Hello, Hello!!!!
Today was a really great and very interesting day! We, of course, slept in again because, well... we have no jobs or any commitments so we figure, why not catch up on sleep right? :) Anyway, I felt the need to do a workout this morning due to the fact that we ate at Woodman's last night. I went downstairs to the basement and picked a spot in between the couches and the wii console. I borrowed Aunt Michele's weights and created my own workout. I felt really out of shape by the end of it but it was a really great workout. You know, lots of sweating and feeling the need for water every ten seconds. It. was. awesome!
Our plan today was to head downtown to Boston for my interview at this gym. The interview was at 2 and we had arranged to take the T train from the Oak Grove Station to the Downtown Crossing Station located on the orange line. We left with enough time to spare before the interview. Good thing we did because it took us a lot longer to get to Oak Grove then we thought. It took us about 25 minutes driving to just get to the silly little train station. As we arrived, the lot looked incredibly full so we were nervous that we might not even get a spot. Upon seeing the parking area we drove right past the entrance (for some reason) and got very confused how to even enter the lot. We tried to go in several entrances but all of them had that dreadful red and white sign that said do not enter. It was ridiculous. Teej finally decided that he should drop me off at the main gate to see if I could go talk to someone about where to enter the parking lot haha... Without thinking, I ran up the stairs to the area where you buy tickets to the train and saw no one in sight. So, I ran back down again and saw a cab driver to my left. I asked him where to enter the lot and he said it was ALL the way at the end of the lot. So, thinking he knew what he was talking about we drove ALL the way to end of the lot and saw no entrance sign. By this point we were frustrated because we were slowly running out of time to get there and still had no idea where to enter. Finally, we decided to drive around the station again and saw that we had originally driven past the entrance upon getting there. WE FELT SO DUMB!!! There was a guy standing at the window waiting for our money the whole time. I have no idea how we didn't see him. Anyway, after that fun adventure we paid our $5.50 for parking and found a spot in the lot.
We walked up the stairs to buy tickets and yet again got confused. This time, however, it wasn't where the lot was. It was because we didn't know how to buy tickets. How touristy could we be, right? We had to have a man that worked there help us and then we were on our way to the train. We made it down the stairs and into the train right as it was about to leave. Good timing after all, huh? The train ride was surprisingly fast and only took us 20 minutes to get to downtown. It was pretty empty until the last few stops. The worst part about it was the smell. It had some weird people funk that I couldn't explain. Teej said it was way better than the New York subway, which I'm sure he was pretty accurate about.
Teej and I arrived in Boston with a half hour to spare before my interview. He grabbed some lunch and we walked around a bit before I went into the interview. Now, the interview was something else. It was called WOW (work out world) but owned by this company called "Blast Fitness." I had seen it online and it didn't look awful. It looked like a chain gym that was all over Massachusetts and was located in the heart of downtown. How bad could it be right? Well, I walk downstairs into the gym and met with the manager there. He was a younger guy, probably in his mid twenties and dressed very casual. I sat down with him at his office and we began the interview. The first and ONLY question he asked me was "What do you think a personal trainer is?" I told him that I thought it was someone who could support and encourage their client while they try and meet their personal fitness goals. His response was this. "The real answer to that question is simple. Personal Trainers are here to make money. From that moment, I knew this was going to be a very interesting interview.
The manager began the interview by showing me how his company is run. He showed me how much I would get paid based on how many hours I'd work and how many clients I should be getting. It wasn't good pay at all. He showed me a lot of personal information about the staff that he has there which I didn't think was very professional. Some of that included how many clients each one had as well as what their income goals were for the month. Not ok dude.
He proceeded to tell me about his staff that worked there. WOW fitness felt that it wasn't necessary to hire someone that had any sort of degree. He took my resume and crossed off the first part that had all my education on it. It looked good on paper apparently but if you can't sell then you are nothing. I was a little alarmed at this point. He told me that the staff he had was great. One guy only had a GED from high school and was training clients. Another girl previously worked at the criminal justice building. Oh, and one guy was a former hockey player. I asked him what training those people had to be personal trainers. You know what he said? They are athletes. They know how to keep people from getting hurt and how to make them get results. I WAS MORTIFIED. What we had been taught at school was completely opposite to all he had been telling me. He told me that some of training is common sense. If your back is hurting, what do you do? I said, don't do back exercises? He said, exactly. AHHHHHH... We were taught in school that if someone has a bad back you try and help them correct it by finding the source of the issue. Not doing back exercises is not helping the clients at all. It actually made me concerned for the clients that they were training.
The kicker to all kickers was that he was cursing and throwing things at his staff while the interview was going on. Real professional, man. As you can probably tell it wasn't my cup of tea in terms of the work environment or anything it stood for.
As we ended the interview (after him talking about himself and how great he and his gym was for an hour) he asked me to work for him. He said I could get some of his clients to train and be on a 2 week probation period to see how I do. It would be unpaid because they wouldn't be my clients, (having clients is the only way I'd get paid) so it would be more training to see if I am good fit. I wanted to say "HECK NO" but I was polite and told him I'd think about it and get back to him. I went out and told Teej all about the interview and he was mortified too. I just can't believe that people like that are out there. You know, those people who are so self absorbed and all they care about is getting money. It makes me sick.
The rest of the afternoon was much more fun. Teej and I got a bite to eat at this fun healthy sandwich place that was attached to this yogurt bar and sat and talked for a while. Then, since we were so close to the "Commons Park" that we decided to do the Freedom Trail walk. It was so awesome. We followed this very well marked red line throughout the entire walk which helped us keep from getting lost. We started at the state house with the big gold dome on the top and ended at this bridge near the TD garden (where the Celtics play). We got to see some really great history on our walk today as well as some beautiful architecture of the old buildings in the area. I think some of my favorite places today were the cemetery where Ben Franklin's parents and Paul Revere were buried as well as the King's Chapel church and the area where the Boston Massacre happened. I felt like all the history I had learned in middle school was coming to life right in front of me. It was pretty cool! Teej and I really enjoyed our 2 hour adventure along the epic freedom trail. Here are some pictures we took along the way. 
state house
cemetery of ben franklin, his parents and revere
where the boston massacre happened
We took the T train back to the Oak Grove station at rush hour. BAD IDEA! haha... But we made it safely back to Danvers. Eva, my other cousin came home tonight and we all had dinner together. It was fun getting to see her and catch up with her a bit. It had been probably 10 years since I had seen her so it was a fun reunion.
Tomorrow? More interviews. Teej has one in Woburn and I have one in Peabody. Hopefully these go better then mine went today. We'll see!
Love to all,
The humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God's help be encouraged. Psalm 69:32
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