That question can relate to a number of things: your spouse, your job, parents, bank.... But right now I pose this question to my.... *drum roll* gym.
I'm currently enrolled, but not active, at a bare minimum, low cost gym. Equipment, check. Tvs, check. Customer Service, no. I mean they have employees but they suck. The front desk is filled with inattentive jocks who only interest is signing you up for personal training.
True Story:
I was working out awhile ago and as I was leaving the gym I saw a sign that said free personal training class. At the bottom was a binder which I left my name and phone number. 10 minutes later as I was driving home, I received a call from the trainer ready to schedule an appointment. I picked a date and continued my ride. Fast forward to the next week. With my busy life *cough* I forgot about the personal training class. A received another call from the trainer and we rescheduled.
When we finally met up it was all business. The trainer weighed me, took my measurements and we discussed what my goals were. I told him I wanted to lose 50 pounds. He kept questioning me on what else I wanted for my body. I felt like he was sizing me up and picking different areas I needed to work on. "Don't you want toner arms? Tighter mid section?" I told him, yes that would be good too but the weight loss was the most important thing for me.
After the consultant, we moved to the workout section. I must admit, the trainer pushed me physically. We probably worked out a total of 15 minutes but it was one of the hardest sessions I ever had. My body was sore, in a good way, and I felt energized.
As you may notice, the trainer and I haven't talked about money yet. That's coming very soon....
As we went back upstairs to talk business, I tried to estimate a reasonable figure I could afford for weekly sessions. I was still unemployed at the time but was optimistic I wouldn't be for long.
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"For 2 workouts a week it'll be $40. You'll sign on for 3 mths. The total is $480. Does that sound good to you?"
It did. Only because I know the price that other personal trainers charge. I was all for it until....
"To get started you need to pay 240."
Um, I don't have a job. I thought that since I paid membership the cost of the training would be applied to my account, monthly. As I expressed this to the trainer, I noticed another guy who was in the office straightening up, walk towards us. This guy then starts sprewing tons of benefits of personal training, how I can open a credit card, etc. I explained how I wanted the training but I didn't have the money to put down. This didn't derail him. In fact, now my trainer had join in. I had two people barking at me at signing the contract for personal training. This went on for ten minutes, Can you say turn off?
Now I was a salesperson for 7 years. I get it, you have sales goals. Probably working on commission. But learn how to back down. You can't magically water money seeds in my pocket and make them grow. I was so disgusted with the whole act that I never went back to that gym. Put of it was employees' pushy, aggressive behavior and some was plain ol' laziness but shush, don't tell nobody :)
I told that looooong story because... I'm joining another gym. Planetfitness.com to be exact. They have awesome plans and even better benefits. For $10 down and $20/mth, I'll have unlimited fitness classes, half off drinks, free tanning o_O, and unlimited guest passes. Way better than the other gym, way. I wanted to join today but I gotta see what Officer wants to do. Maybe tomorrow I'll be posting before I go to the gym pictures.
*cross ya fingers*
-Toodles
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