The Customer Is Always Right?

The following took place last month. The setting is good ole Fitness Factory on Grand Avenue in Palisades Park. My friend Sang has been given a free week pass by one of his friends and is attempting to swipe in early one morning. One of the staff members, let's call her Jane, stops him.

Jane: Can you swipe in again.
Sang: Swipes.
Jane: Your trial has expired.
Sang: What do you mean? It can't be expired. I got it two days ago.
Jane: It says it's expired.
Sang: Can you check your paperwork?
Jane: If the computer says it's expired, it's expired.
Sang: Don't you have copies of your records?
Jane: Do you have the receipt?
Sang: I didn't get a receipt.
Jane: Yes, you did.
Sang: No one gave me one.
Jane: Yea, you got no one.
Sang: Uhh...no I didn't?
Jane: Hold on let me talk to my supervisor. 2 Minutes later. The problem is that the free week trial is only available if you haven't been a member of the gym in the past six months.
Sang: Well that shouldn't be a problem. The latest time I could have been a member was August of last year.
Jane: Do you want me to check the computer!?
Sang: Yea, check the computer!
Jane: Reads a bit. It says here May 2006 to October 2006. Well the computer might be wrong, I mean like you said, you were here last year.
Sang: No. I said the latest I could have been a member was last year.
Jane: Hold on. Comes back 2 minutes later. Can I see your license?
Sang: Gives license.
Jane: Oh, see. The trial is only available for Palisades Park residents.
Sang: Wtf. I live in Ridgefield, it's literally a block away and nobody brought this up when I signed up.
Jane: But supervisor feels bad so he'll give you a free day pass today.

You tried your best to reason with them Sang and you failed. The lesson is, never try to reason with a Pal Park business ever again. Eventually, someone at Fitness came to their senses and called Sang and informed him they had renewed his free week pass. I think we all have similar experiences with shady, local businesses. Next time a well placed phone call to the Better Business Bureau should help them get their act together.