ROCHESTER NY – “All I have to say is f*** Pinterest for making me think this was a good idea” says George Rollenfeld of Webster who has now been living in the lobby of The Owl House for the past year.

George decided to get creative with the Valentine’s Date with his wife of 5-years Clair. “I just wanted to surprise her and show her I still cared. So I did a quick AskJeeves search of the ‘Top Ten Free Valentines Date Ideas That Don’t Take No Effort’ and I came across this idea of a scavenger hunt.”

George put together a 5 clue scavenger hunt that would end where the couple had their first date and where he later proposed. He snuck out the morning of Valentine’s Day and told his wife “good luck.” Mr. Rollenfeld thought the clues were easy enough that his lover would solve the puzzle in only a few hours.

However, George ended up staying until The Owl House closed it’s doors for the night on Valentine’s Day of 2017. George slept in his car just in case his wife figure it out later. He woke up and went back to waiting in the restaurant’s lobby.

He would repeat this process for the next week. Then the next month and by then he had lost his job for missing so many days. The Owl House, now fully aware of his plight decided to hire George as a busboy to make a living while he waited.

“I didn’t want to be tempted to text her so I locked my phone away as one of the clues” said George when we asked why he never reached out to Clair about her progress in the puzzle.

The Inner Loop blog caught up with Clair at their shared home where we were surprised to find that she was sharing with a new husband.

“When George decided to ghost me last Valentine’s Day, it was the last straw. After 5-years of marriage, you’re just going to disappear and not text me?” Clair told us. “I had to move on.”

It turns out Clair never found the first clue to trigger the scavenger hunt.