all my family, not just me. And I do take that personally. And I have to take it personally. Because this is indeed a personal decision made by one or more individuals. The "we" in "we are revoking" is an illusion. It does not exist. Employees, customers, and shareholders of Killington Resort generally have no idea this is happening and they are not affected by it in any way. It is just malice coupled with a power trip. It is personal.
And I sought the ticket checker, that I supposedly offended, to apologize, immediately the next day, and I apologized to her. She said she did not think much of that. She did not appear like someone who would have insisted for my pass to be taken away because of that. I immediately called Geiger, and left her a message, asking for a face-to-face meeting. I apologized to her, too. I explained that I was under a lot of stress, that I live with a lot of pain. I told her about our precarious finances. I stressed to her that I am seeing a psychiatrist and undergoing therapy for my impulsive behavior (and PTSD due to my past experiences before the war for Yugoslav succession). I also left messages to Mike Solimano and Tracy Taylor, Killington's executives, asking them to call me about a personal matter. They did not respond. Geiger did. Saying only that there was no need for us to meet.
However, in any case, three days later, the pass appeared miraculously to be working with no issues, and I thought my appeals to their hearts worked despite them not returning my calls. So, I did not care about them not returning my calls. Because my problem was solved.
More than a month after all this happened, on January 9, 2017, my pass suddenly scanned as "inactive". I went to Guest Services, where they told me it was a mistake, and that the back office already re-activated my pass, and that I was good to go. Then, on January 13, 2017 the pass did not work again. Only this time it scanned as "* 3 * hotlist" and at the Season Pass office I was told that my wife is not eligible any more to have me as a dependent (Eric, a young employee, literally read this to me from the computer screen, saying that the pass cannot be reactivated and that there was nothing he could do).
The same day (01/13), my wife received an email from Dave Beckwith, the Snowsports School director, and her direct supervisor, saying: "I wanted to inform you that based on the most recent incident involving Ivo on 11/25 at the K1 gondola we are indefinitely revoking his dependent ski pass privileges. The pass was supposed to be deactivated at that time but due to an administrative error it was not. He will no longer be eligible for dependent privileges moving forward. This is non - negotiable, and there will be no further discussion on this. He is welcome to purchase a season pass. This will not effect you or Tin."
But, he is wrong: this does effect my wife and Tin very much. Because they share the stress I am going through. We, as a family have to decide on a pass purchase. It affects our winter season budget adversely. And I don't see any reason why would I pretend that I agree with that. The email suggests that nothing I said was heard, that my sincere apology went unrecognized (although the person allegedly offended, was not offended at all, and did not even think I needed to apologize to her, when we spoke). Phrases like "non-negotiable" and "no further discussion on this," used by Beckwith in his email, signify a rigid, recalcitrant position, that no amount of contrition could mend. And no mitigating circumstances would be considered.
What I thought was an unexpected act of kindness, an unprecedented gesture of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness, was instead a mere administrative error?! How foolish I was to believe that suddenly someone in the resort management had found empathy for me, my family, and the stress we are continuously living under! (Just recently I attended some workshop at BROC in Rutland, where I scored highest in the group on Holmes-Rahe Stress Test.)
During the time the "administrative error" let my pass work, how did that adversely affect either company or any person? Life went on. Lifties, ticket checkers, other company employees are generally happy when they see my son and me around. We are always helpful to guests. We represented the best side of Killington. What was the purpose of this action, then? What was gained by it? What is gained in pushing someone already emotionally vulnerable to the brink and over an edge? Who benefits from such an action? If that "administrative error" was left to stand, this lengthy memo would never have to be written.
This, too, is not the first time I experienced this vindictiveness for the smallest of missteps. And I allege the hatred and the witch hunt against me lasts for more than a decade. Several years ago, a similar "incident" happened at the Pico gym. I disagreed with some policy issue on how children were charged. I actually went on paying what I was asked. But in the process I was argumentative and disagreeable. The gym manager, regardless of my ultimate compliance and cooperativeness, called her supervisor to complain about me being rude and using profanities (which I did not, but she probably needed them to spice up her accusations).
In the pretty much the same chain of events my pass was taken away, on pretext that it was basically a gift to me, and recipients of gifts had no rights to complain about anything ever. I was told that I was welcome to buy my own season pass, which I did then, because our budget was a little more generous that winter season, and therefore I did not have to make an issue about it. But I remained sore about that event. I did not, and I will not forget it. And no amount of corporate explanation will ever make the resort's reaction to my "rudeness" justified and rightful in my eyes.
