Well - I just signed up for 18 sessions at the gym, setting me back a grand. The installment plan wasn't even liberal enough. I arrived at 8pm, met with the ultra perky, chipper program coordinator whose job it was to sell, sell, sell - needless to say, she already had a receptive audience, so the 18 sessions weren't a problem - but the installment plan and getting the money was. Can I pay in 3 installments x 60 and not 30 days? How about you pay 30? Can I pay 60? Let me check - (guy one with a neck and jawline as big as Texas comes over and says it might be 60, but he's heard 30 - [hmmm I bet this is rehearsed]). She checks with guy no#3, another hefty guy named Roman with a russian accent... Sorry, it's 30 days - but hey, shmooze, schmooze, schmooze.... So No? Can I redeem the 6 month free coupon that I didn't last year? No? Oh... Gyms operate under the guise of a business, but like a circus - they really want heads to come into the freak show at first and quickly leave. But I've been with this place long enough to duck the hardsell and know when I don't need personal training.
Unfortunately, with my ever expanding waist size - now I do.
Oh well, at least at the new gym - I still pay the old rate, and can watch TV while on the treadmill.