A Planet Fitness customer reported that she and a companion were locked inside one of their gyms in the middle of the night—claiming there wasn’t a staffer there and no one from the gym responded to their plea for help.
The TikTok video documenting the event comes from creator Rana (@ranaababii), and it’s drawn more than 770,000 views as of Sunday.
“So it’s currently 2:30 in the morning,” she begins. “And we locked our things in the gym. So, my car keys, my house keys, her house keys, my $500 Beats headphones … everything is in this locker.”
@ranaababii we are laughing out of frustration… please help😭 #planetfitness #locker #ugh #lockedout #planetfitnessfails ♬ original sound – Rana
Laughing, she adds, “There’s no staff. We can’t go home.”
She added via caption, “We are laughing out of frustration… please help.”
The creator shared another video that touched on another piece of the puzzle—a Google search result saying that although it would be open 24 hours, it would only be staffed 12 hours, from 7am to 7pm.
@ranaababii Replying to @KatieKake$$$ Hope that clears up some of the confusion..🤍 #alllove #storytime #planetfitness ♬ original sound – Rana
But commenters still thought that Planet Fitness should have staff there in case someone gets hurt or, in this case, trapped.
“I used to work at planet fitness,” someone remarked. “It is a 24 hour gym. There is always supposed to be a team member on the floor just in case these moments happen.”
Another chimed in, “Correct it’s not supposed to be 24 hours unless it’s staffed.”
Someone else wondered, “For liability reasons, shouldn’t there always be an employee present? like what if someone got hurt and no one was around to call for help.”
Rana responded, “Sis.. I clicked the duress alarm, which is meant to contact the security.. and waited an hr.. no one came.”
The Planet Fitness TikTok account came in to wonder, “Did you ever get your stuff?”
Someone else responded, “Maybe look into why no employee is there or the distress alarm went [off] and no one came.”
Planet Fitness’ extensive list of policies on its website includes a note about locker use that says, “Lockers are available to all members, and are used at member’s own risk.” It also says, in a bit of irony for this duo, “Lockers are for member use while at the club only—members may not leave the club with personal items left in a locker.”
Luckily, there was a follow-up video that provided a satisfactory conclusion.
@ranaababii Replying to @Planet Fitness #lockedout #storytime #update ♬ original sound – Rana
In the end, the duo found a friend to stay with for a few hours until they could return to the Planet Fitness when a staffer was available to help them get their things out of their locker.
Even though it was resolved, suggestions kept coming.
“I would [have] called 911 and have the cops break into it,” someone offered. “They do have the equipment for that kind of stuff.”
Another said, “There usually keys proably right behind the counter,” adding, “I’ve done this before.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to Planet Fitness via email.
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*First Published: Jul 23, 2023, 11:29 am CDT
Phil West
Phil West is a veteran professional writer and editor, and the author of two books on soccer, ‘The United States of Soccer,’ and ‘I Believe That We Will Win,’ both from The Overlook Press. His work has appeared most recently in The Striker, where he serves as managing editor, MLSSoccer.com, Next City, and Texas Highways. Based in Austin, he is also a lecturer in the Writing Program at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
