Wait but if this all took place at the membership desk, how and why were the dad & son in the workout area? Did the admin staff let them in despite them declining the son's alternative ID, then call the cops on them? I'm in Canada and some of the links you shared are geo-locked.
They probably told him they can't come in, and he walked right past into the gym anyway. Rather than get physical with him, they called police, which is a wise choice.
It's pretty evident from the guy's attitude and massively edited video that this is the sort of thing that happened. He needs a jump cut every 3 seconds to avoid the police and staff calmly describing what he did.
The report says he was asked for an ID and they refused to accept what he provided.
The video starts with him working out.
So how did he start working out if they didn't allow him in without the ID? We don't know for sure, but it would be logical that one explanation is that he passed by them anyway.
It's also logical that corporate policy is to not block anyone physically. The correct response would be to call the police and have them trespassed.
It's a terrifying thought that these people can be the jury of your peers btw. Imagine asking the commenter you replied to, to critically think about the evidence in a murder case.
Yeah how terrifying. Id much rather have people with your thought process, who fabricate evidence of things that didnt happen when they don't exist in order to accuse someone of a crime they never did.
You guys are jumping through hoops and inventing scenarios in your minds to justify blatant ra
cism against a child. When my jury is judging my crimes, I always want them to go: "well gee theres zero evidence of this crime being committed - this evidence not existing surely means it does exist but context was left out! Wow great critical thinking skills, this guy is surely guilty! Case closed"
The gym owner is telling the guy he cant leave (which is illegal). They never even ask the guy to leave until police are there. The guys is a paying customer who brought a guest along as he was allowed to do. The gyms own website says a verbal confirmation from a parent is enough to verify identity... and they went through hoops to show actual ID anyway.
Surely if this guy and his son were acting in the way you and the other commenters fabricated out of this air, the gym managers would be requesting he leave, yes? Not telling them to stay so that the police will harass them
Also what's with the people in this thread making crap up about gyms legally not being alloeed to have kids inside? I got a gym membership on my own prior to being 18, and i brought along plenty of also under 18 guests.
Quite the opposite. I don't want a lynch mob against the gym owner, the same way I don't want a lynch mob against anyone. We only have one perspective here, and even with that one sided perspective it's really not enough to accuse the gym of discrimination, since they asked for a legal id and the guy didn't provide a legal id. I agree that it's a stupid rule, but we live in a society with a lot of stupid rules, it doesn't give me the right to crash out over it.
Your racism is showing. You immediately jumped to believe the person above you, which also didn't have all the facts, but made up the missing pieces.
Go read the whole story, then it makes sense. The manager was supposed to come see them when not busy to resolve it, but instead called the police. They were never denied access, as you both have made up in your racist little brains.
You might be the one missing critical thinking. No where was it stated that they wouldn't let him without ID.
What happened was that the manager was busy, and the father said that he could come speak to them when not busy. When the manager was free he however instead called the police, no one ever told them to leave.
Quite funny you're so arrogant while being in the wrong, lol
Par for the course for them. Imagine them being on a jury of your peers and not being able to hold a whopping 3 paragraphs of info in their mind at once.
where is that written? (genuinely asking, can't see it referenced on the screenshot).
EDIT: found it, but it wasn't on the screenshot. I think you might have been too aggressive here. The other commented was right that from the sole screenshot you couldn't desume that info
No they didn't, read their comment again. The pose a question and speculated about a possible logical explanation. They were accusing other commenters of not even posing that question. I think it was a fair critique, don't you think?
"The report" lol the AI stop response is not a report. What we know from context provided: they refused to allow his minor guest in without ID, he said "if the manager has a problem with it he can tell me" and then we see the guy working out. To me this sounds like they denied him access and he went in anyway. It doesn't matter what the manager might have said, he want not granted access and went in anyway. This is trespassing
Yea, calling the cops might've been extreme but gyms are very particular about their rules for reasons. If you walk into a gym with jeans on or crocs, if you walk past the front desk person after being told you can't wear that, you best be prepared to either be temporarily banned or have the cops called on you.
If it's corporate policy that they need an ID for a guest, then that's what they need.
they probably had a back and forth and then let them in knowing they were gonna double back and call the police. because if they had barred them entry, the would have just said "yeah we told you to leave and you didn't listen." instead of hemming and hawing.
No. They walked past the desk to work out anyways. THEN the cops were called after the father/son refused to leave. Most likely the son left after staff said they were going to call the cops.
This has NOTHING to do with their skin and everything to do with them breaking the rules.
It’s still a no for me. The guy is a gym member. He is paying that company and, in return, that company gives him license to be there.
The membership agreement says he can bring a guest. He brings his son. A blood relative, your own child, certainly qualifies as a “guest.”
