One Little Story Of Corporate Stupidity

Dear Mike Turner:

I just went into your Planet Fitness on Anderson Rd., thinking that I could pay for an unemployed friend's gym membership for a few months, to do a guy who is down on his luck a favor. Your manager actually would not let me pay on his membership. Not only am I kinda hacked that I couldn't do my friend a solid, but I'm kinda incredulous that y'all would not take my money for the services you provide. The manager told me you were his boss and gave me your email address, so I'm contacting you.

Anyway, I ended up a little rankled, knowing that it does no good to try to reason with a person with a closed mind, so I didn't really press the point. I did tell the manager that I would notify some newspapers, and you can see from the cc's on this message that I am notifying some media sources, if only because when I tell someone I'll do something, I'm good for my word. He really didn't seem to care one way or another. If I don't get a response from these few I've sent this to (it's pretty hard to contact the media--not only is there no central directory of media sources, but most of them have these forms on their site to fill out instead of email addresses), I'll notify some more in a few days..

Y'know, I work out a Gold's Gym all the time and was possibly thinking about switching to your place. But now, hell no. And I'll tell anyone who asks about your business, or anyone who is interested in a gym, this story.

Once again, I have no interest in persuading a closed mind to have some kindness, and perhaps the good samaritan moment has already passed for me. I just can't believe that y'all wouldn't take my money for the product you sell. What kinda business model is that? I can't believe that there is no way for someone to figure out how to take free money. If y'all are out of business in a few years (not that I'm wishing anything bad for you in the business realm or in any other arena, but hey, it's a tough economy), please re-read this email. Not that I think that this event would be the cause, but if a pebble can contribute to an avalanche...well, I think you get my drift. Just taking a moment out of my overloaded life to make this point, hope you will take a moment out of your busy day to give a damn. Peace.

Followup email (sent to admin@planetfitness.com (just a guess but it didn't bounce back):

And oh, by the way, the manager gave me a bogus email for "Mike Turner" so it bounced back. I wonder if there is even a real person named "Mike Turner" who is this manager's boss? There is no email or even a physical address on your site (at least not easily available, maybe if i scour the whole site but don't want to waste my time).