&%^$#@! gym
I am SO irritated. Remember that gym I joined back in August? Well, it FINALLY opened on Saturday. So I toodled over to tell them not to try deducting anything from my (non-existent) credit card and to pay the November monthly fee.
The receptionist said, "I'm sorry, we don't accept cash. We only take payment via automatic credit card deductions."
I looked at her incredulously. "Why?"
"It's our policy."
I wanted to say, "What kind of stupid policy is that?" but I restrained myself coz that would be shooting the messenger. After all, the receptionist is hardly the person who makes these kind of dumb policy decisions. I told her I'd cancelled my card and applying for a new one would take awhile, and asked if I could at least pay cash just for the month of November. She said she'd check. Ten minutes later (they must have had a hot n' heavy discussion back there) she came back and said okay, I can pay cash, but just this once.
Of course, I don't intend to apply for another card, and no self-respecting credit card company would approve my application anyway even if I did try to apply -- I haven't totally cleared my existing debt yet. This whole nonsense is another repercussion of my incredible failure to manage money. Oh well.
Since I'm not likely to get another credit card anytime soon, I intend to see whether I can make some noise through formal channels and get the gym (Celebrity Fitness) to reconsider their position. It's dumb to assume that ALL of your customers are going to possess credit cards and even dumber to insist that if they wish to join, they'll have to get one. And what's with encouraging people to live on credit, anyway?
Then again, Malaysian authorities are encouraging students to start living on credit at an early age, so I don't know why I'm surprised...