Hi everyone!! A very Happy Fall to YOU!!!
As October approaches with the changing leaves, cooler temperatures, and all the hints of this year’s upcoming Halloween festivities, I am reminded of a hilarious story that I wish to share with you!! 😁😁😁
BUT does it have anything to do with Halloween and this Autumn season??? Absolutely NOT!! 😆 This is an example of a random thought that has popped into my head. And the only link between Halloween/Autumn and my story is one little spider. 🕷 You must admit, a spider IS a pretty big deal when it comes to Halloween decorations, though, you know??? 😀
And this is not a spider story that you have ever heard before, I assure you. 😉 It is mine and mine alone and something that I will never ever forget……
Prepare yourself for a very unique spider tale that is a completely true account from my own experiences!!! It is from a former place of employment and the facility and beings involved shall remain nameless, of course, for privacy purposes. And even with this unbelievable story, I did love working this particular job – – because my Warrior clients were the BEST!! – – and there is a very clear message to draw from this very special story. 🤓
For those of you that are not aware, I have been in the “fitness and wellness” business for decades, though it has been a huge part of my professional life for over five years now. From instructing Yoga, group exercise classes, and group circuit training classes and also doing personal training and postural therapy with my clients, I have quite a bit of experience in this field! And this means that I have worked my fair share at various gyms and fitness facilities along the way!
SO, my story has to do with one of these particular gym locations of my past….
I was loving my teaching experience at this gym – – great location, GREAT clients, and a great environment with specific small-group-style classes. The only thing was….the space itself was AWESOME; however, the set-up of the gym was quite the disaster when one (ME!!) was trying to have smoothly-run classes!!
For example, the various dumbbell racks were all on the opposite side of the room and around the corner, so clients would constantly need to trek across the floor to grab different weights, wasting valuable time, crossing and trying to avoid the paths of other clients trying to do the same, and getting frustrated during the process. Benches constantly needed to be moved because they were in the way, other less-used items were in the center part of the gym….it just lacked things from a convenience and organizational point of view.
The cool thing was that after I worked at this facility for a good amount of time, I was given full access to this small gym and was allowed to do “anything that I wanted” with the space. I was ecstatic!!!!!!!!
I took it upon myself to give this small gym a complete and total make-over!!!!!!! 😃
Finally, right?!?!?! Boy, did it need it!!
So, I got right to work on a late Friday morning, after the morning classes were all finished. I first moved all of the less-used items from the center part of the gym to the outskirts of the gym, ready to be used if and when we actually needed them for class.
Then, in order to move all of the dumbbells and the racks that they currently were on, I had to first remove every single weight and set them on the floor.
Then I had to carry/drag the racks over to their new spot in that freed-up center part of the gym….
AND THEN, bit by bit, I had to manually carry and drag every single dumbbell over to their respective weight racks!!!! Guys, there were at least 80-90 separate dumbbells ranging from 1 lbs to 10 lbs. THEN there were another maybe 50 dumbbells ranging from 10 lbs to 95 lbs that I also needed to move. Hence, the dragging…those 95lbs dumbbells were heavy!!! BUT I DID IT!!!!
Then I moved all the Med Balls with their rack – – the same way as the dumbbells, though there were WAY fewer Med Balls to move and plus, they roll!! 😛 – – and all of the Kettlebells to their new and more convenient location! And I placed the benches in a clean and fixed position, all in a row with symmetrical space in-between, so they were no longer in the way and they were near all of the dumbbells. And I cleaned EVERYTHING as I went, of course!!!!
By the time that I was finished, the gym looked HUGE and super spacious from all of the changes, the set-up made sense and was clean and organized, and I was quite proud of my work!!! It took me about 3.5 hours to do on my own. 😊🏆
I couldn’t WAIT for the “establishment” to see the new & improved gym space!!!! Since I was given full reign of the gym, I had hoped that they would appreciate all of my time and effort that I put into creating the best workout environment for our clients. 😍
Well……. 😐
Like I said, this gym masterpiece of mine took place on a Friday. And I knew that there was a certain function happening in that very gym space over the weekend – – with the “establishment,” fellow trainers, and such. I was psyched to hear their impressions of how great the gym looked after it’s massive make-over!!!!
But I didn’t hear anything from them over the weekend….
No problem!! I’ll just wait to hear their input when I see them at some point the following week…..right?!?
WRONG!!!!! ❌❌❌
Oh, they beat me to it, for sure – – though in a COMPLETELY different way than I ever thought possible….WOULD YOU BELIEVE that when I showed up bright and early to set up for my Monday morning classes, I received a text message from the “establishment” saying, and I quote:
“We noticed that there is a spider in the salt bucket. Can you take care of that?”
My initial reaction was “there’s a WHAT in the WHO now????????????? Are you kidding me??????????????” I mean, after allllllllll of my hard work that I did with zero assistance…….but I shoved the fire down, texted back “Yes,” and I took care of this….spider. Yes, spider, singular.
Here’s the thing. The salt bucket was placed by the front door. It looked something like this:
And this spider was INSIDE this salt bucket!! Chilling out, minding it’s own business, again INSIDE this ice bucket that ANYONE ELSE – – perhaps a fellow trainer or the “establishment” themselves since apparently it troubled them greatly – – could have taken care of over the weekend. But, NO!!! They made a note of this single spider, out of all of the work that I did in that gym, and waited until Monday morning to tell me so that I would be the one to take care of it. WHAT!!!! And WHY??? And HUH?!?!?!?!
I will never forget this story as long as I live. Because it is ridiculous and preposterous and unreal…..and totally laughable, when you think about it!! It reminds me of someone spending HOURS to clean their house – – getting down on the ground to scrub, moving furniture, dripping with sweat as they vacuum and dust and wash windows and clean the bathrooms – – and then some random person shows up and says:
🤣🤣🤣🤣 You KNOW?!?!?!?! I mean, c’mon, a spider hiding in a salt bucket??!!!!! I couldn’t make this 💩💩 up!!! Perhaps the “establishment” needed a sign in the gym that said something like this:
😆🙃🕷
And now you know my unique spider tale that popped into my brain when I was thinking about October, Fall, Halloween, ghosts, witches, spiders…….😁
The takeaway message from this story is that you can’t please everyone, no matter how much you try, how hard you work, or the level of effort put forth!! One could even say:
It’s true, guys……we are not chocolate. 😔😉
But that does NOT mean that we should let that deter us from always putting forth our best efforts and attaining the highest results that we can with our own hard work!!!!!! Regardless of the spider response from the “establishment” after my intense make-over efforts, I LOVED my new work environment!!! As did the clients and any fellow trainers that used the space. My classes ran SO SMOOTH, like a well-oiled machine, and the clients were able to move freely and be efficient with every workout from then on!!! My well-intentioned efforts were well-received and appreciated from the very beings that this gym space impacted. SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🌟👏🏼🌟👏🏼🌟👏🏼🌟
It can be said that: Judgy people judge, some beings have a hard time giving compliments, and sometimes that very combination makes someone have to reach for the tiniest detail and create a complaint. SO, even if someone may believe that we “missed a spot”……..
….Always carry on with your integrity, your best intentions, and your high standards of excellence!!! And then make sure you remember these CRAZY stories so that you can tell them to people at a later time – – at whatever random time they may come to mind!!!!! 😃😜