I USE the Singapore Sports Council gyms three times a week and have been doing so for the past two and a half years. I would like to know what the duties of the workers or instructors in the gyms are.

Some are very hardworking and diligent, while others sit around, read the newspapers, chatter with gym users or snack.

In one instance, last Deepavali, the woman in the reception area was peeling vegetables from the time I arrived at the gym. She was still at it when I left two hours later.

The reasons for asking are as follows:

- The weights and dumbbells are all over the floor and not in their respective places. This is dangerous as some people could trip on them.

- Many gym users are neither using their towels to lay over equipment when using them nor wiping them down after use, which is very unhygienic.

- Gym users frequently sit on the equipment, chatting away, ignoring the fact that other users are waiting to use them.

- Weight plates are not put back after use. The next user may not be able to lift the plates off the equipment to use it.

- Weights are so loose on the dumbbells that they could cause injury to users

- If there is a set of rules on using the gym, which some employees do not implement, patronising the gym is difficult. It is also unfair to the hardworking employees who are doing their jobs properly.

- Does anybody clean the equipment?

What does the council have to say?

Kiong Kian Soon

This story was first published in The Straits Times on Feb 3, 2009.

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