In the past couple of days, I have gotten into discussions with other fitness instructors about the changes in the fitness industry.  Mainly, we talk about how more efficient the places used to be run.  Although most of the places we instruct at are more stable because of them becoming corporations, they seem to have become less employee-friendly and more about the bottom line.  Worst of all, they have become all about getting the members to join while sacrificing customer service.

I'm not only talking about the front desk being friendly when you walk in or about the fitness staff walking around to help you if you so need, I am talking about things like dirty lockerrooms, clean weight floors, sparkling equipment, available working machines, etc.  A friend of mine who is a manager at one of the more expensive (they like to say exclusive) facilities says that cleanliness has a price.  I refuse to accept that.  Cleanliness should be something we expect and take for granted.  What happened?  Have we as members just stopped complaining and accepted that skanky towels on the floor is just par for the course?  By "we", I include gym staff because we are the biggest consumers of the facility.  We live and breath the gym.

As a staff member, I encourage everyone to point out to the managers of their gyms the problems that they see.  Not complain.  Just calmly point out when the toilets are overflowing, or when the weights are scattered all over, or when there is missing equipment, or when the place is dusty, or when the showers are not working.  I never believe in screaming and pitching a fit.  As a former manager, I used to just tune out anyone who did.  I also remember that people who approached me calmly and politely got more of a response.

For me, it just seems that the gym consumer is no longer being taken care of.  In lieu of getting "cutomer service", it seems that more money is placed into opening more locations, adding more equipment, bringing in more members...  what happened to keeping what you have intact and shining?  What happened to making sure the current membership continues to stay?  What happened to customer service?  I would like to remind the corporations that the customer is the one who has joined - not the schmoe who is thinking about it.  The money you pay is going somewhere and it is not to facility upkeep.

My best friend in New Jersey witnessed a manager go into a class where the instructor had not shown up.  The manager proceeded to hand out free one-week guest passes to the members.  Two members pointed out that the manager did the same thing the past two weeks.  They also mentioned that they did not need guest passes because why would they recommend this gym to anyone when half the classes are cancelled due to no-show instructors.

One final note, as a staff member of the New York Sports Clubs in Manhattan, I know for a fact that the budgets for housekeeping have been slashed.  I know that there is no customer service training for the staff who work the gym floor.  I also know they want to stop having general staff on the gym floor; you know, the ones who can come around and make sure that nobody is being crushed by a barbell.  I can tell you that there is NO STAFF on the gym floor.  Ask the guy who cut his head open on a piece of equipment the other day.  I had to stop my workout to help him find help.  When we did, the trainer offered him a band-aid and asked him not to sue the club.  Nice.  Later.
  ¶ 3:28 PM