Entitlement Run Amok

I regularly read two of LiveJournal's communities dedicated to rants about the truly nutty, entitled customers that can be found these days: customers_suck and customerssuck. The names of the communities say it all. The selfishness, rudeness, bitchiness and entitlement complexes of the customers featured in those stories never fails to astound me. I count my blessings that I am not in a customer-facing job, myself. I already have enough trouble dealing with people as is, let alone if I had to do so in a professional capacity like that. Today, however, I got to enjoy witnessing a "customer suck" firsthand.

It is Tuesday. For me, that means swim class at the gym in the evening. There are only 4 lanes in the pool, and the class can take up at least 3 of them-- the 3 largest ones, leaving the small one at the far end, by the wall, open for other swimmers. Tonight there were 8 of us in the class, so we needed all 3 reserved lanes. Unfortunately, there was an older woman in one of the middle lanes (whom I'll call "Gwen" because her platinum blonde hair and bright red swim cap remind me of Gwen Stefani's hair and lipstick), and our instructor tried to get her to move to the far lane. She would've still had the lane all to herself, as there were no other swimmers around besides those of us in the class.

Gwen refused. She said she didn't want to swim in that lane because she would hit the wall (understandable, as she was doing a lot of backstroke, and I've lost count of how many times my own arm has scraped the wall or smacked the lane dividers as I drifted to and fro). Okay, fine, stay in the middle lane-- the instructor offered to let her stay in that lane, but because the far lane was too small for 2 people to share, Gwen would have to share her lane with one of the class swimmers.

Generous of him, don't you think? After all, from 6:30-7:30 the first three lanes of the pool are *supposed* to be reserved for the swim class, and he's still letting her stay in her preferred lane.

Of course, if it *were* good enough, I wouldn't be blogging this, would I? No. This was not good enough for Gwen. She became more agitated as the instructor repeated not only the rules (3 lanes reserved for swim class till 7:30), but her options of either moving to the far lane and getting it to herself, or sharing her middle lane with one of the students. Before long, she threw her hands up in the air and stalked across the lanes to the steps, grumbling, "Fine! You can have your lanes. I pay $80 a month so that *I* can swim. Thank you very much!" and off she went, still muttering, into the jacuzzi.

About 15 minutes into the class, I noticed that another woman had come into the jacuzzi. Gwen didn't waste any time talking her ear off and complaining about the situation. Apparently she embellished her side of the story, for the woman felt compelled to speak to the instructor on Gwen's behalf. I think she figured Gwen and the instructor didn't understand each other, since English was clearly not Gwen's first language. Once the instructor explained to the woman what was going on, she seemed satisfied. I'm not sure if she tried to explain it to Gwen, as I resumed my swimming exercises, but I do know that a little while later, a younger guy joined the two women in the jacuzzi. Surprise, surprise-- Gwen started to complain to him, as well. Around this time, I exited the pool for a quick bathroom break, and when I returned, I could hear the young man totally yanking Gwen's chain, asking her things that clearly provoked her further. 10 minutes before the class was over, Gwen gave up and left the jacuzzi and pool area altogether.

The young man and the second woman turned to the instructor to talk about Gwen. The young man was noticeably disgusted by Gwen's behavior and attitude, and fully admitted that he had purposefully egged her on. The woman tried to give Gwen the benefit of the doubt, thinking that maybe Gwen just misunderstood. No, everyone was quick to point out. Gwen understood fully, because she insisted she didn't want to swim in the far lane "because I'll hit the wall!" The instructor, to his credit, remained fully professional through it all-- when dealing with Gwen (twice-- he even stopped to talk to her when she was in the jacuzzi, in an attempt to placate her) and when dealing with the young man who wasn't shy about expressing his opinion of Gwen: "she's absolutely nuts!!"

No excuses or rationalizations about it-- Gwen was, in customers_suck lingo, the epitome of an "EB"-- an entitlement bitch. I am quite certain she complained to staff about not being able to swim after paying good money for her membership. Hey, newflash, lady: we ALL pay good money to use this gym AND partake of the classes it offers, without interference from you. I mean come on, the swim class takes place ONE day a week, for ONE hour. Surely you can adjust your schedule to swim around that time. And if not-- hey it's not like they kicked you out of the pool altogether! You were allowed to stay and even offered options! If that's not being accommodating, I don't know what is. I just hope that's the last I ever have to see of Gwen. Sadly, considering how often I'm at the gym and its pool, that's probably not likely, unless she actually cancels her membership because of this incident. To which I say: good riddance!