Why Corporate Sucks

I have a lot of heart and love to offer. I am a very personal person in all situations of my life - even business. I am not a cut-throat type of person. I never will be. I'm not sure if that's a good thing - but it is who I am.


Crazy things have been happening with my "money-making job" as I like to put it. I haven't really talked too much about it. But I will now.


I work for a gym in the largest gym franchise in the United States.


At the end of March, I was told by the owner that he was selling the gym. The place of employment I have been working at as a manager for the past three years. It is just me and one other lady that manages the gym. We run the gym as if it is our own. Both of us always get asked if we are the owners. That's the kind of workers we are - we take ownership of what we are doing.


Well, back in March we were concerned (and rightfully so!) how long it would be for someone to purchase it. We were told that it could take anywhere from 8 months to 14 months - and that's fast paced.


We were also told that we would be kept in the loop. We were also asked not to say anything about the club being for sale to anyone. (I was not about to lie to someone if I was faced with the question of the gym being for sale!)


A lot of craziness happened. Lie, after lie.


Would you believe that I found out THROUGH A FRIEND that the club was sold? (By someone I was told was not purchasing it a few weeks prior by the owner.) 


When the owner was confronted, of course he had every kind of excuse in the book. The interesting part is that I did not believe what my friend had told me since I believed what the owner told me. (Shame on me!) It wasn't until I saw the potential buyers in question at the gym while I was working out one night having a meeting with the current owner. That is the only reason (I feel) we were told that "he is the one." 


Of course, I was told that there was things are not final and "anything can still happen" from the current owner. BUT I was able to wrangle out of him...just last night...that the potential closing date is July 23. (Thanks for keeping us in the loop like you said you would.)


The current owner is not telling us anything. (Obviously you can tell that from his track record.) The only thing he is saying is that the new owners have family in town and one of them will be working at the gym. And allegedly the new owners are not moving to town - they live about 3 hours away and already own a gym down there.


I happened to find out (which I am not supposed to know!) that the current owner told the new owner that if it is between the other gym manager and I - that he should keep the other late. Since - "she does not have a college degree, she has a family of 3 with 2 going to college while Cami has a college degree, can find a job easily, and is an entrepreneur." Ok, what he said was really nice about me. I hoped that he would have told me what he had said so I could prepare myself. But no...not a SINGLE WORD. Instead, he lied about it.   


When I confronted the current owner with questions as to what that means for us - the current employees. I was told that "everything will be fine."


It absolutely sucks what advice he gave to the new owner (for me) but I understand. I deserve to know though...I THINK!! Do you really expect to say what you said and it not get back to me? Come on. After three years of being an amazing employee, I deserve better and more.  If the current owner didn't say he cares about us (as people and employees) then it would be a completely different story. But - he always said he cared about us. So how does that make sense?




I tried to sum this up as best as I could without TOO many details and making it too long.


I will sum it up right here though: corporate sucks. People in business truly only care about themselves, no matter what they say. And they will always, always lie.