I am certainly not the only one who comes to this resort that gets upset sometimes in 21 years. And that stands for employees and their dependents, as well. Yet it looks like I am the only one penalized with such severity. I suppose I agree there are such incidents that should warrant taking someone's pass away, and it saddens me that I did not do anything of that magnitude, so I can at least say: listen, I did this to them, no wonder they took my pass away.
On the phone, Beckwith tried to make it look like there was merit to their action, citing "past incidents", going back all the way to 2005, when I was first fired, then denied a workers compensation claim for an injury, that happened at work, a week before I was fired. They denied me benefits after I was run into by one of the students during the class (that I was teaching as a snowboard instructor), which caused an injury to a disk between my c5 and c6 cervical vertebrae, claiming that the accident happened on a black diamond trail, where I should not have taken my students. The accident happened at the confluence of Conclusion (a double black) and Great Northern (green circle). I think it is irrelevant where that accident happened. It happened at work. But, as first, the Medicaid would pay for my treatment, and second, my symptoms got better by the time that case was adjudicated, I decided not to pursue it further.
However, doesn't this sound familiar? Resort denies benefits to a worker injured at work under a bogus excuse and fires the worker for filing a claim. I know I am not the only one who ended up like that at Killington. They can get away with that because instructing skiing/snowboarding is for most people a part-time second job they do only to secure a season pass. There is no money in it for a labor lawyer representing the victim. And Killington is a serial offender that does this with impunity. On the other hand, Killington also, and for the very same reasons, has a long-standing practice of blacklisting people indefinitely. Legally, there are statutes of limitations for almost any crime except murder and terrorism. But, here at Killington certain people will stay ostracized forever and ever if they as much as disagreed with some supervisor 20 years ago, on the pretext of "past incidents." I readily admit I had maybe 3 or 4 bad moments in 21 seasons being here. I welcome anyone with a better record to stand up and throw their stone at me.
In years since, I guess a lot of people couldn't stand to see me happy, snowboarding with my son, nearly every day, after being fired, and for free, as my wife's dependent. Why could not I be just as miserable as they were? Something must be not right there! Maybe they couldn't stand seeing me walking around like I own the place? And I sincerely do not know how to walk differently. I did not know that was offensive. Maybe someone is jealous and can't see my son happy, playing with me at the Pico pool? Maybe we do not deserve such life, this lifestyle? As immigrants. As low income. I obviously do not know my place. Actually, I have no idea what that saying even means.
My wife, Indira, who attained a doctoral degree, works for the resort for 18 years for near minimum wage, a job that's hard on her back at her age in a merciless wintry outdoors environment, with no promotion or other recognition but the privileges her family can have through that job, like dependent passes, and those then are obviously the sole purpose for her in keeping that job. It is an outrage, therefore, and it is highly disingenuous for the company to tell her that now, after 18 years, she cannot claim her husband as a dependent, a perk that is routinely offered to returning seasonal employees after their first year of service. Is this how Killington offers gratitude to their exemplary long-term employees? In firm belief that, after working here for 18 years, it was unfair for my wife to lose her privilege of claiming me as a dependent, I just wanted a fairer shake from the resort, asking Taylor, Beckwith, and Geiger to, at least, be offered the early bird discount on a midweek pass, since, if I knew that I was so hated for being a staff dependent, I would have bought it before June.
But after I asked to be given a discount on a season pass purchase, this story took a turn to the worse. I started making phone calls stating that I don't think that it is fair to my wife, who works for the company for more than 15 years, to have her privilege of having free pass for her husband taken away. First, I made my case to Taylor, an operations manager, who hails from Saratoga Springs, and whom I know for about 20 years from Pico gym.
The pass for Pico gym continued to work, by the way. Probably another "administrative error." They forgot to turn it off. Luckily, their malevolence is sometimes tempered by their incompetence. Just like the Trump's administration. Whose executive orders read as if they were written by a vindictive human resources director.
Taylor was very defensive about what he can do (nothing, basically). And also very hesitant about whether I could apply for a merchants pass next year as a non-profit registered with the Kilington-Pico Association. Basically, I would be subjected to the extreme vetting as someone not well received by the resort. A radical snowboard terrorist?
I understand his business decision to place lesser value on the satisfaction of my family and me, than on the satisfaction of his human resources director. After all, we do take up 3 free passes, and my wife works barely 30 hours a year for the resort. Clearly, our value for the bottom line is negligible, maybe even negative. On the other hand a senior manager, who knows all hotlisted and blacklisted employees scattered around the Killington Valley of Tears for 25 years back, is extremely hard to replace mid-season. But corporations need not to be cruel to be tough, and what was done to me and my family was simply cruel.
