No more gym
I terminated my membership at my gym today. I haven't been in since December (gasp) so what on earth am I paying the $150 every month for?! Obviously that experiment turned out to be a huge failure. I'd thought that paying through my nose would motivate me to exercise, but it looks like even that isn't enough to motivate me. Oh well...
Emmy, my housemate, went along with me to the gym coz I needed to pay a $188 termination fee (apparently when you join, you enter into a 12-month agreement; I've got about 5 months to go) and she had kindly agreed to let me charge it to her credit card & allowed me to reimburse her later in cash. Emmy said she felt like my 'sugar mommy' and I said I wished it were so, then I wouldn't have to pay her back! haha.
I was all dressed up in an ankle-length black skirt, black blazer and pastel yellow top. Interestingly, Emmy asked if I had dressed that way just because I had planned to go to the gym and I said yes. I needed to feel in control and project an air of confidence so that I could be assertive if needed, and dressing up always helps me do that. I didn't want to let them bully me and try to persuade me to continue on and all that stuff. Plus I think people always treat you differently when you're well-dressed compared to if you were to walk in wearing a T-shirt and jeans. You get better service and instant respect.
Anyway, I got the membership terminated without any fuss. They didn't even try to dissuade me from my decision, although the lady who attended to me asked for a reason so she could write it down in the form I filled out. I told her I didn't like the way they had tried to market their personal training sessions. One of their employees, a lady named Wati, had called me and asked me to come over to the gym, saying something about personal training. I went, and she tried to market the sessions to me -- 24 sessions for more than $1,600. When she saw that I was sceptical and that she wasn't making any headway, she called the fitness manager over to the table and he tried to talk me into it instead. Something about how he was only concerned that I should benefit from my membership and obtain the results I wanted. Right, like he cares so much about my health and stamina.
I told Wati that I was not interested and yet she tried to follow up by calling me several times. Okay, maybe she was just doing her job, but it was darned irritating! The gym's office blocked caller ID so I couldn't determine who was calling me on my mobile phone, but when I answered the calls I recognised Wati's voice and simply remained silent, not even saying "hello". She would go, "Hello? Hello? Hello?" a few times and then replace the receiver. (Yes, I know, I am wicked)
Then one day I got a call from a guy who identified himself as "Matt, from Celebrity Fitness" and said, "Wati told me you want to sign up for the personal training sessions today." I'm afraid I was extremely displeased and rather curt with him as a result. "I'm sorry, you've been misinformed, I am not interested and I have always told Wati that I am not interested," I replied. Sheesh. I don't know what that Wati woman was thinking, but I was really pissed off. Did she think I would cave in and be too polite to contradict him or something?
So that was my brief first acquaintanceship with a gym. I'll probably think twenty times before joining another one in future!