Gym

Since I was forced back to Powerhouse gym, I have been trying to keep a good attitude about it.  I knew it was a bare bones gym, run with a bare bones amount of effort.  However recently I have been getting more annoyed.  This is what happens.  The owner comes in at 6am.  At 6am it is nice and cool outside so he turns off the AC and opens the doors.  Great.  But the problem comes when 6 hours later, at noon, the temperature has shot up some 20 degrees and the doors are still wide open and the AC is off.  The place quickly becomes a sweat box.  The owner is either so damn cheap or so oblivious that he refuses to put the AC on once he has the doors open.  It really is annoying me now.  Unfortunately I have zero alternatives available to me.

One good thing at the gym is some of the people I get to talk to.  Today I saw a young black guy named Dwayne whom I hadn’t seen there for at least a couple months.  He is extremely smart, extremely motivated and extremely easy to talk to.  He is planning on going back to school shortly to get his Master’s but in the meantime, he took up a job at a Walgreen’s as an assistant manager.  I couldn’t believe some of the stories he was telling me.  I’ll try to recant them as accurately as possible.  Keep in mind, this guy is extremely polite and calm.

He said a lady came in for a refund on a prescription she paid for with her credit card.  Dwayne told her he needed the credit card she paid with and a driver’s license, standard procedure to prevent fraud.  Well for whatever reason this woman did not have the CC with that she used to pay and freaked out.  After blasting Dwayne, she calls her husband and then gives the phone to Dwayne.  the woman’s husband ripped Dwayne a new asshole about the situation although it was obvious all Dwayne was doing was using standard business practices when something is returned.  Well later, after the conversation, the husband comes into the store gets waited on by Dwayne and says “Are you the asshole I talked to on the phone??” Dwayne politely told him “Yes, I am…”  So after more insults from the customer, he finally presented all the stuff needed for the return and stormed out.  Ripping Dwayne was not enough, the asshole customer decided to call the Walgreen district office to complain about the incident (that was totally created by his wife and himself)  Well the DO contacts Dwayne and instructs him he has to call this idiot and apologize.  Dwayne complied.

Another time, a guy walks in with an electric toothbrush that supposedly he bought 3 weeks ago from Walgreens. He says it doesn’t work, he wants another one.  The guy had no receipt, no box, just a toothbrush.  Dwayne told the customer he needs a receipt or at least a box to take a return.  He had no way of knowing where this customer bought the item from.  Well the customer thinks this is very stupid and accuses Dwayne of calling him a liar.  Dwayne holds his ground and politely explains again why he needs something to prove he bought the item from Walgreens, a totally logical policy.  Well the customer again freaks out, storms out and once again a call is made to the district office.  Well once again, Dwayne is forced onto his knees and is told to exchange the toothbrush for the asshole.  Unbelievable.

The moral of story, if you are a big enough asshole, and go over a store manager’s head, there is a very good chance you will get what you want, no matter how unreasonable it is.