I went off on a lady at GNC today!!

[Immortal Juicer]

Check this out: I work at GNC. I have worked there for the past three years while I am in college. Its a great job because I get my supplements cheap and I get to help people out. Last Sunday, a 16 year old kid came in. He was about 30 pounds overweight and it was obvious he had little self esteem. He told me he wanted to play sports in school and he needed to lose fat and build some muscle.

After talking with him I found out that he had no clue about diet or training. I spent about an hour with that kid and put him on a great high protein/complex carb diet along with a solid training program. I ended up selling him a good multi-vitamin, liquid flax oil, and two boxes of Ultramet.

Yesterday, his mom comes in the store raging at me about how I'm not a doctor, the vitamins and supplements were bullshit, and that I was just trying to take his money. Then she says she has a degree in nutrition and the diet I gave him was bad and that he should do the 70% carb thing. She basically told me I didn't know shit about diet or exercise and she wants her money back.

When she finally stopped I was pissed as hell. The kid wasnt there so I told her like it was. I said "look, your son is big and fat and has no self esteem at a time in his life when his self esteem is most important. If he does what you said, and if it works, he will be small and fat with no self esteem. You know absolutely nothing about diet, exercise or your son's life. If you want your son to be happy and have a healthy self image, you need to recognize that."

She stormed out and told me she was going to call GNC and "report me." Damn I'm scared. God I feel bad for her son. He was ready to go hit the iron and change his life and his mom stops him.

I hope he comes in again.

 

[rugger]

It's tough when you wanna help someone and it back fires.
BUT-you possibly made the mistake of giving too much advice on company time. YOU represent GNC, therefore the advice-good or bad is advice from GNC. GNC may see you as a liability.

Good luck, don't sweat it GNC is not the world. Been there, done that.

Rugger

 

[SuperStud79]

That's real sad. I hate it when somebody is so stuck on themselves they're not willing to look at other points of views and realize they too may have their merits. With a sheltering bitch of a mom like that it's no wonder the kid has no self esteem.

 

[skippy]

that's cool man...Wish I would have had someone to help me when I was younger...maybe he'll come back and you can tell him his mom doesn't know shit...Of course you will probably be fired, because that is a business and the consumer is always right...I know it's tough to sit there and eat shit and grin...Good Luck!

 

[FBI]

man, don't worry. i use to be a manager at gnc. if nobody else was in the store, just tell them you were calm and told her your opinion. it's your word versus hers, and trust me, we've all had those stupid shits that come in screaming with an attitude because their kid bought something and it's going to kill them!!! i got into arguments over creatine, the atkins diet, xenadrine, you name it. good luck.

 

[FedUp]

.

you did a good thing for that kid. you didnt try to sell him some pro hormoe crap or push creatine on him. If i was his parent i would be pleased that you suggested such quality supplements for him like vitamins,flax seed and some protein. You did nothing wrong and you deserve an apology from that woman.

 

[TxRugby_8]

i used to work at a GNC for about a year and a half. I quit last spring. That shit used to always happen to me. My god, why does almost every parent that comes in there think we're trying to scam them. Obviously by the size of us we know what were talking about. Some people just need to get a clue.

 

[Immortal Juicer]

I'm not in any trouble. I work for a franchisee who is cool as hell. He would have gone off on her worse than I did. I just feel bad for the kid.

When I look back on what I knew about bodybuilding when I was 16, I didnt know shit. I mean absolutely nothing. I thought if I ran a mile on a treadmill, I could eat all the pizza I wanted to that day; the best training program was upper body MWF and lower body TTh; I thought 1 bottle of Ripped Fuel was going to turn me into a jacked monster; and I didnt take creatine until I was 18 because I wanted to "stay natural."

 

[liftsiron]

That whole 70% carb diet was created by the USDA over 40 years ago to fatten hogs and cattle before killing them for food. It has no place in human nutrition. I run into this argument with fat dieticians all the time. You could have nicely told the mother to take her degree and wipe her ass with it for all the good that it's doing her son.

 

[BigBluto]

Hey Immortal Juicer. You are absolutely right. I know that kid because I was him once too. I use to feel very low about my babyfat when I was about 15. I always watched my friends who were thin go swimming with their shirts of and wear tank tops during the summer. The whole time feeling inferior. But now at the age of 24 I am very confident. Most of the babyfat(some is still here) turned to be about 260lbs with 15% bf. Thanks to a couple of older guys who set me straight right after highschool. Now sometimes I can actually be a little cocky. Something I deserve to be able to do a little bit after some of the things that I have experianced. You were doing a good thing. By the spring time that kid would have shedded most of that babyfat and had a solid base of muslce. He also would have felt like he had an upperhand on all of the other kids since most of them probably don't even work out. His confidence and selfworth would have risen greatly, but now because of his mother, he will probably feel isolated for that much longer to a even higher degree. She may very well turn him into a pyscho. That's how it starts. Not understanding your children. Anybody ever heard of Columbine...