We're Closed!
So I'm unsure whether to post this or not seeing as part of it was caused by my own (unknowing) customer suckiness, plus I have a tendency to be overly idealistic about things like this, so I also tend to get overly irked, but here goes:
I went to the gym with my mother yesterday, we worked out and then jumped in the sauna for awhile, then took showers. I got out of the shower before my mom, and as I was walking out two of the girls who worked there were walking by, and one of them goes "there's someone in the shower?" And I responded that yes there was. She gives this really strange like exasperated look to the other girl and they walk off. I'm like well, that was weird. So I'm getting dressed, my mom is still in the shower, and the girl calls in "hey guys we're closed! in an exasperated tone. I'm like oh shit! I pull my cell phone out of my locker to check the time. It's 4:10. Our customer suck is that we had no idea when it closed so here we were taking our time and the people who worked there weren't able to go home until we left. I know that feeling!! So I find my mom who has been drying her hair and didn't hear the girl, tell her they're closed and that we need to get out of there, but my mom still has to get dressed and get all her stuff together. So the girl calls in at 4:20, even more exasperated that they had closed 20 min. ago, and I was flustered by being rushed and went up to her and said "Look the first I heard that you were closed was at 4:10, we're getting ready as fast as we can, but it's going to be a few more minutes!" She looks at me and goes "there were two signs saying when we closed and you should have seen them!" And walks off. I'm like, ooook. So she sent in one of the women who works in a higher position to tell us it's closed, but she was the one who signed both me and my mother up, so we explained to her what had happened and she was wicked nice, and told us that it was fine, but to get ready as fast as we could. She was super nice and understanding. She's the only one that I've seen there who has an understanding of what customer service is and actually uses it :)
So maybe I have been spoiled by the last gym that I went to, which announced over the loud speakers that the gym would be closing in 30, 15, 10, and then 5 minutes to encourage people to finish up and get ready to be out by closing time. But the fact that they just expected us to know when the gym closed and to be out by then seems to me to be super bad service. We were in the locker room since like 3:30, in the sauna and the shower, there aren't any clocks in there, and I don't wear a watch and am not going to drag my cell phone around. I mean, I can deal with the little sucks I get at the front desk every time I go, like the girl who was so exasperated putting on her makeup making us wait a little longer than we needed to to get checked in, having to ask for towels which should be folded on the counter so we can just grab them, and then getting a blank-eyed stare and moving like a zombie to hand over said towels, and I am super nice the entire time! But this was just obnoxious and provoking.
And I prolly am overreacting, but it irks me that it would have been super easy to announce even just 10 min. before 4 that they were going to be closed. Even if they didn't have a speaker system, send someone into the locker room beforehand, make a general announcement about closing, then go repeat it in the areas of the sauna and the showers, where people definitely can't hear you from any distance away. I mean perhaps they had announced it, and we didn't hear it, but it's not like we were hiding in an out of way place where they couldn't get to us. In our defense we'd never been at the gym when it was closing and had no idea what their procedure for closing was, and since it was a holiday it closed early I guess. But I have worked in retail/customer service, and I know that every single place I have worked, we didn't rely on people to know when they should get out and just wait for them to go. Especially if it was closing at a different time than it normally does. And just in terms of behavior, being nice to people generally helps more, because my mother and I were not being rude at all. And if there was one thing I learned at my last job: people don't read signs! I hate to be the person who didn't read the sign, but I know it happens! That's why at my last job people were assigned to stand right next to the sign to tell people what was on it because they wouldn't read the sign and would be lost lol. And and and...lol
I know I spend a lot more here than at my last gym, and what really frustrates me is that that doesn't qualify it to have better service; the only reason it's more expensive is because it's in NYC and not Cleveland. :( I'm considering writing a complaint, on-line maybe, just so that hopefully they might think twice about how they close? I would feel better about that if I had ever been there when it was closing before though...
I went to the gym with my mother yesterday, we worked out and then jumped in the sauna for awhile, then took showers. I got out of the shower before my mom, and as I was walking out two of the girls who worked there were walking by, and one of them goes "there's someone in the shower?" And I responded that yes there was. She gives this really strange like exasperated look to the other girl and they walk off. I'm like well, that was weird. So I'm getting dressed, my mom is still in the shower, and the girl calls in "hey guys we're closed! in an exasperated tone. I'm like oh shit! I pull my cell phone out of my locker to check the time. It's 4:10. Our customer suck is that we had no idea when it closed so here we were taking our time and the people who worked there weren't able to go home until we left. I know that feeling!! So I find my mom who has been drying her hair and didn't hear the girl, tell her they're closed and that we need to get out of there, but my mom still has to get dressed and get all her stuff together. So the girl calls in at 4:20, even more exasperated that they had closed 20 min. ago, and I was flustered by being rushed and went up to her and said "Look the first I heard that you were closed was at 4:10, we're getting ready as fast as we can, but it's going to be a few more minutes!" She looks at me and goes "there were two signs saying when we closed and you should have seen them!" And walks off. I'm like, ooook. So she sent in one of the women who works in a higher position to tell us it's closed, but she was the one who signed both me and my mother up, so we explained to her what had happened and she was wicked nice, and told us that it was fine, but to get ready as fast as we could. She was super nice and understanding. She's the only one that I've seen there who has an understanding of what customer service is and actually uses it :)
So maybe I have been spoiled by the last gym that I went to, which announced over the loud speakers that the gym would be closing in 30, 15, 10, and then 5 minutes to encourage people to finish up and get ready to be out by closing time. But the fact that they just expected us to know when the gym closed and to be out by then seems to me to be super bad service. We were in the locker room since like 3:30, in the sauna and the shower, there aren't any clocks in there, and I don't wear a watch and am not going to drag my cell phone around. I mean, I can deal with the little sucks I get at the front desk every time I go, like the girl who was so exasperated putting on her makeup making us wait a little longer than we needed to to get checked in, having to ask for towels which should be folded on the counter so we can just grab them, and then getting a blank-eyed stare and moving like a zombie to hand over said towels, and I am super nice the entire time! But this was just obnoxious and provoking.
And I prolly am overreacting, but it irks me that it would have been super easy to announce even just 10 min. before 4 that they were going to be closed. Even if they didn't have a speaker system, send someone into the locker room beforehand, make a general announcement about closing, then go repeat it in the areas of the sauna and the showers, where people definitely can't hear you from any distance away. I mean perhaps they had announced it, and we didn't hear it, but it's not like we were hiding in an out of way place where they couldn't get to us. In our defense we'd never been at the gym when it was closing and had no idea what their procedure for closing was, and since it was a holiday it closed early I guess. But I have worked in retail/customer service, and I know that every single place I have worked, we didn't rely on people to know when they should get out and just wait for them to go. Especially if it was closing at a different time than it normally does. And just in terms of behavior, being nice to people generally helps more, because my mother and I were not being rude at all. And if there was one thing I learned at my last job: people don't read signs! I hate to be the person who didn't read the sign, but I know it happens! That's why at my last job people were assigned to stand right next to the sign to tell people what was on it because they wouldn't read the sign and would be lost lol. And and and...lol
I know I spend a lot more here than at my last gym, and what really frustrates me is that that doesn't qualify it to have better service; the only reason it's more expensive is because it's in NYC and not Cleveland. :( I'm considering writing a complaint, on-line maybe, just so that hopefully they might think twice about how they close? I would feel better about that if I had ever been there when it was closing before though...