Sorry Our Staff Are Not More *Checks Notes* Lustrous

It’s my day off and I go to the gym. I actually enjoy spending the occasional half-hour on the treadmill listening to my tunes and zoning out.

I walk into my gym and head to the front desk to check in, and there are two guys in their late forties or early fifties hanging around the front desk chatting. I scan my membership card.

Guys: “Good morning.”

I nod and say, “Hello,” back to them and then go back to the treadmills.

Nothing too unusual. I probably would never even recall that it ever happened if it weren’t for what happens at work several days later.

I finish up a long, busy shift only to be called into my manager’s office. She has received a written complaint about me — not about anything I have done at work but what I did NOT do at the gym!

Apparently, those two jerks at the gym felt that I was not friendly enough to them when I checked in at the gym. They recognized me from my job as a cashier, and while I did acknowledge them, they felt I should have been friendlier in my greeting to them.

A direct quote from the complaint was:

Complaint: “Even though your employee was not at work, that does not excuse the lackluster greeting she showed valuable customers. Furthermore, you should discipline your employees on where they are allowed to spend their free time. I’m not sure I am comfortable working out at the same place and rubbing elbows with the kiddies who bag my groceries.”

So, even when I’m not at work, I’m supposed to go around with a big stupid smile on my face and greet everyone I see like I’m their best friend in the whole wide world and it’s been years since I’ve seen them?

I could see them being upset if I had been rude to them, but I acknowledged them and said hello. I just didn’t give them a great big “Hey, buddy, whatcha doing? Let me get down on my knees and give you a big butt-kissing!” type of greeting.

And the last part.

I think what they were really offended by is my presence. It’s not that they were upset that my greeting wasn’t friendly enough, it was that, oh, no! They have to go to the same gym with the common folk! The horror!

Thankfully, I’m not in any sort of trouble. My manager showed me the letter because she thought it was so over-the-top snotty that it was funny. She said I’m one of the nicest cashiers she has and that it was straight-up idiotic to think that my job had any say in what I did during my time off. My manager assured me that if they tried to follow up on their complaint, they would be told in no uncertain terms where they could forcibly locate their complaints.

But still, it did make me angry that they tried to get me in trouble on my off time.