Dear Planet Fitness,
When I first heard about your "Judgement Free" policy, I thought that sounded really kind of nice. Although I am a person who enjoys exercise and fitness, I have always been intimidated by those who are more knowledgeable about fitness than I am. I have always been intimidated by free weights, and, even though I know and believe that free weights are better for you than machines, I have always used the machines instead because of my fear of looking stupid. Somehow, through a commercial or a friend who used your gym, I'm not really sure how, but somehow I heard about your policy on judgement, and it sounded good.
So I joined your gym.
I joined on a particularly busy afternoon, which was good for you, because your employees were too busy to give me a tour around the gym. Had they, I would NOT have joined. The employee told me that I could go and look around, and I did for like, a second, and then I decided to join. They had pretty much everything I wanted. Ok, they had treadmills and they were cheap, and that's all I really cared about at that time.
I did my first workout that day. I was mid workout when I heard this loud, scary alarm. I thought that maybe it was a fire alarm or something. I had no idea what I was hearing. I looked around to see if anybody knew about the evacuation protocol, as I assumed we would have to evacuate. But nobody did anything. Nobody even looked concerned. Nobody really cared. That's when I saw it. The "Lunk Alarm." Someone had set it off. I was alarmed, but since nobody else seemed to be, I figured it was just something I missed in my rushed sign-up process, and I continued with my work-out, praying that it wasn't because of me or anything I did.
What I came to learn was that that alarm is set off when someone is acting like a "Lunk." When someone is grunting, dropping weights, wearing obnoxious clothes, etc. When someone is behaving like a scary, intimidating exercise-aholic. These people, apparently, are called "Lunks."
This did not set well with me.
What I came to realize was that you were, in fact, judging these people called "Lunks." So much so that you publically humiliated someone. A loud, blinking alarm would go off to show everyone, "Hey, look, there's a Lunk present." To me, it sounded a lot like judgement.
At first, I let it go. I figured it must be a rare occassion when someone sets off the Lunk Alarm. But it wasn't rare. In fact, every single time I visited that gym, I'd hear it several times. It was distracting. It always startled me. And what's worse was that it affected my time there.
I became afraid that I would set off the Lunk Alarm, and that everyone's attention would be brought to me, and that I would be embarrassed. I joined that gym so that people would NOT notice what I was doing. And there it was, this ever-present, looming risk of everyone looking at me.
Is that what you really wanted?
To be "judgement free" is not a good thing. It's ok to judge people's actions. It's ok to say that lunks are intimidating (that is a judgement). It's ok to say that Lunks aren't welcome, if that's what you're going for. But that's your judgement. And it's not being "judgement free."
When I saw one of your commercials, I couldn't believe it. Look at it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPwG7Rd9oHU. Now, first of all, I've never been to a gym where people acted like they do in those commercials. Also, they are blatantly making fun of those so-called "Lunks." They are degrading to them. They are rude. You know who is the problem? YOU are.
Like I said, I'm ok with it if you don't want those people to be in your gym. But you know, you should show them a little bit of dignity, even if you don't like them. Wouldn't YOU expect the same?
I am no longer a member of your gym, because YOU intimidated me with YOUR judging. YOU made me even more afraid to try the free-weights than I would have been without your alarm.
Be judgement free, or don't. But don't pretend to be when you aren't. Your selling a product you aren't providing, and because of it, you lost a customer.
Krissy
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