Brett Collums
March 29, 2018 07:40
I was an employee at Zone for over a year. At first it seemed like a great, healthy environment to work. You are always greeted with a smile, and the environment seemed to be positive, supportive, and uplifting. I loved it. I was told there was great leadership opportunity in the near future and was lured into a false sense of security and trust with the "management" team. As my time there progressed, I started to see little inconsistencies in the character of the individuals I was supposed to answer to and the ones I had grown to love and respect. I could write a book about these things, but instead will share the story of how I left.
Daniel was a personal trainer there for quite some time. He was knowledgeable, but was known for making customers and other employees feel awkward and intimidated. He was an alcoholic with an anger problem. He would come in sweating bullets and shaking, and the majority of the time maintained a nervous and rather unpredictable demeanor. One day, a misunderstanding on Daniel's part led to a brief verbal disagreement between him and I, in which I left the room to avoid conflict. He immediately started insulting my manhood repeatedly. So I turned around and approached him, as he was behind me, following me. He started to call me names like we were elementary school kids on a playground. I grudgingly responded to this namecalling with more name calling. This hurt is ever-inflated ego, and he proceeded to shove me into the wall right in front of the public bathrooms near the entrance. I regrettably didnt respond to the assault physically but instead involved the GM at the time, David. A decision I have since hated. David asked that I keep the situation on the down-low, telling me that Daniel and myself would both be fired if the story reached the owner. The incident happened in view of a surveillance camera (which I later saw the footage of), but I was lied to and told that it wasn't on there. After a couple days, the owner Ben is made aware of the situation and he and David (the GM) pull Daniel into the office to discuss the altercation with him. This happened on my day off but I was told by a friend that was paying attention to the situation that all kinds of laughter and carrying on could be heard through the door. David insured me that the situation would be handled and it never was. Daniel was never reprimanded for assaulting another employee in view of a camera or gym-members. The reason for this is because he had a big clientele, and a local name somewhat established for himself as a trainer. Daniel made Zone a large percentage of its training revenue and that was far more important to the gym than doing what was right and canning Daniel who had been causing problems for a long time. Needless to say, weeks later Daniel was fired for no-showing his own clients and the GM was fired for lack of performance and personal reasons I wont say here. I have heard that Zone has been in a
constant down-hill slide for the past year or so and after getting to know and understand how poorly they treat and pay their most productive employees, its no wonder. I'll never step foot in this facility again.