"[The general manager] as enraged,” Asmar said, adding she didn’t want to leave the workout area because her iPad was plugged into the elliptical machine. “I said I’d be off in a minute. He said, ‘I said now.’ His demeanor was very threatening. I said, ‘Oh, please, please step away from me,’ and he continued to say, ‘No, I need you to hang up that phone now or I’m going to cancel your membership.’ ”This Oh, please, please step away from me lady is the owner of Santoro’s Sicilian Trattoria, so going public with her dispute affects the reputation of her business. Here's a 2009 review of the place in the Boston Globe, which says it's "the sort of place that feels and smells as if you've entered your grandma's kitchen."
What kind of character was your grandma?
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52 comments:
In Stalin's time, both of them would have been shot.
Another one of those cases where Uncle Joe probably had the right idea.
My grandma kinda smelled like mothballs. The other one I never really knew.
Never fails. The person telling the story is all "please, please, can't we be reasonable?" While the other person is a vicious maniac.
My grandma was the kind of person who would abide by the rules that she agreed to.
My grandma woulda chased him out of the gym with a butcher's knife.
Crazy Hungarian lady.
Step away from the crazy lady.
Silliness like this is one reason that I don't have a gym membership. If I did, I wouldn't take my phone into an exercise area, or my iPad either. Unplug for the love of heaven. I know for a fact that her doctor would have left her a message. As to whether "gymtimidation" was
committed, that's her perception. Maybe she's easily intimidated. Who am I to say?
And to answer Ann's question, my grandmother was an unfailingly polite Southern Lady and a wonderful cook, but her kitchen never smelled like a trattoria. It did often smell like fresh bread, pinto beans, and country ham or bacon. She was also a farmer's wife so no gym membership was necessary for her either. :)
My grandma could beat your grandma up.
Hey, she is Special, she owns a hipster eats joint. Rules don't apply to the Special People.
Jesus Christ Lady get off the phone. You aren't that important. If you want to do as you please while working out, buy an elliptical machine and use it at home.
In fairness to my grandma, her kitchen was frickin heaven on earth. Hence, the always present knife.
For minor offenses, she threw food.
Watch out for that salami.
Ouch !
1. I'd like to know if that was really was her doctor.
2. Did anyone applaud the manager? I would have.
3. If it's clear cell phone use is prohibited, why have your phone with you? I know: "in case the kids call/emergency". Right. How did we ever grab a moment without the cell phone? How did we survive as a species?
I was in a local coffee shop and the note by the cash register said, "kindly end all cell phone calls before approaching the counter." I agree with that.
Plus, businesses should have a right to post and enforce their own rules. Or are we at a point where the loud-mouth always wins?
In this case, loud mouth granny.
Not being allowed to do as you please on someone elses property isn't "gymtimidation". It's called an ordinary expectation of behavior from everybody.
In fact, her behavior puts her more in the "Gym Jerk" category that Planet Fitness is trying to market against to attract customers.
Never fails. The person telling the story is all "please, please, can't we be reasonable?" While the other person is a vicious maniac.
Yeah, folks typically like to be the heros of their own stories.
Chatterers at the gym are a drag - had a couple next to me the other day. Glad for my own music to tune them out. The person on the other side, though, asked them to be a little more considerate.
Planet Fitness should do an ad based on that type of obnoxious gym behavior; the Always Plugged-in Hyper-Mom/Mistress of the Universe-Wonder WoMAAAAN that thinks she and her family are more important than anybody else. so the rules don't apply to her Awesomeness.
If you are expecting an important call from your doctor, unplug and go to the lobby.
She broke the rules....Plus....she was hogging the exercise equipment.
My grandmother was a bohemian artistic individualist.
From her picture that woman looks to be the type of person who is totally committed to winning arguments and losing friends....If you wear good headphones, the background noise in the gymn is irrelevant, and nowadays nearly everyone uses headphones.
Noise cancelling headphones have been a great boon to mankind.
Of all the casual lies in the world, at the top of my list would be: "I'll just be another minute."
Heh, my grandma would likely respond just like this. He'd be getting a lot of eyerolls from her too.
