When you spend 3+ hours with someone each week, every week something can start happening: a friendship starts forming.
It happens all the time with bootcamp and personal training clients. Sometimes you just click with someone.
But the problem is that clients and friends have different expectations.
So what do you do about it? Where is the line between a paying client and a friend? Should there even be a line?
I don’t a clear cut answer but over the next three Friday’s I want to share with you three different stories of experiences I’ve had in an effort to help you navigate this tricky topic.
I’ll Fly With You Thanks
I fly back and forth from Australia to the US every few years to visit family. When I lived in the US it was a couple of times a year.
For those not familiar, the flight from Australia (usually Sydney) to the US (usually LA) is a whopping 13-15 hour flight. Add onto that any domestic flights you need to take.
Going in, you know this is going to be an uncomfortable experience. Being trapped in a flying tin can for that long can send you a bit bonkers, but the end result of being with your friends and family makes it worth while.
Kind of like how working out is uncomfortable but the benefits are awesome. In the same way the experience of working out can vary by the trainer and environment you are in.
My family normally makes this flight with United, who until recently were flying the same planes and fit out that I flew on in my trip to the US in 1993. Not the best environment and the crew seem kind of overworked and unhappy.
So when deciding who to fly with in 2015 I decided to try Qantas. I’m 6’3″ so the extra space to walk around and stretch my legs on their A380’s makes a big difference to avoiding cabin fever.
After watching a movie on the flight and falling in and out of sleep for a while I got up to stretch my legs. We were 6.5 hours into the flight with 6.5 hours left to go. A few screens flickered with movies and TV shows in the dark but most were black, their operators having long fallen into sleep in their favourite plane sleeping position.
As I was coming around on my second lap of the economy area I passed a couple of flight attendants chatting in one of the galley’s.
In a snap they ended their personal conversation and one of asked me if I’d like a drink.
Not liking to drink beer when flying I took a whiskey on the rocks (yes, I’m such a manly man).
A plastic cup was nearly filled with Jameson and handed to me. Not liking my chances of getting back to my seat without spilling any I stayed and we began talking about mundane things like how flight attendant rest breaks worked on flights like this and what the crew cabin on the lower deck looked like.
The conversation sped on between the three of us with one attendant occasionally ducking off to offer water to those still awake.
‘Wait there.’ said Ben, one of the flight attendants, and he dashed off reappearing a moment later with what looked like another (generous) whisky on the rocks.
‘This is the stuff from First Class,’ he told me.
This is beside the point, but it was very good.
The rest of my journey home seemed like this: Flight attendants popped up offering me espresso coffee instead of filtered, sharing a bottle of bubbly with another passenger and breakfast watching Guardians of the Galaxy. A 13+ hour flight by myself was turned into a fun and memorable experience.
The main thing that stood out was that even as just one of 100’s on board I felt looked after, cared for and listened to.
Since that flight I continue to fly MEL to LAX with Qantas.
I’ve never had the same experience again and I didn’t become friends with those flight attendants, but the little extra care they gave me will keep me from looking at other airlines for years to come.
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I’ll be back next week with a story about exclusivity at a place I used to work.
Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.
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