Friday, July 16, 2010

Once Upon a Gym

Once upon a time there was a young woman, let's say in her late 20's, that belonged to a popular gym. The management of such gym was poor at best, with the staff and members alike being constantly mistreated and duped. The machines in this gym were not in the best shape. Frequent squeaking and a lack of fluid motions were commonly experienced by the gym members. At one point during this young woman's five year membership the air conditioning unit stopped working properly. After many complaints, industrial upright fans were placed around the perimeter of the workout areas. The gym members thought this would be a good temporary solution, until one summer turned into three. At the beginning of the third summer, the young woman walked into the gym only to be smacked in the face with a foul pungent odor similar to vomit. She contemplated walking back out the door until she saw a member of the staff and decided to inquire about the cause of the stench. To her delight, she was told that the stench was a result of the air conditioning unit being cleaned and prepped for use. Hooray!, she thought.
Fast forward to the hottest week of July of that same year, the fifth year of her gym membership. A letter came in the mail from the gym announcing the implementation of an annual fee to be paid within the month. The letter detailed that the fee would go toward upgrades and improvements to the gym, such as: carpeting in the locker room (the existing carpet was fine), new state of the art televisions (there were at least 20 working televisions in the gym already), and other minor improvements. The young woman put the letter down, closed her eyes, and recalled the gigantic potholes in the gym parking lot that were so large she could no longer maneuver around them. Why weren't those on the list of improvements in the letter? She also noticed that there was no mention of an air conditioning unit in the letter. Hmmm, she thought, I'll have to see about this.
A few days later the young woman went to the gym to work out. On her way to the locker room she ran into the manager whose name was at the bottom of the letter she had recently received. She diplomatically expressed her concerns regarding the letter and proposed improvements, and suggested that the air conditioner and potholes be moved to a higher priority. She was assured that there would be more information regarding the installation of a new air conditioner by the end of the week.
On Friday, the young woman returned to the gym and sought out the manager she had previously spoken with. Upon asking about the air conditioner, she was told that, "I am not the person responsible for the installation of the air conditioner, so I don't know what you want me to do." Well, she thought, isn't that nice?! She immediately mentioned that he should notify the owner about her complaint, and added that she would not pay the annual fee while the air conditioner was still not installed. She then went down on the floor to work out and found out from other members (friends) that not everybody received a letter detailing the annual fee charge about to take effect. After dressing, the young woman approached a gentleman at the front desk and asked when her contract was up. He was reluctant to look up this information for her, so she explained that she was thinking of leaving the gym because of the offensive letter. While the man at the desk sympathized with her, he could not help her. She took a copy of her contract and asked to see a manager, at which point she was told that they were gone for the day as was the owner. How convenient, she thought. Her next plan of action? A meeting with the owner to express her concerns over the letter in hopes that the annual fee will be reduced or eliminated? A call to the corporate office? Should she consider leaving and joining another gym? She could use your advice! What would you do?


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