They should strive to do unto others what they would prefer the others do unto them. Hurting employees, hurting people and hurting families is not a good strategy. And expecting that they can retaliate against anyone with impunity - but that they, on the other hand, are somehow entitled to the protection under law, should someone retaliates against them - is a recipe for bad blood, long simmering resentment, and the culture of fear, that is bound to explosively, spectacularly backfire one day, maybe with unintended consequences. Sometimes there is a happy ending, poetic justice, like when the supervisor, who actually, following Geiger's orders, signed my termination papers back in 2005, became a coach to my son, once he was fired by Geiger in 2011. But that may not always be the case.
When Killington negligently left the ski instructor Nadine Price stranded for 5 hours in gondola on 10/01/2011, she sued for her suffering. And what was Killington's first reaction? To fire her, ban her from the resort, and try to sue her for their trouble to rescue her. Although she entered gondola before closing, only the lift employees failed to notice that, when they arbitrarily decided to close the lift half an hour early that day. I call this knee-jerk reaction: The Geiger Reflex. In 2016 Nadine was awarded $750,000 by the jury.
And Asian doctor savagely beaten while violently dragged from the United Airlines flight is an ultimate example of an overall attitude that brutish capitalism is the best that nonelite customers can expect from this fallen world, one concerned with prices and profits above all else, with little regard for quality of service, for friendliness, or even for the dignity of customers.
While saying he cannot help, Taylor encouraged me to call Geiger. Geiger, always irritated when she hears my voice, insisted now that all was in Beckwith's hands, since the decision was his. But it wasn't. Essentially, over the phone, she encouraged me to put pressure on her subordinate to go against her explicit orders, while probably emailing him at the same time to stay firm facing my requests. One must love Killington's corporate culture.
I called Beckwith. It was obvious that he cannot reinstate my pass. But I mentioned that then it would be fair if I can be let to purchase pass at en early bird discount which I would do if I did not expect to have a pass through my wife. He was open to that idea and said that he would see what he can do.
Then he became really hard to get a hold of. In the meeting. Out of office. I texted him in advance. Then came to his office, which was locked. Called him. After telling him on Friday that I will be trying to meet up with him early the following week, and trying unsuccessfully on Monday and Tuesday, he finally responded on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 morning very early (6 AM) saying that he would be in the office that day.
However, when I came that Wednesday, the doors of his office were locked again. His second in command Dan told me that he just stepped out of the office. However, a lower ranking supervisor, Steve, told me that he had neither seen Beckwith that day, nor heard him on the radio! Frustrated, I called Geiger, openly asking her what did she think about me getting at least a discount on the pass: would she consider that fair? Because I was afraid that if she didn't, Beckwith would never be there to see me when I came. She did not pick up when I called from my cell phone, but she did when I called from one of those in-house phones at the Snowshed lodge.
From the start she was not welcoming to the idea: "you already rode 27 days after I revoked your pass," she said. Yes, but the pass worked and I foolishly believed that she, in an unexpected act of kindness turned it back on, after my apology, and not that it worked illegitimately because of a mere "administrative error." I am not responsible that the resort's vile vindictiveness has gotten outdone by its sheer incompetence. But from her perspective it was as if those 27 days costed company $2700 of money wasted by my free riding.
And when I mentioned "kindness", she snapped, as if I did not deserve any kindness, being a monster that I was: Courtney, the ticket checker that the day after the "incident" barely remembered what happened and laughed it off, allegedly cried the day earlier, because of me. It is what she doesn't know: I lost my son's confidence in me over this situation. I was always able to make things happen, as long as he remembered, yet now I am depressed, devastated, and can't do anything about it. However, after my conversation with Geiger ended, and while I was texting Beckwith in front of his office, he miraculously materialized from behind the locked doors, as if he was hiding there all that time waiting for a green light from Geiger. And then, everything was done really quickly and expediently.
The proof is the mechanism already exists and it is not at all difficult to implement - if only a few people at the top can come to an agreement to forego past grudges and behave like humans to a fellow human being. In less than 10 minutes my pass was issued, with the discount that I asked for. And I was on my way. We could have done that a week earlier. However, this apparent ease was only to disguise a trap.
