Fitness First Policy on Harassment (Eye)

My story started with the sexual harassment of a couple of male friends in the male locker room by a Fitness First member. Soon after, I talked with upper management and sent them this letter. It should be noted that harassment could be the basis of the loss of a membership.

Letter to Management

Dear Sir/Madam:

Greetings.

Last 18 October 2004, I invited a friend who was considering membership at Fitness First to attend the Les Mills launching.

While he was in the male locker room, he noticed that Mr. X was staring at him. He ignored him as he waited his turn at the shower stalls. However, Mr. X approached him until they were about 6 inches apart, looked him up and down, and said, “Okay lang?”

My friend was shocked, and since it happened after the prolonged staring, can only assume that there was sexual connotation with the question. He walked away in disgust.

I understand from Ms. T (the Fitness First Members’ Relations Manager) that Mr. X’s membership can be terminated for such behavior. However, for the moment, I would settle for his attention to be called regarding his inappropriate behavior, and that he modify his behavior accordingly.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Sincerely,
Lorna Lopez

Two Pronged Strategy

Needless to say, my friend never joined Fitness First. And although I didn’t mention it in the letter, my male friend was with a second male, another friend of mine, who was already a Fitness First member, and who was also subjected to the same kind of staring and the verbal come on.

However, Mr. X ignored the verbal admonition and focused his energies to getting to know my second male friend, whom he observed to be in my company sometimes. His strategy was two pronged. One was to try and get to know my friend directly, and the other was to try and strike a friendship with me.

When he realized he was getting nowhere with both strategies, he became belligerent and aggressive. Unfortunately, I, more than my friend, went to that particular Fitness First branch. I had to steel myself every time I would go to that particular branch because I knew I had to be on my guard. Going to another branch or changing my schedule just to avoid him was out of the question.

Personal Space Encroachment

What did Mr. X do? Basically, he encroached on my personal space. At first, he would do it subtly. For example, if I were in the lounge area, he would sit across me, so that I was forced to make sure that there were only two seats whenever I stayed in the lounge. I would sit on one chair while my gym bag sat on the other.

Then, he became bolder. He would make sure to stay beside me in the studio during a class. If I managed to move to another spot, wherein it would be almost impossible for another person to squeeze in, he would persist. I was very thankful that I was a female; otherwise, he would surely have harassed me even in the locker room.

But things came to a head when I was using the studio to do my lightweights workout. I was walking in a straight line while doing my exercises, when Mr. X intercepted my path that we almost collided. Then, despite the almost empty studio (only two other people were working out), he sat right beside my belongings, and waited. But I had no intention of going near him so we battled it out silently. I continued my exercises, although I had to change my program a bit, to make sure it took longer than usual. He left. Eventually.

Membership Termination

At this point, I met with the new Members’ Relations Manager and stated that I would like to enforce the membership termination that I had earlier refused out of foolish generosity. However, she insisted that although she had received other complaints of another nature regarding Mr. X, she would have to talk to him and give him another chance.

My hopes spiraled downwards. Now, it was no longer a certainty that his membership would be terminated.

Thankfully, I was distracted by the fact that my schedule changed so it forced me to go to another Fitness First branch.

Don’t worry; this story had a satisfying ending. A few weeks later, I returned to that branch. After about a month of not seeing Mr. X, I could only surmise that my request, together with others, was finally executed. I sent a thank you note to the club manager.

What to Do

If you have experienced any form of harassment, the most important thing to do is to document it by sending a written complaint to management, making sure to have a copy that’s signed by management. Make sure to give details. Do it every time it happens. Do it repeatedly. Your objective is to form a history of this person’s behavior. Hopefully, your letters, perhaps together with other individuals’ letters, will force management to take steps to correct the situation.

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