As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Monday, April 22, 2013

No Princess Stamp on our Bathrooms... Monday, April 22

Our bathrooms aren’t princess approved and they have apparently been noted to be the deal breaker with whether or not Korean girls will join our boxing club.

Wow… a new found reason why to roll my eyes and shake my head.

A large argument over our bathrooms exploded on our heads yesterday when a couple of our friends noted that they had an issue with the setup of our bathrooms. I should note here that we’re trying our absolute best with what walls and rooms we’ve been giving with but our bathrooms have been a continual concern of ours, not to this extent however. All friends who noted they had an issue with the bathrooms are Korean and one of them is a female Korean. When the female Korean noted she wouldn’t come to our club unless we did something with the bathrooms, Snickers and his friends instantly reacted much differently than me. Her main argument was that she didn’t want to pee in the same room as a guy. I should note here too that the stalls are quite large and are very private. They have solid walls that extend from the floor to the ceiling, likewise with the doors we’re getting installed. Anyways, Snickers and his buddies quickly started to brainstorm ideas on what to do and I stood there shaking my head.

If she honestly doesn’t want to come to our boxing club because of our bathrooms, which I must note are so much better than most boxing clubs, then that’s just lame. UP Boxing had two bathrooms that we beyond sketchy, both of which were out in the hall, and their change rooms were two tiny booths beside the desk where everyone sits. At Hulk’s, in the matter of three large rooms, we have four toilets, one urinal, a large shower room for the guys, a girl’s private shower room, and a unisex locker room with two private change rooms. I think that is more than sufficient.

The sketched up solution to this issue was that they now want to kill my office, make it into a girls change room, and split the back section of the club into a girls and guys section. This would mean our unisex locker room would solely be for the guys and an extra bathroom unit would then have to be made in it.

Sure just add some walls, kill my office and add an extra bathroom… what’s another five grand?!

“Do that and I promise you I’ll beat that five grand out of you!” I noted to them. I was joking, sure, but not really. “I refuse to give up my office to princesses”, I told Snickers. Last time I checked, a bathroom was a place where you went to the bathroom. Moreover, hello… we’re a boxing club. We are not a fitness club. There’s a huge difference between the expectations of a fitness club vs. a boxing club and I really feel they’re pushing us to be more like a fitness club. We are a boxing club, says it right there in our name so there’s no confusion.

Though this fight started yesterday, it went well into today and it was quick to get more heated in the morning. It was me against six Koreans, totally not fair. It definitely wasn’t fair so I took it upon myself to even the playing field with some tag-team members on my side of the argument. Today two of my boxercise gals, one of our trainers and a valued friend all joined my side. Nothing really did get resolved but the fact that we’re now coming down to the bottom of our money barrel means Snickers really has no choice but to hold off on his proposed plan.

I refuse to give up my office, mark my words!!!

2 comments:

Jacky said...

girls and guys pee in the same bathroom at the same time in bars (with the door separating the stall form the urinal). I don't buy the argument. I will say that your sketch look a tad confusing. Will the guys walk past the girls showers to get to the bathroom?

권투선수 에이미 [Amy] said...

Hi Jacky,
Ya, I definitely don't buy it either -- both literally and figuratively!!! As for the girls showers, it's actually a single, all-inclosed bathroom that has a mini changing area and then a shower stall in it. It's completely private.