My history with Midtown Athletic Club is long. During my second year at Eastman, my friend Angela took me there to take a class called "Turbo Kick." I instantly fell in love with the club and became a member. Once I graduated and moved back home to WA, I cancelled my membership. So sad.
I came back to Rochester at the end of the summer. It was time to start building a life... I needed a job (or what would turn out to be multiple jobs). But being back in Rochester, I also felt like I desperately needed to go back to Midtown. And so I applied for a job and voila! I was a front desk associate.... and that job came with a free membership. Perfect.
My tenure at the front desk lasted a little over seven years. And so I shall do my best to list the best of times and the worst of times. We'll end with the good stuff, because on the whole, that's what I know I will remember most. :-)
The Terrible Horrible moments while working at Midtown Athletic Club
- Searching through the lost and found and finding someone's underwear. All. the. time.
- Being accused of not saying hello to someone because I am racist. Yes, that happened.
- Being accused of not saying hello to someone because I hate fat people. Yes, that also happened.
- Saying hello to someone, or asking how their day is going and receiving no response. I would often wonder (out loud) if sound was actually coming out of my mouth.
- Having members yell at you because of _______. Insert anything. Seriously, anything. It's happened.
- Having to run away from the desk to hide from a member because 1) they will trap you and talk to you for 30 minutes, or 2) because they are incredibly creepy and have found your work email and asked to get together to "play duets" sometime. No.
- Being referred to as "Blondy" by the COO of Midtown Corporate. I hate him.
- Watching members yell at my coworkers/friends to the point that they cry. We have all cried because of a member at some point.
- Having things thrown at you... usually car keys, sometimes empty envelopes or other papers members don't want.
Seriously, some very strange things have happened at the desk. People have actually asked us to put their contacts in their eyeballs for them. Another woman demanded we get her car for her because there was snow outside. And I do not use the word "demanded" lightly. The displays of entitlement were, at first, absolutely mind-blowing to me. Eventually you don't let anything phase you because you've seen it all!
And so as you can see, dealing with the members more or less makes up all of the bad parts of that job. However! There are some incredibly wonderful people that are members at Midtown.
- One time a member gave Andy and I tickets to go into a VIP room for a boxing match because he saw us wishfully hanging around outside. They were $30 a piece.
- One member brought Alyssa pancake mix, just because he knows how much she loves pancakes.
- One member (a pediatrician) regularly brings formula for Laura's new baby girl.
- Tons of members bring the front desk treats. Donuts and muffins on Sunday mornings, chocolates on Valentines day, and an embarrassment of goodies for the holidays.
There are a lot of other wonderful member moments, although honestly the best members are the friendly people who pause every single day to say hello, ask how you're doing, remember details about your life and ask about them... two of my favorites are Matt Degma who always asked about and encouraged my running, and Tim Reitz who was always so friendly and asked me about my job at the RPO among other things. Both made me feel like they really cared.
So while some members were not so good, there are others that are very good. And the club is very good. The equipment is great, the pool is amazing, the classes are really fun. But the best most wonderful thing about Midtown was the people I worked with.
The Best of the Best while working at Midtown (in no particular order)
- For some reason that still is unknown to me, I was invited during my first few weeks of work to hang out with Lisa, Elizabeth, Emily, and Alyssa. Little did I know, those girls would turn out to be my longest friends that I've had here in Rochester (even though Emily doesn't live here anymore, we still keep in touch). I have been to every one of their weddings, and they were all at mine (except Emily who was busy having a baby while I walked down the aisle, lol). We've been there for each other through major life moments... engagements, weddings, babies, loved ones passing on... these girls mean everything to me. I truly love them. Fun times with these girls include... watching "Fat Bachelor," 6:00am boot camp, dog walks, a million and one runs/races, "brinner" otherwise known as breakfast for dinner, FroYo, but best of all... countless smiles and laughs. :-)
- Running. I would have never been the runner I was if it weren't for being at Midtown. Why? Because that's where I met Carrie. Carrie and I worked on Tuesdays together, and one night she said, "Want to train for a half marathon with me?" HA!!! I had only run one 5k years earlier and that was a massive accomplishment for me. Add 10 miles to that??? But here's the thing. Carrie can be very persuasive. And I'm glad she was. We ran every single training run together that summer and in September we crossed the line of our first half marathon together. I will never forget that feeling of accomplishment and to be experiencing it next to someone I grew very close to over all of those miles. And amazingly/thankfully, I've been able to share running with SO many of my friends at Midtown... Alyssa, Sarah, Kristin, Marcia, Katie, and Emily. How cool is that! Thanks to Carrie, I can now say I've run countless 5ks, a few 10ks, 4 or 5 half marathons - including one trail half marathon with both Carrie and Emily (NEVER AGAIN), and a full marathon!!! When I ran my full marathon, I carried a collage of pictures with me of all the people that ran with me during my marathon training - let's just say everyone on it (besides my mom, dad, and Andy) I met at Midtown.
- Other forms of fitness...especially ZUMBA!!!!! Before Midtown, my experience with exercise included the treadmill and Tae Bo workouts on VHS. Through Midtown, I discovered spinning. In fact my first vivid memory of talking to Anna was after we had both taken a spinning class together - the start of another amazing important friendship for me. Although a member of the club, Anna became an honorary member of the Midtown Front Desk family along with her sister Lisa. Kristin and I got into yoga together for awhile. I also discovered Zumba, and with that ZUMBA SARAH, haha. Again, another amazing friendship. Sarah and I also did personal training together, that was certainly new! And as Midtown brought different types of exercises into the club: tabata, boxing, etc I gave all of those a try, but never alone.... Katie, Kristin, Diane, Sarah, Anna... someone was always there to try it with me. :-)
- As the years went on, people moved shifts and new people were hired to the desk - my list of VIFs (very important friends) grew. Sue, Katie, Kristin, Ted, Laura, and Diane. And there are tons more people I've worked with and loved... Melanie, Julie, Marcia, Earl, Sandy, Spencer, and Kumba to name a few. We've had fun both on the desk (Ted taught me how to properly throw a ball, Kristin and I rated the flower arrangement each week, etc) and off the desk (hello Midtown Holiday parties!).
- And last but not least, Seetha. My beautiful Seetha. Even though she only worked at Midtown for a brief period, she completely changed my life. I was driving myself crazy measuring food, counting calories, obsessing about every little thing I put in my mouth. And Seetha made it all go away for me. I know people think I'm crazy, but I do believe she saved me. To this day, Seetha still pops up in my life even though she's living in Arizona now. On Wednesday she called out of the blue - it was the best.
I know I'm missing a million things from my list of good things above, but I'll stop for now. Instead here are some pictures (in no particular order) of wonderful people and moments made possible by my time at Midtown Athletic Club.
Good times. AMAZING People.
Fun fact - Andy used to work at Midtown too! He was on the Maintenance Crew one summer. :-)
So why leave? Because most of the people in the above pictures are gone, since my knee surgery I've barely used the club, and after 7 years I just feel like I need a little more time to relax. Thankfully, my friendships with my Midtown peeps are solid. These people are in my life for good. But I still have to admit...
It's still a little hard to say goodbye.
