Yesterday, I was called in for an interview for 3 p.m. today. The general manager never stated the required interview clothes.
I have been going to this gym pretty religiously every morning for four weeks now, and I applied because the workers there said they are all quitting due to a lack of communication and the old management destroying their trust.
I am pretty optimistic and looked at this as an opportunity to get in with new management and the new team, get more access to the 24 Hour Fitness facilities, and bring my enthusiasm to the team.
I have a lot of meetings as a business owner, so I have three sets of clothes in my gym bag: jeans and a T-shirt, a suit and tie, and my gym shorts and shirt. I arrived 10 minutes early.
Today, it is over 100°F. After I checked in, I made sure I was presentable in the bathroom. I arrived early, was greeted by the staff, and was welcomed. They all said they were excited to work alongside me, and I said that I was excited to join the team. Even the guy from the Nutrient Shop came and greeted me and preemptively welcomed me to the team.
This was a great experience.
Then I watched the general management woman belittle an elderly woman customer and storm off, and I was taken aback somewhat. Not because she was late to the interview time that she set, but because of the poor treatment of the older woman, who was just paying her bill.
Then, when the manager came back seven minutes late for our interview, she said, “Unfortunately, you showed up early in jeans and a T-shirt, so you won’t be able to work here.”
Then she belittled me in front of the staff and guests, insulted me, and threatened to kick me out and call the cops if I didn’t check in after I had already checked in.
I muttered, “This is crazy,” and she yelled, “What did you say?”
I told her what I said and that I would go get my brother in the waiting area and leave, but she forced me to recheck in, or she would call the police. This was the worst customer service I have ever seen or experienced from a general manager. This is a gym where people go to be happy and make themselves better. That’s the whole purpose of the gym, the amenities, and the Nutrient Shop.
How do I know she is the general manager?
I called the store to ask for the general manager, and when she picked up, I told her I didn’t want to talk to her; I wanted to talk to her boss. She said she would connect us and then hung up on me.
So I called the Centennial 24 Hour Fitness and talked with Jake, the general manager there. He helped me file a report.
If you look at the cameras, I was early and being ignored by the managers while the staff was welcoming. After seven minutes past the interview time, I was belittled, insulted, and threatened.
If she had said she wanted me to change and reschedule, she would have been surprised that I carry $200 shoes, $100 business slacks, a $100+ dress shirt, and a $100+ tie in my bag and could have changed in minutes.
As I have a suit and tie in my gym bag, it is over 100°, and I assumed it would be a little much to dress up for a part-time job offer for under $15 an hour that requires a relaxed wardrobe. But I still could have changed.
Her attitude was controlling and aggressive; she had a scowl on her face and a negative tone. When she treated me like I was some sort of bum and then insulted me, I was shocked. When she threatened me, I knew right away why everyone who works there said they are quitting.
*Check the turnover.* It has to be insane to go from 15 front-desk sales to 1–3. I do corporate consulting professionally. She would be the first one I recommend firing and replacing. Most everyone I’ve met who works here would do a better job by orders of magnitude.
After this experience, I would never work for 24 Hour Fitness if this is how things are run. In fact, my brother and I walk 4.5 miles a day, 98% of the time here, before we do 10–16 hours of meetings building up three companies. Today, we started closing a $600 million deal before we arrived. We were in extremely high spirits.
We are considering coming earlier, before her shift, changing gyms to the Centennial 24 Hour Fitness, or canceling our membership to never experience or witness this unprofessional, horrible customer service. How long can you treat people poorly before they leave? Not long, I’d wager.
I get that people can have a bad day, but this woman was so aggressive and unprofessional, escalating instead of de-escalating. I watched her treat customers like crap, her staff like crap, and me, the potential new hire, like crap.
This is my formal complaint and my experience with the 15900 E Briarwood Cir, Aurora, CO 80016 location.
With a general manager like this, in this industry, it is only a matter of time before a guest gets hurt or something preventable happens due to poor management, poor customer service, and the creation of a complacent staff.
I highly urge you to look into the recorded video, the recorded audio from the calls, and the check-in times so you can witness her management style for yourselves and decide if this is how you want people to feel while management misrepresents this corporation. A fast way to fix this is to ask the employees why they are telling the guests why they are quitting. Probably, you will find out that this woman is single-handedly destroying this newly remodeled gym from the inside out like a cancer.
Again, I urge you to investigate this incident.
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