My first day solo in a job

I had two days of training at a gym. It was just basic stuff: cashier work, cleaning the bathrooms when they get stinky, checking if people have returned the plates or dumbbells, and watching if they slam them on the ground. It gets hard when there are a lot of people.

The coach (owner) was with me from morning until night, since he goes home in the afternoon to sleep. Let's just say they had a bad experience with a staff member before who stole a large sum of money, so I understand the passive-aggressive approach in the way they talk to me or how the training goes.

The coach is very straightforward, no gentleness at all. He's like the kind of father who is always present and teaches you everything, but has little patience. When you make a mistake, he won’t accept any of your reasons because he already told you the first time how to do it.

So, back to it. The morning was okay. I was cleaning in the back of the gym when he told me there was someone at the front. He told me to be more aware if someone comes in so I can assist them, so I had to multitask. He was straightforward, and I understand that.

Fast forward to the night. Everything was good until a surge of people came in. It was like 30 people at once, and I was overwhelmed. The coach was already there training a group of girls for a pageant. There was also a group of kids at the back. At one point, they threw a plate. At first, I just looked at it since it only happened one time. They told me that one time is okay, but if it keeps repeating then I should go look at it. Then the other owner approached me and told me to check it. Of course, I did, but I didn’t approach the kids. I just observed first to see if they were going to do it again. I guess that was my mistake, because the coach approached them and got mad at the kids, telling them not to drop the plates.

Back at closing time, I was cleaning the equipment when the coach called me about a mistake on the paper (about the log-in and log-out). That was my mistake, I know that. But the way he talked to me, saying that I should’ve known all that and that I shouldn’t be making mistakes anymore since I was already trained, made me feel weak.

I get the mistake that I made. I really do, and I own that. I just wish he could’ve been a little kinder about it. He told me that all I did was walk around, which was actually what he told me to do so people would know they were being watched and wouldn’t do anything stupid. He also said that he was so busy coaching, taking pictures, and taking videos all at once, while I supposedly had nothing to do but focus on the cashier. That wasn’t true, because I also had to clean the bathrooms and constantly walk around, since that was part of the training he gave me.

I honestly understand the mistakes I made. They were small, nothing serious. It’s not like I took any money or broke something. I was tired, my legs were hurting from all the walking, (it was a 12 and half shift) and I was overstimulated from all the people. That was my first day dealing with that amount of people—just my luck.

I just wish he also saw my efforts. He asked me what went wrong, and when I told him that my mind went blank because of the number of people, he wouldn’t accept it. Instead, he said again that I shouldn’t have made a mistake since I was already trained.

I get his attitude since he doesn’t really want to be betrayed by a staff member again, but he made it seem like I didn’t even do anything at all. He also told me that all the other pages of the log-in were good until the last part. I was honestly ready to fight him over that.

I did good all day, and it was only at the end where I messed up with six people that he made it seem like I was stupid and slow. He even told me that I should tell people if they are already past the gym’s closing time. They didn’t even tell me that during the training. I just let it be since they were still training some people.

I couldn’t even tell him that they didn’t teach me that because I know they would just say that I should analyze it or something like that.

I just wish the coach were a better person overall. A little kindness wouldn’t hurt.