The Price

"Hey, bud!" Eric greeted his former gym buddy Paul, who used to work as a Membership Ambassador in other gym and is now a member of C24 Fitness Health Clubs.

Paul put down his duffel bag on the floor of the coffee shop. "Sorry, had to do a full workout today after a vacation. Been here for long?"

"No, maybe less than 15 minutes. Is your friend coming today?"

"He's meeting his team today. He's the head of pharmaceuticals, you know." Paul went to the bar quickly to grab something.

Ten days remaining before the final evaluation. Three out of ten candidates left under the Senior Management Program of C24 Fitness Health Clubs after the others gave up or simply find another job opportunity. The candidate who can produce 100 memberships within November will become the Club General Manager of the 3 clubs that the company will open within the next 45 days. After all, gyms are focused on getting more members to ensure the target income. On the 25th of this month, all the memberships should be turned in then the winner will officially start next month.

"Did you ask for referrals?" Eric asked anxiously. "I am a little behind. I am stuck with 28 memberships while Chelsea has a sweeping 72 memberships to date and Mark, I think is just a couple of memberships more than me."

Paul took a bite of the sandwich. "I already did but...." he chewed and paused for a while. "Benjie and I had a better idea. You see, if you plan to close a corporate account, it will take weeks to get an approval from the management and signing up employees. Their account is passed one year already, they can terminate anytime. They are just interested to re-enroll through you because you offer a Founder Member rate which is 25% lower than what they are paying right now. "

" You mean.... uhm, I'm gonna recycle their memberships? " Eric lay his face into his palms.

"Bud," Paul pat his shoulders. "you need this, like, BADLY. The competition is about producing 100 members. It didn't specify new members, did they? Just members." Paul continued. "You were Vice President for Sales in your previous employer before they closed down. You have a lifestyle to maintain, a family who expects the best from you. You cannot start any lower than the Club General Manager position. "

" Of course, but they expect the sales to be clean. " Eric reasoned out.

" Do the sales necessarily be clean? Is there a difference between a clean and tainted sales? C'mon, both generated income! "

Eric sighed. He needed this job desperately. He's still paying the monthly amortization of their house and the new car they got 4 months ago. He cannot just let this opportunity slip away that will guarantee him almost the same salary as he had before, a car plan with gas allowance for him so his wife can use their car when she goes to work and other travel perks.

"I'm worried if I get caught. How about their names when it gets encoded to the system, they might be traced."

Paul raised his hand up. "We found a way. Their group membership is automatically debited to their credit card then they reimburse it from the company as part of their benefit. He will request for full corporate membership then the company will directly pay the gym. All you need to fix is to stop the charging in their credit card as soon as the new membership will take effect."

"How about the names?! " Eric asked again. "That is the problem!"

"Relax! Man, you're stressed out. Analyze first, they are a group membership converting to full corporate membership. There's a way around it. Take it from me." He laughed. "He said he will just make an endorsement letter using the nicknames of the employees which they will present to the club after the company issued the initial payment when they claim their access card. You can manage that, can't you?"

"M-maybe, as long as I am in the club and I will be the one to assist them. I'll see how I can work it out. I don't know, I'll try."

Paul smiled. "They have a total of 81 members in the group. That is enough for you to work your ass off to get them in."

Paul was right. Eric can offer full corporate membership to other companies but the time constraints won't accommodate the approval. That's what he heard from Mark who was trying to close a call center company for corporate membership. If he can make it clean, then he can bring the most number of members in the competition.

November 25th, the deadline has come. Eric has already signed up 83 members in Benjie's company days before and he is just waiting for the release of the initial payment through company cheque. This gives him a higher rating because the company signed a 1-year full corporate membership contract with C24 Fitness to guarantee monthly payments of their employees and any employee who intends to enroll in the future. Benjie's memberships come on top of the individual memberships he processed last week which will make him finish 121 members. The winner will be announced in 3 days after all the entries are audited by the Club Admin.

Then the winner was chosen...

One week into the gym as Club General Manager, Eric enjoyed the everyday walk through in the club. He regularly checks the facilities together with the Front of House Manager to make sure that the members get the best experience when they visit the club. 

"Hey, buddy!" Paul who was training in the free weights area told Eric. "You got it. Congratulations!"

"Yeah, thanks for the help. This is one of the 3 clubs that I will manage. The release of access cards went smoothly, you know what I mean. There's nothing to worry about..."

"Eric..." the Front of House staff called. "there are 2 irate members who want to talk to you."

Eric left Paul in the free weights area. From afar, Eric already saw Benjie with a. familiar companion. 

Before he offered to shake his hand, Benjie blew his anger. "YOU!!! This is all your fault! You fraudster!"

"Benjie, let's talk about this in my office. Let me help you."

As soon as he closed the door, Benjie started yelling. "I told you to make sure to stop the autodebit in our cards. All of us got charged this month!"

"That is only for December because termination of membership will take effect after 1 calendar month. We filed it last November 20 so you will just be charged only for this month." Eric said in a very soft voice in order to pacify Benjie.

"NO! We expect to get it terminated effective November 30. You promised us that you will justify the immediate termination. Remember, he said that in front of us." Benjie turned to his female assistant, to which she nodded.

"Benjie, uhm.... I can't do anything with the charges because...."

Benjie slammed the table. "YOU!!!... BETTER DO SOMETHING! I don't care how you'll do it." His face turned red, fuming with anger and tried to catch some breath. "I demand to get something out of this! You pay for my 1 year membership for the inconveniece that I have to endure when I explain this to my colleagues and you give them something in exchange for charges they had in their credit card."

Eric's hands are trembling." I-it will be difficult for me to ask that from the management. It might be too much for me to justify. "

" I did not ask for you to justify it! I demand you to pay for it. Plain and simple, Eric. " Benjie leaned towards Eric and looked straight into his eyes. "In case you forgot, I helped you get into that position and it will only take one letter coming from us to tell your management how you got your dodgy sales. You have until tomorrow to give me you final offer to compensate us or make tomorrow your last day in this office. Your choice! " Then they left.

Sitting alone in this spacious room seemed like it was invisibly cramped that he cannot breathe. Eric told himself, I can't lose this job.

He got a paper and pen to compute how much is he going to lose every month if he had to pay Benjie's one year membership, maybe Personal Training sessions or Nutrition Plan for his colleagues. How much is left in his salary? He sighed, stared on the wall, on the floor and buried his face on the table. Whatever its worth, he had to pay the price.