Cross-train your brain

Preface #1: This post might stretch the definition of customer service, but I feel that the line between customer service and marketing is a bit blurred in some situations, so I'm going with it.
Preface#2: I love Healthworks. LOVE.

In the lobby of my gym (Healthworks in Cambridge, which I'm mildly - okay, completely - obsessed with), there is a huge bulletin board with the weekly class schedule posted. It doesn't change very often, but there are occasionally other flyers and signage on the board about new classes, new instructors and other gym-related news. As I walked in yesterday, I noticed a new sign announcing the Memorial Day weekend class schedule. As an addict of heart-pounding group sweat-fests like Urban Rebounding, Body Express and Power Abs, I decided to check out the schedule to see which of the weekend's offerings would best fulfill my masochistic need to inflict (deliciously) severe pain on my body.

What I found very strange was that the sign listed classes that were cancelled for the weekend. This meant that in order to find out what classes I could take, I had to look up at the huge bulletin board, find a class I was interested in, and then refer back to the single-spaced, 12-point font list of cancelled classes to see if my class made the cut. This struck me as incredibly ineffecient and kind of lazy. With a tiny bit of extra effort, whoever made the sign could have simply created a list of classes that were still on the schedule. Instead, something intended to be helpful and informative ended up as a confusing and time-consuming mess. Because I would probably give up my firstborn child for this beautiful, clean, spa-like facility, I'll let this one go... check for Healthworks.