Later that day, unexpectedly, and completely inappropriately, Beckwith called and left a threatening message on my voicemail, saying how this was my last chance, and that the resort is ready to move with no trespass against me if I step out of line again. It is not if I did not feel that myself: the treatment I've been receiving over the years and particularly from the beginning of this season managed to make me feel unwelcome, unaccepted, and unloved, and ready to consider moving somewhere else next year, despite that I bought a house here with the sole purpose of being close to this mountain. And I stated that to Beckwith - that I really just needed the resort to let me be for the next 11 weeks, until Tin's competitions were over.
After 24 hours, on Thursday, Beckwith started frantically calling again. He texted me: "we need to talk." Then we talked. Suddenly, he accused me upfront that I sent him a text message on midnight the night before with a non-threatening but totally weird content. I did not. And I said so. And he continued to insist that I better be straight with him and come clean. About what? The message, he said, came from Skype account tied to my cell phone number. He forwarded it to me. And as I looked closely, he was indeed right about that. But I did not send it, however improbable that might have sounded to him. So, how did someone send a Skype message that appears as if it was coming from me?
When I called Skype support, I was told this was not an unusual problem. They sent me a code to de-activate the association (there is a support page dedicated to just that). Apparently, those types of pranks are very common. Take your friends cell phone, log into your Skype account on it, log off Skype, and in a couple of hours you can send messages from your laptop prefaced by your friend's cell phone number. I used to walk around with a phone not protected by a password, and I am very casual about where I leave it, and my Skype was logged off on Thursday evening when I checked. So, this is not an unrealistic scenario that someone borrowed and misused my cell phone identity. And it is certainly terrifying to me that on top of everything else, someone stalks me at Killington.
On Friday morning Beckwith texted me again to get straight with him, informing me that he would be looking over the security cameras footage - presumably for a person that messed with his boots, at least this was what that Skype message would suggest. Skype support answer did not come until late Friday afternoon. My email to Beckwith, forwarding the Skype's answer, however crossed in the ether with his text message to me, informing me that the resort intended to take the ultimate draconian measure to essentially ban me from the mountain (I would be fully refunded, though, he said). The day earlier he threatened with that if I step out of line again - now he delivered that decision with no explanation of how did I step out of line in two days I had the new pass. He did not mention if the security cameras footage revealed anything to corroborate that decision.
Of course, he was not answering any text messages, phone calls, or emails after that moment. Taylor disappeared from the resort altogether for a week. And Geiger confirmed Beckwith's message by email on Saturday 1/28/2017. Eventually, the No Trespass notice was delivered to me by certified mail a couple of days later. The most interesting feature of that No Trespass notice is its date - 01/25, which is the same Wednesday I was allowed to buy a pass at a discount! The same day Beckwith left a verbally threatening message on my phone. And a day before the entire Skype message charade.
I cannot tell whether that notice was written before I bought the pass, or after, but it was certainly written before Beckwith called me to threaten me that it could be written. It was written before the whole fake Skype message issue (he said he received that message close to midnight on Wednesday, and the order had to be written during the normal business hours on that same Wednesday), and two days before Beckwith decided to inform me that unfortunately the resort came to that decision.
Why did the resort pretend to allow me to buy a pass at a discount, if they already decided to write the No Trespass notice? They were initially fine with me buying a pass at the full price. But they became elusive, when I started pressing for a discount. Then, they suddenly budged. However they obviously already decided to ban me. So, why did they even bother with letting me buy a pass on discount? I still think that my wife has a case against them for taking away her privilege for no legally valid reason after 18 years of service. Did they think they needed to offer that intermediary step, to a former staff dependent, of buying the pass, although their real goal from the very beginning was to have me removed? Is that the Resort's take on the due process clause?
Why did Beckwith need to come up with that Skype message? What was the purpose of that? Who actually took my phone and assumed my identity on their Skype account? Was the message created to implicate me in something that I did not do, but looked close enough to stepping out of line to justify taking the pass away, so that they could claim legitimate reasons for doing what they were prepared to do anyway? They did it even before they allowed me to purchase that pass at a discount! This is why I feel in this case as a victim of a crime, not a perpetrator.
I understand that maybe not everybody sees this from my perspective and from my angle. Maybe I am simply crazy. Instead of being a victim of hate and prejudice, maybe I am a victim of my own illusions, paranoias and irresistible impulses. As I genuinely cannot appreciate the criminality of my conduct in this case, but see instead myself as a victim of a criminal conspiracy, then, unless the existence of such criminal conspiracy against me can indeed be proven, I may reasonably be insane, in which case, I have no other choice but to plead Not Guilty under the Title 13, Chapter 157, paragraph 4801.
