More Racism at Planet Fitness

My latest email reads:

“To whom it may concern at PF Turns,

I was a member of the Planet Fitness in an area known as East Falls Church, VA.  I decided to leave after a nasty fall out with one of the owners and their obtuse ‘roid raging monster of a manager.  My love for working out and lifting weights is what made me hold on to my membership for as long as possible, not to mention the many close friends I have made over the years.

Well, I still have many ties to the community, particularly with the staff.  It was recently told to me that one of the owners purposely went out of his way to drive to his home state to vote for John McCain.  Now, there is nothing wrong with this, even if it’s a party I don’t agree with, however, the owner told one of the employees that “it’s not that McCain was any better than Obama,” but there was “no way he was going to see a black man take the office.”

I was genuinely shocked and so was my friend but then, should we have been that surprised?  The owner’s attitude aptly underscores the racist mentality of the sham that is Planet Fitness.  It also helped explain the duress I worked out under because according to them I would also be considered a minority plus I am a woman and – get this – the other owner is downright sexist and has been overheard making negative statements about reproductive rights and so forth.

It’s sad because it was once a great gym filled with management who actually cared for the patrons.  While the membership rates have gone down, the quality has suffered, too.  If every gym uses P F as their model, then fitness will never be the same.  Hopefully, it will never come to that and there are corporations who will stick to their guns (so to speak) and their integrity.

Thanks for allowing a place to vent.”

Other than you’re welcome, I don’t even know what to say.