Fate is a Funny Thing

Let's See What You Can Do

Standing at the doors of BodyWorks as Mason and Rafael unlock the doors, I shiver and rub my arms in the cold. Shuddering in relief as we enter and Mason turns on the heating in the reception and office area, I put the lunch bags in the office and then walk with Rafael around the building as he shows me where everything is.

The reception is opposite the entrance on the right of the building, and behind it is a decently sized office. In through the electric bars, to the left of the building is the hallway leading to the changing rooms, gym and sports hall. First on the left of the hallway is the women's changing room. In it, are the standard lockers and benches. Towards the back is the showers and the toilets. Further down the hallway is the men's changing room, which I assume has the same layout as the women's. Following the hallway, walking around and to the right, straight ahead there is a storage room. In it, there are cupboards, filled with towels, tools, water bottles, some hazard cones, cleaning equipment and some laundries and dryers for washing and drying the towels. On the left is the door to the humongous gym space. Against the far-right wall are all the treadmills, then the next row is partially cross-trainers and partially bikes. Opposite the door is the weights. The top left corner is the upper body training area and the bottom left corner is the lower body training area. On the left is also another set of doors, leading to the sports hall. To the left of the hall are some storage rooms, where all the mats and other equipment is kept.

My roles and responsibilities seem simple. Working on the front desk, checking people in and out, answering phone calls and sharing information with new members. Facility maintenance, so cleaning the equipment, picking up used equipment and towels, refilling the water coolers and setting up rooms for the extra classes. Recordkeeping, sending invoices, receipts, and membership renewal notices. Lastly, enforcing safety policies and calling for security if needed. Security being Mason.

Rafael puts up the open sign at exactly 6:00am, and then comes to stand behind the counter by me. He proceeds to show me some of the things from behind the reception. The diary with the bookings for the big hall. Logging on to the computer he shows me a software they use to log all their members and the lengths of their memberships. General memberships are $16.00 per month. Many of these members have paid for a year or six months in advance. Those that pay in advance have the option to freeze their membership for up to 3 months.

Apparently, it is necessary to send out notices to members when their membership is running out. A notice goes out a week in advance for a member that pays monthly. Those who pay in advance are sent a notice when there is half of their membership left, then when there's only a month left and finally, when there's a week left. Rafael shows me how to check this on the software, so I can send out the notifications. He talks me through the information we need to give to new potential members.

It's almost ten past six when the first few people walk in, swiping their cards and going straight in. Rafael smiles and shakes some of their hands, as he gets to work supervising in the main gym. I take a deep breath in as he leaves me to get to work.

You can do this, Acecia. If you need help Mason is just behind you in the office.

Taking a seat, I start with the membership renewal notices.

"Erm, excuse me?" says a nervous voice. Looking up I see a petite redhead peering down at me from across the desk. I smile at her and she returns it and continues speaking, "Hi, I'm not a member, I'd just like a day pass."

"Of course," I smile before taking a few personal details, for the system. "Five dollars, please. Can I interest you in applying for membership?"

"Oh, I'm not from around here," she smiles, handing over the cash. "I'm here on business and this is my only day off this week, so I figured I'd hit the gym the one time I can this week. Thank you."