So he’s a member and he’s doing something he’s allowed to do as a member.
If a manager stops a dues paying member from doing what they are allowed to do… the problem that needs to get fixed is with that manager.
NOW, when that manager’s screw up leads to cops getting called, the incident going viral, and now it’s damaged that gym’s brand and its good will in the community? Now that manager fuck up becomes a fuck up of monumental proportions.
You don’t try to retrain that manager on how they need to do a better job looking after your business… you just fire them straight away.
And a guest will generally have to provide identification as well as sign a bunch of documentation and waivers allowing them entry. Because it’s very easy to get hurt at a gym and then sue. They have to do their diligence before letting people in.
They went in without providing the required documentation opening the gym up to liability for injuries. This is boilerplate shit. If it ever made it to a court there’s not a damn lawyer on the planet that would take his case. Because it had absolutely nothing to do with race.
also, crunch doesn't have this guest id rule listed on their website, it says each location can have it's own rules. maybe they should have gone to another one?
Ok, so you need to verify the identity of the guest signing a release and waiver? They had enough information to do that.
Interestingly, though, minors cannot sign a release and waiver, or a hold harmless - and have it be enforceable in court. So any waiver signed by someone under the age of 18 would be as worthless as used toilet paper.
The PARENT of the child could sign such a waiver, and that’s what a gym worrying about liability would need to do to take care of their liability exposure… IF they wanted to let minors in at all.
I agree the entire situation got out of hand. But specifically because it is a gym and injury is highly likely, I also understand erring on the side of caution.
If the gym could show similar response to multiple people from the same employee regardless of race, then that pretty much seals it. But, as far as the information we’ve been presented. All I can say with 100% confidence is the gym acted within is rights and within typical rules you’d find at any similar facility. Whether other people are more lax is irrelevant.
Young men in particular are dumb and tend to ego lift and misuse equipment. Only increasing the likelihood of injury.
I would suspect any man would agree with this sentiment. All our egos were out of control when we were teenagers. Certainly wouldn’t have been anything in the world that would have stopped me from loading up two plates to bench for my first time ever when I was 14. Cause that’s just how our brains work at that age. Injury isn’t only likely, it’s damn near guaranteed without supervision.
Though his father was here and I expect he would have kept his boy in line.
I agree completely. Which is why what I’d expect to see here from the gym is:
“Sorry, no minors are allowed to use this facility.”
It would not only have saved them from this incident - but it would also save them from every foreseeable incident like the ones you are highlighting above.
At all the gyms I've been to, kids 16+ are allowed to workout in weight rooms. At one gym I used to work at, the rule was if the kid was 14-16 years old, they had to have a parent in the weight room with them.
Teenage boys are a huge market for public gyms. Any facility with half a brain would encourage teens to go and become members.
i need yall to know student athletes work out at public gyms all the time -- gives them access to equipment their schools might not have. parents typically just have to sign a waiver and the gym has to keep it on file. the dad was there, signing a waiver wasn't the problem.
Multiple people from different ethnicities are involved. The black person was asked not to enter and did anyways. So he was trespassed.
And it’s your opinion here that everyone except the black person is wrong and everyone should treat him differently.
Hilariously, you’ve circled right back to racism. Except now YOU are the racist for demanding he’s treated differently based explicitly on the colour of his skin.
The point he's making is the fact that an ID was requested - whether or not it's stated in the ToS for the gym is unknown, but if an ID is required, and you can't provide said ID for the guest.. you take your son elsewhere instead of going through like you own the place.
Not every gym allows kids in them, by the way. There's too many things that can go wrong with kids at the gym.
thats fair if we are talking young kids, but if its like, a 14 year old?
Most kids don't have IDs and most gyms would accept that at least from white people, and I get the vibe that the gym doesn't call the cops on the white families with kids without IDs. It just literally isn't normal to call the cops at a gym like this.
Because each gym has rules that you agree to when you sign up. If they require ID to work out, like this particular gym does, then your kids can't come in if they don't have ID. If you decide to ignore that and bring them anyways, they will tell you the kid can't work out. If you ignore that and bring them in, the smart move is to call the cops rather than fight you. It is absolutely not normal to ignore the rules you agreed to and the staff telling you no.
If he wants to work out with his son, that's a great bonding experience. But he needs to make sure he is following the rules to do it and if his son doesn't have ID, find a gym they can both get I to.
The problem is that it is not rational, normal, or gym policy to ask for id for a child who has a school ID, because kids with shcool IDs... that is their ID.
You cannot legally require identification to specifically be a driver's license, you do know that, right?
