Radio personality Lisa Ann says she had her privacy violated by an employee at an Equinox gym this week. The man allegedly looked up her personal phone number before texting her an inappropriate message.
Recounting the incident on Twitter, Ann, who hosts a fantasy sports show on Sirius XM but is known best for her career in the adult film industry, stated that she received the unsolicited text just shortly after leaving the California gym Monday.
“I went to a different location gym today. Left & get this text. It creeped me out on many levels!” Ann tweeted.
In a screenshot of the text posted to Ann’s Twitter page, the employee compliments Ann on her “challenging workout” before offering her a free one-on-one training session.
https://twitter.com/thereallisaann/status/1117931670282178565
“Like why are you watching me while you are training a client?” Ann questioned. “You know who I am so you immediately access my info & text me? Would he do this to a guy?”
She goes on to state that Equinox initially defended the employee’s actions after being informed of the issue.
“The gym says that it is trying to help their trainers build clients,” Ann added. “I said, funny, I pay a membership. I use the app for classes.”
Speaking with the Daily Dot, Ann revealed that her visit to the Equinox facility was her first in several years following countless similar incidents.
The gym says that it is trying to help their trainers build clients. I said, funny, I pay a membership. I use the app for classes. Why would I all the sudden.. So this is not the first time this has happened, reason why I have to move locations a lot.
— Lisa Ann (@thereallisaann) April 15, 2019
“This is about the 10th time in the past three or four years with Equinox where a new trainer has seen me and gotten my number,” Ann said. “I have begged them multiple times to take my number out of their system.”
During a discussion with the company Tuesday, Ann says Equinox representatives conceded that the employee’s word use was concerning. Equinox also reportedly told Ann that it would remove her personal data from the company’s system. Equinox did not respond to a request for comment.
Although Ann said a second meeting was planned with members of Equinox’s human resources department, it remains unclear as to whether the company plans to alter its policies to better protect customers’ personal information.
Among the questions Ann told the Daily Dot that she would ask Equinox during the second meeting were: Should the employee in question be watching a female member while training a paid client, would the employee send the same text to a male client, and did the employee send any similar messages to any other clients on that same day?
And while Equinox may make changes to address how employees treat female customers, such problems persist in countless other businesses, Ann says. She recalled another incident earlier this year where a LensCrafters employee contacted her to describe his feeling for her in graphic detail after she visited one of the eyewear company’s stores.
Although she has tried for years to ignore the harassment, Ann says she is taking stronger and stronger action to help women in similar situations.
“This isn’t as much for me as for every other woman that wants to work out at this gym and just feel like we can come and go,” Ann said. “We want to feel safe.”
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