I went to the gym yesterday. When I got there, I was really thirsty, so I stopped at one of the water fountains. For some reason, it didn't work. I went around the building checking a few others, and none of them worked either.
I went back up to the front desk, and 5 or 6 of the employees there were crowded around talking. I kind of had to wait for one of them to acknowledge me, which she did by staring at me. I asked if there was a drink machine or anything around there; I'm cheap and don't like paying for bottled water but I wasn't going to be able to work out any other way. She pointed me towards their vending machines, and I was on my way.
Only when I got back there, I noticed that none of their machines took bills, even though drinks were $1. Since I wasn't expecting to have to buy a water, I didn't have enough change on me. I went BACK up to the front desk, where once again the employees were having happy cliquey fun time. It's not like I have a problem with them talking when nobody's waiting to be helped, but it's kind of irritating having to barge through a hoarde of them to get to whoever's manning the front desk. I asked if she could give me change. I know they have money behind there because that's where my friends pay for guest passes when I bring non-members with me. But she waved me off and told me "We can't give change."
"Well I guess I can't work out then, since I can't get any water," I retorted, before leaving. I ended up going home instead of just buying a water elsewhere because I was so fed up.
I understand if there's a policy in place where normally they can't give change, but if their water fountains are randomly out (which I realized later they might not have known about) it would be nice if they could help people needing water out. Not to mention if I could ask for help without feeling like I'm interrupting something.