I don't know what they mean by grandma's kitchen. I can't pinpoint any smells, but I know what my grandma's kitchen sounds like. It sounds like her saying, "Let's go eat at Southern Season."
Gyms are noisy. In order to hear and be heard, you probably have to yell into your phone.
Grandma S was a gentle loving farm wife who cooked wonderful meals on a wood stove and reigned at the annual molasses making. She taught Sunday School and had the Second Sight.
Grandmaw K was a mean woman diagnosed at 30 with a bad heart who used it for more than 50 years to get her way. She'd just gotten out of the hospital with her latest heart attack when we had a big row and she was jumping up and down holding her bible aloft asking God what she'd done to deserve a granddaughter such as I. My favorite memory of her, to tell the truth. Thus I suspect I'm just as mean.
It isn't JUST that she was on the phone, which was against the rules.....
She was plugged in and hogging the equipment.
"she didn’t want to leave the workout area because her iPad was plugged into the elliptical machine."
Other people want to use the equipment and not have to wait until she is done with her personal[ and against the rules] phone calling.
She is a selfish bitch. That alone is grounds to eliminate her from the gym.
My grandma (the one I knew) was a farmer's wife in rural WI. I don't remember her kitchen. I do remember my sister and I accidentally locking ourselves into the corn crib on one visit when we were small kids, and not getting rescued for a couple of hours. No one immediately noticed we were missing; we weren't the sort to play loudly.
I agree with the tone of the comments. This lady sounds like a piece of work. And not a whit like my grandma -- who, like Mel's, didn't need to go to a gym anyway :-)
I hate cell phone use in public, though I do it myself on rare occasions. That having been said, I have no idea if it really was her doctor, but if it was, I have some sympathy for her. At least in Florida with my doctors, it's often days before you get the call back, and they ring at random times. If you miss the call, he or she will happily leave a message, but then it's another two or three days before you get the chance to speak again. With Obamacare in the offing and an accelerating doctor shortages, I expect this to continue or get worse. I guess the answer is just to sit at home until you get the call. Oh wait, yay!!! An excuse not to go to the gym.
My grandma (the one I knew) was a farmer's wife in rural WI. I don't remember her kitchen. I do remember my sister and I accidentally locking ourselves into the corn crib on one visit when we were small kids, and not getting rescued for a couple of hours. No one immediately noticed we were missing; we weren't the sort to play loudly.
I agree with the tone of the comments. This lady sounds like a piece of work. And not a whit like my grandma -- who, like Mel's, didn't need to go to a gym anyway :-)
Planet Fitness has many weird policies. No dumbbells over 70 pounds. No squat racks. No deadlifts or power cleans allowed. Some locations even have removed bench press stations.
Peter
She was talking to her doctor.
R-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight.
Of course. They always are something terribly important.
This is a member that’s had repeated issues and incidents with cell phone use,” Kablik said. “I can assure you that our manager would not be treating a member poorly.
I complained directly to my friend that four phone calls over lunch is too many. Knock it off.
The next lunch was half an hour and he took or made eight calls and THAT WAS IT. No more friend.
"But that one was my dentist and I'm really HAD to take that call."
Have lunch with your phone then. You're not interesting.
This is what the sign says:
"CELL PHONE USERS: As a courtesy to other members, cell phone use is permitted in the lobby only. Thank you"
Why - that's mean. Gymtimidations.
Imagine a long line of young looking red-headed grannies with tasty restaurants loudly yacking away on their cell phones while spinning on the elliptical.
Imagine a gym where this was not allowed.
Imagine a gym where this IS allowed. All the yackers would still show up at the gym where phone-yack workouts are prohibited.
Gingers should have their own gyms.
Planet Fitness has many weird policies. No dumbbells over 70 pounds. No squat racks. No deadlifts or power cleans allowed. Some locations even have removed bench press stations.
???
How do men work out there?
How do men work out there?"
Policy is probably due to idiots injuring themselves trying to do deadlifts/power cleans or do Bench presses without spotters. The idiots then sue the gym.
Planet Fitness does not want serious lifters. Supposedly this is an outgrowth of the chain's "no judgments" policy, which is ridiculous because hardcore lifters are not at all judgmental.