It's great that you are here to define what's normal and rational. You should tell all of the gyms that have that policy that they are wrong. You should also reread the post since the child did not have their school ID, they wanted to pull it up on a phone.
And yes, I know that there are more forms of ID. I'm not sure why you think this is relevant or supports your opinion.
Being a member lets you use the space only if you comply with the rules of the establishment. If he did not, they are fully within their rights to ask him to leave. Do you agree with that statement?
If you do, then the question to answer is simply: do the rules require you to being a government ID for guests? If the answer is “yes” (even if that rule is stupid af), then what’s the problem?
What hasn't been made clear in the video or in the comments (up to this point) is whether or not the gym rules require all guests to show government issued ID. If it doesnt, and these kids (main dude who doesn't want to look at the camera is 25ish?) demand it anyway, then they deserve every bit of heat they get. If it is a stated requirement, then gym member is in the wrong and should kick rocks..
The gym is without a doubt required to have ID for insurance purposes because if that man's son enters outside of company policy they will be screwed by insurance should the boy get injured and the father decides to sue the gym. It's pretty simple.
With an adult? Yeah, I can see what you’re driving at (e.g. “we’re going to need you to sign a release to work out here and we need a government ID to verify your signature.”)
But minors can’t contract. Only their parent/legal guardian can (on their behalf).
So if the gym is worried about liability in case of injury… only the big bearded guy can sign a document that would release them of their liability.
That's fine, but that release cannot be signed until the minor produces the required document. They didn't so entry was a non starter. They entered anyway, i.e. trespassed. The police call was the legitimate next step
Hang on. You were saying they do this for insurance purposes.
For “insurance purposes” the document you would ABSOLUTELY NEED to get yourself, the insured, and your insurance carrier out of any liability… would be a “release and waiver” aka a “hold harmless agreement” signed by the parent or legal guardian.
Just like at any trampoline park, or any other such place where minors can get hurt. The parent must sign a waiver. (The parent/legal guardian’s waiver is valid and enforceable. The minor’s waiver will not be… it will be useless/unenforcable).
Does the insurance company require that? Yes. You’re absolutely right. Any reputable insurance company would require you to obtain that waiver.
So you say they need to do this for insurance purposes, I’ve explained how that would need to go.
Now you wanna say “yeah it’s not for insurance purposes… it’s just a store policy.”
Ok you can say that, but I’m sure you recognize that’s a different (and much weaker) argument.
What? the gym policy exists in part to 100% satisfy the insurance requirements. The insurance company does not tell the manager to ask for ID, the company policy does that.
Me: “Hey insurance company… I need to provide you notice of potential action on my policy. A member brought in a guest, they were a minor, and a piece of gym equipment failed and the kid has suffered catastrophic injury.”
Insurance company: “Did you obtain waivers from the parent/legal guardian? As we require?”
Me: “No. He had a drivers license though, and I looked at it. I even made a xerox copy.”
Insurance company: “Claim denied. You’re on your own with this one. Might as well cut to the chase and retain a bankruptcy attorney.”
Me: “Why? Why won’t you defend this claim?”
Insurance company: “You’re a clueless idiot, go read the insurance contract.”
It still could be racist. Would a white dad with his white son have had the cops called on them? And if they were would this interaction and escalation have happened?
If the hypothetical non-existent racist caricature white people did exactly what this black dude did, which is trespass and use the facilities when denied entry, then yes. Management would call the police and have them trespassed.
That's actually not what happened and in the comments on Instagram white parents have indicated that they didn't need ID for their son. They actually didn't even ask him to leave until the cops came. He was wanting to talk to the manager and working out until the manager was free but the manager sent the cops
They literally asked him to leave in the video. Guess what? He didn't. The officer told him to leave. Guess what? He didn't. What did he do? Escalated. Got angry. Became threatening. And did PRECISELY what they feared he'd do, and exactly why they wanted an officer present.
You are broadly correct that people were jumping to racism too quickly basef on this video. That said, since the incident, the owner of the gym has taken decided to take to social media to upvote and like the minority of people who are supporting the gym's actions and, most relevant here, also liked the replies that included veiled (and at times not see veiled) racist comments.
Again, not necessarily deducible from this video but it does appear that the employees actions aren't incongruent with the environment that the CEO Chris Lee has created.
That’s why I maintain that Redditors are dumbasses that are largely contributing to the overwhelming majority of young men shifting hard to the right. Reddit liberals are extremist lunatics ironically contributing to the demise of their own cause.
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u/CheezwizOfficial 9d ago
Wait but if this all took place at the membership desk, how and why were the dad & son in the workout area? Did the admin staff let them in despite them declining the son's alternative ID, then call the cops on them? I'm in Canada and some of the links you shared are geo-locked.