Tou Yim

I deeply regretted agreeing to visit certain fitness center (hint: promoted by certain big Hong Kong / Hollywood movie star who likes to sing very much) due to some so-called prize won at certain big cinema circuit (hint: the one that first offered online ticketing) which included a 2-week free trial membership.

Given that my tum tum is not at a desired "level", I figured probably not a bad idea to try it out and see if I like it ...

Then, another mistake to agree to go there on a Friday night ... thinking it's only like a 20-min visit, I got there around 10:45pm or so after dinner and drinks with a friend. Well, it turned out to be an over 1 hour visit ... started with an introduction of the facility and services available ... and then a "free" health survey ... by that time, I was getting quite a bit tempted to try it out. Then, the anti-climax came ... when the "consultant" tried to sell me the membership ... I mean, it's ok to try ... but good sales people should know when to "stop" ...

So, what went wrong?

1. Membership package was really not "cheap" ... with entrance fee, registration fee, and then monthly fee of close to $500 (come on ... there's a big promotion near the cross harbor tunnel from the competitor ... saying less than $200)

2. Insisting that this offer was only valid if join immediately that night ... so no "specials" if join after the 2 weeks trial ... ya right, as if I'm stupid ... and that only makes me wonder that they have little confidence in their facilities ... so that I would likely not join after the trial?

3. The "consultant" kept asking me the same questions over and over again to try to "sell" me the membership ... and then when I told him that I would DEFINITELY not join that night, he got his senior staff to try again ... and asked me the same questions AGAIN. After being asked for the 6th time in 1 hour on how many times you'll visit each week ... I have to say blood was pumping very high to my head ... and I'm sure they should be able to see some smoke coming out too.

4. A single Asian female should not be kept up till midnight ... it was getting very close to midnight already and I kept telling them I have to leave ... they should take the hint ... really.

So, finally they gave up at 11:55pm, and started processing my trial membership ... and by the way, the guy was typing very slow too. I got quite pissed off at that time and told him to just forget it ... as they have successfully turned my interests into total frustration ... and just got up and left.

I kicked myself a few times on the way home ... having to paid $70 for taxi since it was so late already ... and vowed that I would not join this fitness center even if I decide to join one.

Interestingly enough ... to re-emphasize the point that these sales consultants really have no tact (or brain for that matter) ... the guy called me up on Saturday, reminding me that I have not picked up the trial membership. Needless to say, I told him that I won't be picking it up ...

So tou yim ...