On 2/1/2017 I was arrested by officer Richardson on Route 4, which is a public road. He, and the other officer will claim they saw me leaving the Pico resort parking area, which is covered by the No Trespass notice, although, until they explained it to me, I did not know how far the Notice really reached. They will say they saw me walking to my vehicle at the Pico resort parking lot. Furthermore, they will say they were called by a Pico Sports Center receptionist, whose Affidavit will claim that I entered the Pico gym building and even worked out (this is what officer Richardson said the receptionist had said).
While I believe the assessment about me working out was just a figment of the receptionist's vivid imagination - as not more than 10 minutes probably passed since police was called and officers showed up, seeing me fully dressed outside - it is also unlikely that I was not inside the building, since it is highly improbable that the receptionist, dressed in a t-shirt, was venturing out into the parking lot in subfreezing weather, looking just for me. Therefore, the only logical explanation is that I did not appreciate the sudden - just a day after reception of that odious Notice - criminality of me entering the building I entered so many times in my life before with so much love, to just wait for my son, until he is done with his coach (because this is where his coach usually drops him off), and I came in regardless, feeling like a victim.
On March 13 this case was arraigned in Rutland Superior Court. My application for public defender was denied on grounds that my case is not serious enough (no prison or probation time, and fine of less that thousand dollars). I don't know should I take that as a good or bad news. I know, however, that I did not do anything willfully against the peace and dignity of the State. So, I entered a plea of Not Guilty.
The papers I was served with contain numerous omissions and inaccuracies. First, the Pico Sports Center is a building whose access is not normally locked. During the working hours everyone can walk in the lobby and sit at the couch there waiting for friends, family, or relatives while they finish using the gym or the pool. I disagree with the charge that I entered a building whose access is normally locked.
Trooper Richardson in his affidavit makes numerous assertions that I contest. He says he yelled at me to hold up. He never yelled at me. I never heard him yelling. And I never saw him or looked at him or knew that he wanted to stop me. Also, when using my "unsolicited utterances" to prove that I knew that I was where I was not supposed to be, trooper Richardson is misquoting me. I never said I had been working out at Pico Sports Center for eleven years. I said, and truth is, that I had been working out there for twenty one years. Eleven with my son. Judged by that, maybe he wrongly heard other things I said. I know I have a heavy accent.
Then there is the assertion that "the mail piece (containing the notice against trespass) was signed for by Skoric". The issue with that is that the signature on that PS 3811 form is not my signature, which can be easily checked against my signature on other documents and on my drivers license.
Furthermore, there is a serious discrepancy in the timeline of the events. Both in his affidavit and in the press release trooper Richardson writes that the troopers from Rutland Barracks responded to the Pico Sports Center for a reported trespassing complaint at 1:08 PM. Yet, trooper Richardson, in his affidavit, quotes from the sworn written statement by the Pico Sports Receptionist, James Hewitt of 11 Kendall Avenue in Rutland, VT, a young fellow, who was not even born yet when I first worked out at the Pico Sports Center, that "Ivo Skoric came in at 1:20".
If I came in at 1:20, how could he call the police to report me coming at 1:08? This sounds like straight from the movie Minority Report. Either trooper Richardson, or young Hewitt did not get their time right. Trooper Richardson then says he processed my arrest by 1:40 PM. That leaves an awfully little time for me to change from my ski attire, that I was allegedly wearing, according to trooper Richardson's affidavit, to my work out gear, go to weight room, grab equipment, go to spin room, and then change again and take off out of the (unspecified) back door, an then for the clerk to call the dispatcher, for the dispatcher to call the troopers, for the troopers to drive from Rutland, arrest me, drive me back to Rutland and process me - all within barely half an hour.
What was I wearing in the "spin room?" Was I wearing my ski attire? This piece of puzzle is missing from the Hewitt's fantasy report. I allege James Hewitt gave false information to a police officer at behest of the Killington management in order to implicate me in a crime with the sole purpose to make me look more guilty, as it is their want, driven by their vindictive malice: asking young employees to perjure themselves to keep their jobs. We shall see how that flies. The case was referred to diversion on September 27, 2017. There is a small fee involved with the diversion process, which I am loath to pay. Diversion is a restorative justice idea, giving a chance to the offender to atone for the harm done. But I did not harm anybody. I am the one harmed here. I am still thinking about bringing this back to the jury.
It is also interesting that, after 20 years of knowing me, Taylor finally decided to dignify me with a personal email, saying that he thought we were friends, only after my jab at the other business in which he is involved. Sad, really sad, and way too late, "buddy".