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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I quit the gym (again)

Remember back in August when I joined Cur.ves? Yeah, well I've actually still been going! I even went when I was in the US over Christmas. Those ladies were a hoot! Cur.ves in the US is a lot different from Cur.ves in Ireland. Namely, the median age of the members. Just to give you an idea, I happened to be there on 7 December, the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The conversation du jour was 'Where were you when Pearl Harbor was bombed?' I just kept my head down and kept at it. No need to point out that my parents weren't even born yet! Regardless, I had a lot of respect for these women; getting out, moving, and keeping fit and active. I had a chat with the owner of that branch one day and we talked a bit about the differences between the two countries. The main thing is there are loads of women-only gyms in the US (one was right around the corner from this Cur.ves) and in Ireland, Cur.ves is the only option so you get a larger variety of women. However, I will say I've never seen anyone in there older than maybe 60, but that could just be my branch.

While I can see the benefits of this type of workout and I know it works for people, it just doesn't work for me. I actually highly recommend it to women who need to get moving and don't know where to start, and women who don't like regular gyms and the type of workouts they offer. I'm not one of those women, so I would get bored easily and the workout just isn't aerobic enough for me. Not to mention, my favorite person who worked there has left to open her own branch, and the manager of this particular branch and I well, we're not each other's favorite person. Wes would ask me why I didn't just quit, but I figured it was better than doing nothing. I started to do some running, so I thought going to Cur.ves would give me the resistance training I need. Fine.

Like I said earlier this week, I haven't exercised in about a month. I went in today and the manager was there, checking her Facebook or texting (even though there were people working out)*. She seemed surprised to see me, didn't ask why it had been so long since I had been in, and I made the split decision right then to put in my notice to quit. Since we're moving in June I thought I'd way until May, but you know, I just threw it out there. Someone had told me previously that I shouldn't full on quit and just transfer my membership to the US. I had already worked out in my head what to say when she suggested this to me, politely declining and letting her know I plan on joining a regular gym when I'm in the US. Nope. Didn't go that way. This is how it went down:

Me: We're going to be moving, so I'm going to need to give my notice to quit. How much time do I need to give?
Her: Oh, okay. It's 30 days, so you better do it today. Yeah, today.
Me: Umm...alright (thinking in my head that I actually don't need to do this until May).
Her: Right, could you just write it down on this piece of paper?
Me: Um...sure, okay. I should make it effective today?
Her: Yep! Today!

Didn't even ask me when I was going (she could have gotten another month of fees from me). No mention of trying to keep me as a Cur.ves customer in the US. In fact, she seemed downright giddy that I was going to be leaving! Pretty good business practice!Yes, I could have offered up the information on when I'm leaving, but I try to avoid having long conversations with her. I could have told her I'd stay until the end of May, but really? Who am I kidding? Neither of us want me to be there! Ha!

Joining a gym in the US is one of the things I'm MOST looking forward to when we move!

*I should point out that this seems to be unique to this person. There are other employees at this branch and they're actually quite helpful. My friend goes to a different branch here in Dublin and the employees are involved in their member's workouts.

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