24 Hour Scheduling Practices for Personal Trainer's

by John Doe
(Denver, CO)

I've been employed by 24 Hour Fitness for about 2 months now and as I enjoy the gym and the clients I work with I find the management very manipulative and extremely dishonest. In one of my first meetings my FM told me to say and do anything to make the sale "You do whatever SHIT you have to do to make the sale" exact wording.

The worst part about 24 Hour Fitness I found was that I can only clock in five minutes before my first client and have to clock out five minutes before the hour is up. I've actually been written up on this. The worst part though about working for 24 other than making nothing for working so hard selling, training, and keeping my clients motivated when I'm quickly losing motivation myself to go there 6 days a week is that I don't have control of my schedule. The FM quickly shaded my days with availability for clients and then proceeded to fill one hour with a fitness orientation then one hour off then another with a client, then two hours off then a coaching meeting, an hour off and then another fitness orientation. No matter how much I've asked for him to schedule things back to back it never happens so I end up being there for 8-9 hours but actually only get to clock in/work for 4-5 of those hours in my day.

After working for myself and controlling my own schedule I find this very aggravating, to the point that I now just skip every FM meeting/coaching session that the Club Manager has threatened to fire me.

I figure when the hammer comes down its time to leave anyhow, does anyone else have stories like this out there and found a way to resolve the scheduling conflict? Not that I plan on staying with this absolutely obtrusive company anyways.