Okay, I’ll take some blame too- I have slight anger issues and high expectations (so I’m told). So, I haven’t belonged to a gym in probably over five years and have been working out on and off in my basement. The past three months I’ve really been on a roll so it sure would be nice to have a wide variety of professional quality equipment. I see that a local commercial gym has pretty low rates and after start-up fees is only $20 a month.
I print up a coupon for a free one-day pass that the gym e-mailed to me and cut it out along the dotted lines as that’s the usual protocol for coupons. I enter the gym and tell the man behind the front counter that doesn’t smile or greet me in any way that I’d like to use my pass. He tells me, “You shouldn’t have cut the coupon out.” I tell him that no where does it say to not cut out the coupon and that there are dotted lines around it. He then says, “yeah, but now I can’t see your email address and since it’s in black and white it looks like it’s copied”. Now I so badly want to say, “so fucking what, dipshit? You realize I can make copies in color and that email addresses are free and I could request and print out hundreds of these out if I want, right? Maybe you should take up your complaint up with your gym having dotted lines around coupons and no notice to bring the whole sheet of paper in with someone representing the gym and not the customer?” But no, my wife keeps reminding me I have to be like the Buddha and not argue all the time, so I keep my mouth shut.
Now I’m in a dandy mood for a workout. Not really. This little encounter really pissed me off. Not just the stupidity, but the overall lack of friendliness to a potential new customer and this attitude (overall tone of voice and mannerisms) that exuded the message “I’m hot crap around here and I can talk to people any way I like. I work in a gym!”
So my cut out coupon seems to be good enough and after looking at my license and having me sign in he lets me get my workout in. I shit you not, I am the only one in the entire gym that has a towel. NO ONE is using a towel as they lay their sweaty heads and backs on equipment and some even put their shoes on the edge of benches. Okay, their problem, no big deal. I’m using mine and that’s what matter most. Besides, I’m the Buddha.
So, I go to get a pair of dumbbells in the weight increment I need, but someone is doing lateral raises RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DUMBBELL RACK! He’ll be gone in a few moments, right? Nope. He’s using light weight in front of the heavy dumbbells and he’s going for distance. Plenty of room to step back away from it, but why should he give a shit about anyone else? My head is going to explode.
After my shoulders and triceps workout, I walk around to look at the equipment. Hmm, how many squat racks? Lets look. Only two. The one where two youngsters have five plates on a bar and are taking turns with a marathon session of shrugging (that they abandoned loaded up when they finished) and the one where someone is doing bent over rows with 20lbs. on a bar.
It would be really nice to do certain movements like thigh curls and use the Butt Blaster and seated calf raises that I don’t have the equipment for at home, but having to drive and pay to get aggravated by people with no consideration for others will most likely just put me in a pissy mood for hours. I’m working on being like a Buddha and not letting these sort of things get to me, but in the mean time I’ll suck up working out at home with less than optimal equipment. Because people suck.
Oh well, that’s my lame rant. Just had to get it out.