Peter
That's so odd. So un-gym.
It's not as if regular gyms are forbidding dungeons full of hugely muscular lunkheads who ridicule newcomers. What Planet Fitness does, however, is cater to people who think that's what gyms are like. It also succeeds by being less expensive than most other chains and by keeping most of its gyms open 24 hours.
Peter
Planet Fitness seems like kind of an odd place.
Planet Fitness — a New Hampshire-based chain known for its “judgment-free zone” and “no lunk” policy against members grunting while lifting weights — has about 10 “no cell phone” signs posted throughout each of its 620 clubs to ensure a comfortable environment for members, Kablik said. The policy is aimed at preventing members from being interrupted by loud phone conversations, and it also eliminates concerns about video recording or photographs of people in their exercise outfits.
They would seem to cater to very troubled, angst-ridden people. Stop sweating so loud! Shut UP! Get away from me! Stop judging me!!
Everyone knows a woman just like the one we're talking about. She no doubt needed to be told to get out. The thing that baffles me, and always has, is that they get away with it so often. I see these little entitled princesses when they are in Kindergarten. You can spot them practically from birth. They just keep getting away with it.
My grandmother was a force to be reckoned with, she cooked a huge noon meal for a hay crew every day but Sunday for 30 years but I don't remember any cooking smells from her kitchen except coffee.
Actually the damn grunters are a problem at my gym. Some of them practically shriek when they "go for it" with a heavy weight.
Please cut the drama weightlifters.
Chatterers are cookies and milk next to coughers. Dear God, if you can't do the elliptical without hacking up a phlegm ball you are too sick to be at the gym.
Honestly, they should be kicked out. That can make everyone sick.
The Asian-from-Asia ppl at my gym carry around a bag and do a thorough cleaning with Lysol before they will touch one.
PJ: me too but I'm not Asian. I carry a container of Lysol wipes. I also watch episodes of The Walking Dead on my Kindle while I'm on the treadmill.
Oh, and I wipe the equipment down when I'm done.
I wish LA Fitness had a rule against friends using the treadmills next to each other. I have to turn the volume way up to drown out the women on either side yelling above the blaring rock music.
Planet Fitness sounds like a Bloombergian vision of a gym.
Sadly no one has seemed to pick up on the use of noise cancelling headphones. Instant zen master floating in serenity above the noise and bustle of modern life. And they're not just for the gymn. They're useful for rap concerts and operas....Maybe Google can refine that vision thing they're working on to have a harshness cleanser. It could soften the features of hard looking people and put Sargeant landscapes around construction sites.
If it's clear cell phone use is prohibited, why have your phone with you?
I use mine at the gym all the time to listen to podcasts. Probably you are just not supposed to talk. She sounds like a whiner, but maybe the guy could have been more diplomatic. We dont' really have any way of judging whether she was really annoying or he was really overly officious.
Gymtimidation is a stupid word.
From the article:
“This is a member that’s had repeated issues and incidents with cell phone use,” Kablik said. “I can assure you that our manager would not be treating a member poorly. Her reaction, when she was approached in a professional way, was extremely unprofessional and rude and dismissive.”
The person quoted is a co-owner of the gym who asserts that he personally witnessed the incident.
I have my cell phone with me when I work out because it has my music/audio books/games on it. Doing 30 minutes of cardio needs a soundtrack.
I answered a phone call from my doctor last week finding out that a mole that had been removed was benign. (Had two melanomas removed already) But you do move away from the machines to carry on a conversation.
My two biggest gym peeves are the germaphobe Vietnamese lady who stinks up the gym with Lysol by washing down the Stairmaster or LifeCycle before she would touch anything and the idiots who park their Hummer/F250 Dually/Escalade in compact spots.
Honestly, I've had 1 call come in on my cell while I was working out since I started going to PF in Novn 2012. If you have a good set of headphones with a mic, you can take your call and politely tell who you are talking to that you are working out. (If it's important enough to answer and not let it go to VM but not important enough to kick it like you are a teenager from the 80s.) I keep my cell on me because I use it for my music and keeping track of my workout on Fitocracy. Cardio is the worst without any music and I don't want to watch TV all the time while I'm running.
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