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"They'll treat minorities better now, hopefully..."
O stars because:
(I) TSG did nothing to stop my being racially harassed. It steadfastly refused for 7 weeks to respond to my complaint until I posted a review on Yelp. The response? Terminate my membership.
(II) Shoddy business practices. Repeated attempts to deceive or mislead; stating falsehoods.
Continue reading.
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Message to TSG:
Hello,
I've been a member of your gym for 19 months now.
I do go to and enjoy Kerry's 10:30 yoga class.
However, since I began taking his class, I have had difficulties with a few members.
.
As I am very myopic, so I try to set close to the instructor so I can follow better.
From the start, it was obvious that a few members felt that they had "a (permanently) reserved" place in front, which they jealously guarded to the point of actually taking my mat, if I arrived there before them, and hanging it back on the mat hooks!
One day three of them threw their mats down close together at the front. I hadn't realized this when I placed my own mat just behind their theirs after I had entered, as it was not clear if they had been left by members of the earlier class. I had just wanted to make it clear that I wanted to sit in the row behind.
A few seconds later a member came up to me to tell me that my mat was too close to hers--even though their own mats were much closer to each other. I moved my mat.
The meaning was clear: You don't belong here. Know your place. We're first. Keep a distance from 'us.'
From the day I joined the class, members refused to acknowledge me. The disdain was palpable silence.
Hostility to me steadily increased.
Last Thursday, I made to class early and placed my mat in the first row." I went to get a two blocks. When I returned I noticed that same member's mat was placed, this time, just a few inches behind my own.
I asked her, "Excuse me, would you mind moving your mat a bit further away." Furious, she shouted at me, "W--H--Y ?? [WHAT the hell are you talking about?]"
I so so taken aback by her churlishness that the words "You're in my space" tumbled out of my mouth. Most people in Seattle do not behave this way in a private club.
Ten minutes later she had barely moved her mat.
This went way beyond annoyance ("You are sitting in my spot"): an explosion of hatred. For no other reason than my appearance.
This is how racial mistrust and hate are engendered.
Though born and raised in Seattle 65 years ago, I hadn't given thought to what "racial privilege" meant. That changed.
I thought of all the bigoted Caucasian teachers I had had.
IS THIS WHAT LIVING IN SOUTH CAROLINA IS LIKE?
She could not "get it" that I wanted the same right, too, to ask her to do what she had asked of me only weeks earlier..
I have tried to be polite as possible to other members. In fact, I had asked two if I would be blocking their view if I sat diagonally in front of them. Their answers were either icy or nasty.
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The treatment I received unmasks how TSG really feels about minorities like me: "We don't particularly want 'them' here. By ignoring their complaints, they'll eventually 'get it.' "
A message, posted--not a review!--on yelp, likewise went without response.
In 20 months there has been only one (token) minority staff person. All white instructors.
In other words, their intention, I believe, is to keep the gym as white as possible.
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The place is as hot as hell in the summer. When I joined, I asked if they had air conditioning; I was told they had a high-tech-sounding alt system. It turned out to be large electric fans.
I could forgive this and other issues, e.g., the substandard strength-building machines, which I don't use, as I go to another gym to work out.
Turning a blind eye to not so subtle racism: NO.
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The manager LIED to me in writing 3 times, saying (1) staff had tried to contact me ("You didn't get back to us"); (2) he had proof of this; what I got a doctored email; (3) a refund had been sent.
"I can lie in your face..."
(Reminds me of the blowbag who twitters things demonstrably untrue).
What he wrote revealed a lack of integrity. Only after 6 days of effort was a refund processed.
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Lily "Rosa Parks" H. : "I don't like sitting in the back of the 'bus.'"
TSG: "You are not allowed to ride the 'bus' at all now."
A small coterie of bigots has lynched the sole non-white in the class, too "uppity" for their tastes. philistine
Apparently, they've gotten away with barely veiled racist behavior for a long time. So used to white privilege, so unwilling to give it up.
For TSG what counts is: (1) keeping them happy (& racist); (2) "fixing" the problem by driving me out, as these white women all along wanted.
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My parents paid a high price. I write this for them.
And the others.
Complaints have been filed with BBB, AG, Civil Rights. read more
