Dear Sir Richard Branson...

Hello Mates!

Here's a quick update as I am baking my chicken with piri piri marinade (don't even ask what it is, becuase I am not quite sure, I'll tell you how it tasted on the next entry).

I woke up this morning and decided to use my free pass to Virgin Active UK, Sir Richard Branson's gym. The gym (aka club) is supposed to be very nice and a place to basically go and hang out (why you would go and hang out at the gym, I am not quite sure...but anyway). I had stopped at the gym last Sunday to get "inducted", but the guy who does the inductions was already gone for the day, so I decided to swing by again today, this time with a free pass provided by one of my fellow coworkers.

So, I show up to the front desk and show the guy the pass, and he says that my induction won't be possible since (as he starts poiting his finger, as if reading from the pass) that I was supposed to set an appointment prior to showing up (editor's note: the pass did not say you had to set-up an appointment and it also did not have an expiration date...you will need this info later). So he walks over to the manager's office and closes the door (big meeting you know, trying to decide the future of the gym), they sit in there for like 3 minutes and then the desk clerk comes out and asks me to hold on. He goes back in and a couple of minutes later comes out with the manager. The manager greets me and says he can't do anything for me!...which I couldn't understand. So, putting my customer service skills into practice, I very politely ask why. He says that the pass expired last month. (and like I mentioned before, the pass had no expiration date)...so we proceed to stand there in silence (akward for him really, becuase, to be honest, I really didn't care...I had already walked over about 1.5 miles to work out at this gym). So then I break the silence and just ask him to show me around.

The gym itself was actually pretty dumpy. Not a lot of room for stretching and the weight training area looked like an apartment gym. As we were walking up and down the different floors, the manager kept checking himself out on the mirror (yes, he did). After that , i decided that this gym was for jokers and not serious bodybuilders like me. Once we got back to the lobby, I told him that I may actually join the Reebok Sports Club instead. (Their induction was actually much better, but I just couldn't get myself to pay $165 USD a month).

So there you have it. Sir Richard Branson, if you are reading this blog...your gym sucks !