Why I don't like Bally's, or salesmen

Last night my friends Donna and Jen and I went to Bally's to take a yoga class. We got free 8-week passes from the Discovery Health network, so we thought, why not? As I drove up, I was taken aback by how ugly Bally's is. It's basically one huge room, all painted grey. And of course lots of sweaty people. So we walk up with our free passes, and the salesmen wants to give us a "tour." And by tour, he meant walk in a circle around the big room. Oh, and he showed us into the weight room, where some prehistoric-looking men sort of looked at us out of the corners of their eyes. As we're walking, he starts asking Jen about her "goals." He says "So, what are your goals? Specifically, what specific goals do you have?" We both looked at each other...."Um, getting healthy I guess" she says. So he counters: "What specifically, do you have specific goals? Do you want to tone up?" By this point I'm raising my eyebrows at her, adn she's annoyed.

So this continues for a while. Then we go to his office, and he tells us all the reasons that we should trade in our free passes for a paid membership. Now, this man was either not very bright at all, or just a REALLY bad salesmen, and totally unacquainted with women. Here are some of the reasons he gave us: I'm sure you have goals. That's why you walked through that door. Now, if you want to reach those goals, you need motivation and determination. That's what I'm offering you. You know you can't accomplish your goals in 8 weeks. You could have a session with a trainer, and he could determine where you are. Because you won't get to your goal in 8 weeks. He could measure your body fat and tell you what to do to reach your goals. Because I know you want to reach some goals and show determination. I'm not going to pressure you, I just want you to know what's realistic here. And everyone's really been trading in the free passes because they know they can't achieve the results they want in 8 weeks."

At this point, I think I actually snickered at him. And finally, he sort of looked at us for our decisions, and Jen said no, and I said no, and he finally let us leave.

Sheesh. I'm thinking about writing a letter giving him a few pointers.