24 hour fitness Harrassment, Intimidation, Failure to protect Vallejo, California

Julie S


To : 24 Fitness Stores and Corporate Office
CC : 7 on Your Side television complaints division, complaintsboard.com, Consumer Complaint Agency , ripoffreport.com                                                                                          
Harassment and Intimidation Complaint: October 14, 2009 at 11:30 A.M. Vallejo Location
Andres handling of 24 Fitness Rules and Policies;   Harassment at 24 Hour Fitness; Disregard for protection of a 24 Fitness member; Intimidation, harassment, abuse;   Andre refusing to protect female member and enforce policies.
Policy Breech and Safety Violations
It has been my experience in the past that employees have not been well trained on 24 Fitness policies. One policy includes not keeping gym bags and equipment on the floor, as some clients use items to mark territory so that they can claim several machines at once. Clients are known to use a machine, walk away, leave towels or bags on the machine, then storm back when somebody else attempts to use the machine and assert, I was using that! This territorial peeing on fence posts has got to stop! Why do you continue to allow clients to do this? Why dont your managers enforce policies?
Intimidation, Harassment, Abuse, failure to protect by your employee
I was brutally harassed by a client this morning.   Whats worse, Andre did nothing!
Its not pretty for a huge tattooed man to be yelling at a 50 year old woman and intimidating her. You would think if you get the manager to intervene he would assert his authority to state a company policy, but thats not what happened. I feel intimidated, harassed, abused, and defiled. I wanted to cry. My daughter witnessed this man go on and on with his friends stating that he won the fight. Its not a fight. Its policy. Its safety and dignity for all clients. Its sharing of equipment so that others can use it.
What Happened?
I walked up to a machine. There was a towel and a bottle on the ground in the corner. Thats common. Many people leave such items behind and get them later. I was setting the machine when suddenly I was startled by a 220 pound tattooed man yelling at me from behind, I was using that! The nearest other people in the room were 15-20 feet away, on the other side of the isle, on different machines.
I responded, There was nobody at this machine. He replied, I wasnt done using it. I said, Well, you need to share it with other people. You cant mark territory and walk away. He responded, I dont share. Then he cut in front of me, almost pushing me, and began to reset the machine, and he sat down. I responded, Well, thats not how the rules go here. Well see if you share. Ill go get the manager.
I approached the nice lady at the front desk and told her what happened. (Kanisha, Tanisha? Shes new.) She knodded and said, Oh, I know who that is. Does he look like this, and big, with a bald head? I said yes. Hes intimidating, isnt he? she said. I agreed. I told her he was very rude. She went and got Andrea, a very small, slender built man. It was obvious when he went on the floor that he did not want to enforce policy with another black man who looked intimidating,, so he cowered. The guy did his she doesnt get it routine, and Andre mumbled some sort of well, whatever statement. I said, youre not going to do anything? He just basically walked back over here from 20 feet away and pushed me out of the way. Andrea said, He was doing a set. I said, You cant mark territory like that. When a person walks away from a machine, they cant mark several machines and come back to them. Look how crowded it is in here?
But thats exactly what the guy was doing. Then I told him I would report him to the corporate office because he is putting the safety of other people in jeopardy by not upholding policies.
What I want to know now is this, Do I sue Andre, or do I sue 24 Fitness for making me feel unsafe on the floor, for allowing bullies to pee on fence posts like dogs marking territory, and where does it stop?   I have had this happen before, and its also sexual harassment when men can knock women out of the way and use their side to tell me to go F off. I was not coarse or rude, I did not raise my voice. But he got his homeboys to say, Oh yeah, he was using that. I dont feel I should be forced to confront 4 big men and one cowering undertrained employee. I guess I had the option to call the police, but before I go further to determine what my options are, I want to know if you allow this on your floor or not? Because Andre needs to be disciplined, or 24 Hour Fitness needs to separate facilities for men who dont share with smaller women who do. This is not a joke. I need to know what you are going to do about this, at all your locations- not just with Andre, but in general. Harassment and intimidation are not going to fly when I go workout. You need to post clear signs and inform your members that this cant continue to happen, and you need managers who are not prissy. For men like this, public facilities are fighting zones. 24 Fitness is not a territory to be urinated upon.
Respectfully,
Julie S
Vallejo, California