Garmin Actively Trying to Break Up Local Runner’s Relationship
/
Main image via depositphotos.com
A local runner’s GPS watch is clearly trying to goad him into dumping his girlfriend, Dumb Runner has learned, through a series of increasingly forceful messages displayed on its screen.
The runner, Neil Sadaka, 33, said he first noticed the messages a few weeks ago, when the device shifted from its usual fitness-related reminders and prompts and into more personal territory.
“It was weird,” Sadaka told Dumb Runner. “One day, my watch is telling me to move or displaying an alert about my Body Battery; the next, it’s casually asking whether I could really see being with Jennifer over the long term.”
“I was, like, wait—what?” he said. “First of all, how does Garmin know my girlfriend’s name? And second, how is this any of its business?”
At first, Sadaka said, he assumed the messages must be text or email messages from a prankster; further probing eliminated those possibilities, however, and repeated calls to Garmin customer service agents didn’t help either.
“They just told me to try updating and restarting my watch, which I did, several times,” he said. “But the messages kept appearing.”
Over time, Sadaka said, those messages became both more frequent and more personal, alluding to Jennifer’s “taste for liquor” and implying that she’s been unfaithful during their six-month relationship.
“Hey Neil,” began one such alert. “Jen sure spends a lot of time texting Hector, doesn’t she? I wonder what they’re up to.”
Hector, Sadaka explained, is his girlfriend’s ex.
“And again,” he said, “how the hell does my watch know about Hector? Or Jennifer’s texting habits?”
Sadaka said he’s given up trying to diagnose the problem with his Garmin, and, because he can’t afford a new watch, will “have to live with it.”
As for his relationship, Sadaka said it’s still going strong—as far as he knows.
“I’ll admit, this whole thing has got me thinking,” he said. “Maybe Jen and I should sit down and have a talk.”
Reached for comment, a Garmin spokesperson told Dumb Runner that Sadaka is a “great guy who deserves an equally great partner.”
“If he thinks Jennifer, of all people, is good enough for him, well, let’s just say we’ll agree to disagree.”
