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Yinghua Z.

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119

1 Review by Yinghua

  • Meetup

8/19/15

This story will definitely make people scared using meetup groups. I'm a frequent user of the Seattle Climbing Meetup group (and other meetup groups), and I'm writing about a horrible, crazy, and hostile event that happened to me with this meetup group that involved my driver and Bruce MacLachlan, the organizer on the trip to Smith Rock on 8/6/15. I've climbed many times with this meetup and Bruce and something like this has never happened before, which is why it's extremely shocking what happened to me since I knew Bruce.
The purpose of this story is not to attack anyone but to inform everybody of what happened, and to warn everybody to be cautious of this meetup and to show how Bruce is not at all who he seems to be.
I have met a lot of different people in my life and went traveling overseas by myself for a year, and this is one of the WORST things that has happened to me. Here are the facts of what happened:

1. I went on trips with this meetup many times before and climbed with Bruce. Things have always gone smoothly.

2. It was hard to set up a time to meet with my driver JC since he kept changing the times

3. I texted JC to meet at South Bellevue P&R three times and he was at a different park&ride

4. He told me hours into the drive, "By the way, I have different plans Sunday and I might not be able to give you a ride back. I should've told you earlier."

5. We stopped at two gas stations before Oregon. Each time JC never filled up his tank full, only a little bit each time.

6. We ran out of gas when we reached the bivy campsite at Smith Rock.

7. When I asked JC, "Why don't you fill up your gas tank full?" JC freaked out and said,
"Seriously?! Are you seriously questioning my decisions right now?"
I said, "Yeah, it's a simple question."
"Seriously, woman?" JC exclaimed. Yeah, he actually said woman.

8. JC said he almost didn't pick me up before we even met because I was "bargaining" with him what time we had to leave, and that he's the driver and he's doing me a favor and I shouldn't be trying to "bargain" a time with him. I wasn't bargaining a time, I was coordinating. I need to plan ahead and know when to leave! Weird.

9. We drove around for half hour searching for a gas station. It was around 11pm.

10. JC dropped me off at skull hollow camp where the meetup group was supposed to be but he wanted to stay at the bivy site. Now we're officially separated. It was midnight by now.

11. I was stranded the next morning and had to ask a kind stranger to give me a ride to the park. I eventually found Bruce and the others and climbed with them and got a ride with them back to Skull Hollow. Bruce KNOWS by now I have no driver. They went to the bath house and I didn't see them again that night.

12. I was LEFT BEHIND the next morning even though Bruce knew I had no car! I had to ask another stranger to drive me to the park and by now I'm extremely frustrated.

13. Bruce and the others were in the middle of climbing a multipitch route, so I had to wait a couple hours. I planned to talk to Bruce about everything that's happened.

14. When Bruce finally came down I tried to tell him what happened but he cut me off and said
He had to go change his shoes. So I waited a while and Bruce sat down and got settled, started chatting with 3 climbers next to him and showed no signs of coming back. So I walked down and asked to talk to him. Bruce sounded annoyed and tried to brush me off again. He really didn't want to hear me at all.
I started telling him about my incident with JC and seriously barely finished my sentence when Bruce cut me off again and said he doesn't care what happened between us, it's not his problem.

15. I was shocked at his response and this is where things got extremely intense and hostile. I tried explaining again how my driver ditched me and again Bruce yelled, "not my problem!"
I said I was extremely upset how they left me that morning knowing I had no car! Bruce did not understand and was yelling, swearing, and pointing aggressively.

16. Bruce continued attacking me. I said, "So you don't give a $#*! that I was stranded at the camp this morning." Bruce said, "Yeah, I really don't give a $#*!!"

17. At one point Bruce jumped up and tried to be intimidating, and he even threatened to hit me. He yelled, "I am sick of the sight of you, get the $#*! outta here!" Not the way an organizer should behave.

18. A long time has passed, and when I went to Bruce again and started talking, Bruce plugged his ears and started singing, "La la la I can't hear you," like a kindergardener.

19. When I continued talking trying to get him to listen, Bruce stood up and said, "If you don't shut up I'm gonna push you off this cliff!" "I'd like to see you try," I snapped. It was over at this point.

20. Bruce banned me from the Seattle Climbing Meetup group and removed my comments. Whoopdeedoo

Throughout this trip I felt abandoned, bullied, neglected, disrespected, and worried for my safety. Right from the beginning I felt concerned for my safety when I had that incident with JC. I was alone with a stranger who never fills up his gas tank full and lashed out at me when I questioned his odd behavior, and it was late at night.
It's not right that strangers not from the meetup agreed to help me and were much kinder, and the meetup group itself with people I KNEW refused to help me at all! I felt completely abandoned and neglected when Bruce and the others KNEW I had no car and left without me the next morning anyways! It made me feel like I didn't matter and was being treated like $#*!.
I am extremely shocked at Bruce's reaction through all this. Here was a guy I climbed with before and on the surface seemed like a cool, friendly guy. I knew him which is why I'm so shocked. I thought he'd be understanding. Goes to show you will never truly know someone until $#*! happens.
The worst thing of all this is how Bruce continued chatting to Ty and the other 3 bystanders as if nothing had happened, as if I was invisible and that I was the crazy one. Everyone was against me. It was a nasty and toxic atmosphere. I felt horrible. I was treated like $#*! this entire meetup and Bruce is totally ok with that. Like he said, "I really don't give a $#*!." A leader of the meetup group should not be acting this way. It is totally wrong.
IMPORTANT FACT ABOUT MEETUP GROUPS: THE ORGANIZER CAN TAKE DOWN YOUR REVIEWS! How screwed up is this?!? I posted a negative review of my horrible experience and they took it down! It's a dictatorship. There is no freedom of speech. Oh, and I emailed meetup.com itself about this and they were absolutely no help at all.
Meetup group people are a bunch $#*!s hanging out with other $#*!s. Birds of a feather flock together. I hope this teaches everyone to stay away from meetups!

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