Pay Up/Don't Bother To Come At All

Today, my buddy and I hit the gym at a LCSD (Leisure and Cultural Services Department) sports center just like we did every Friday. Nothing unusual happened until two guys, dressed in orange working uniform and black tracksuit trousers, walked in. I had never seen them before and I could totally sense something wrong was going to happen, hence I quote a lyric (from one of Taylor Swift's songs): I knew you were trouble when you walked in. Ok...back to my point, which is that the two guys didn't seem to have paid the admission fee before using the facilities.

Yes, I used the word "seem" because I didn't (and don't) know for sure if they had paid to use the exercise facilities or not. However, from my observation, it was most likely that they didn't. Only 5 minutes after these 2 guys had come in to work out, 2 staff members walked in and one of the staff asked if they had registered at the front desk. The older man did not respond, instead, the younger one (twenty something) stood up to the female staff and boldly defend themselves. The way he defended himself was weird, it was as if he immediately responded to a question he still had not taken in into his head, and he did so only because his defense mechanism worked that way, allowing him to fend off any accusation being thrown at him/them. He provided no receipt or any kind of evidence, and so, without further methods to verify their admission was of a legit kind, the 2 staff members walked away.

So the 2 of them went on exercising for another 5 minutes, then another 2 staff came in the gym, once again asked them the very same question, "Have you paid for the admission fee?" And, again, the younger guy replied with annoyance, "Yes, we did!" Without a doubt, the staff left with slight or no apparent breakthrough but fulfillment of obligation.

I was on the treadmill pacing at normal speed, and I looked at them through the reflection of the mirror right in front of me. Wearing the same uniform, those 2 men might be on duty or having some time before going to work. I noticed some words were on the right side of their trousers, thus I took out my mobile phone to did a little background check, and found that they could be workers of some construction company. No matter where they work, who they work for, or whatever, it was clear that they could afford the fee (I'm assuming that they didn't pay). Not only that what they did was making the whole thing unfair to others who had paid to use the fitness equipment, but they also felt no guilty at all and kept going on with what they were doing. They should be respectful of themselves, of others, and be a responsible citizen, meaning that they should not exploit the rights of others and should pay to use the gym equipment like everyone does.