I can't comment on the effectiveness of this place in training aspiring martial artists. I have no interest in martial arts, and I'm personally pretty okay with that. This review is mostly about how the guy who owns and operates this place is a complete and total unprofessional asshole with boundary issues.
He pulled me, my brother and my boyfriend into his shop with a plea to "give us a flyer" so he could "promote his business." First off, if you'd like to promote your business, a great idea would be to replace the sign that says "CARPET OUTLET" with a sign that says, idk, "Whittier Shotokan Karate"? Shady shady. I seriously thought we were gonna get a pitch for carpet samples 'til we got handed fliers with a bunch of karate dudes on it.
So his initial sales pitch was okay. Something about two months for a hundred bucks, with a free uniform. Whatever. We were gonna nod and be polite and leave, but he wouldn't let us. He targeted my brother, who lives in Whittier, and said "I guarantee you can lose 40 pounds." To me and my boyfriend, he said, "You don't need to lose weight. You don't need to lose weight. YOU need to lose weight." Uh, we didn't ask, dude. Crazy rude.
He went on to tell us not to "run off" while he went to grab yet more fliers about another deal he has going. When he came back, I had an awkward smile on my face, because I was pissed. This was clearly turning into a hard-sell pitch, and I was feeling defensive of my bro. When this dude (whose name is, I guess, Chuck) saw the smile on my face, he started lecturing me. Seriously? He was all "What's with the smile on your face? You're smiling at me like something's funny. What do you think?" I told him I didn't think much.
His attention got turned to my boyfriend, after I mentioned he had done martial arts. He was all "You don't have to tell me. I can tell." Buuuullshit. He spent like five minutes guessing the form he'd done, and asking unnecessary questions. It was seriously invasive and a waste of time. I finally sacked up and was gonna make the standard excuse-- "Oh it's really late (it was past 9pm) and we have to get back to Huntington Beach" but he cut me off and didn't even let me finish the sentence.
He literally told me to stop, because my boyfriend "wasn't finished" and was still listening to him. If my boyfriend had said anything in the past solid minute, I might have agreed, but it was just Chuck talking about his "extensive history" in martial arts. So I corrected him, and said that we were, in fact finished.
Chuck had the nerve to challenge me, speaking over me and completely ignoring what I'd said to say "She tells you when you're finished!?" Oh my god, fuck this guy. I've never heard anything so rude from ANYONE, much less a business owner who was trying to sell us some needless service. At this point I was definitely angry, but I had a smile glued on my face. I said goodnight and was trying to steer my guys out the door, but Chuck wasn't letting go and kept trying to engage them. He asked my boyfriend if he always lets women tell him what to do.
When we finally got out the door, my boyfriend and I split up from my brother, and Chuck followed my brother out the door. My brother's not as ballsy as me. He's reluctant to be even the slightest bit rude to someone. So he was gonna stand there and listen to the pitch AGAIN even though he was being blatantly insulted.
So I went over, and Chuck was telling him yet again that he needed to lose weight. I said, "He's fine. *Goodnight*" (for the fifth time!) and literally had to put myself between Chuck and the guys before he would let us leave. He even went as far to ask why I was being protective-- if I was his sister. I said yes. He asked if I was the big sister. I said "No, little." And that was it.
Little sister is not to be fucked with. read more
