Anyway, while checking out at Longs (where we picked up a few things we needed even though they didn’t have the Turbo Tax), the lady from Curves came in. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to turn away quickly enough, and she recognized me. I greeted her, thinking we'd have a brief, polite conversation, as one does when one unexpectedly runs into an acquaintance, then she'd go her way and I'd go mine. Rather than being polite or brief, however, she not only barged her way into where I was checking out to get a price check on some plants she'd picked out, but went out of her way to humiliate the living shit out of me in front of the checkout girl and my mother.

"I believe we've tried to call you," she said. (For those who don't know, Curves, unlike regular gyms, have a habit of harassing you on the phone, er, I mean, calling to check up on you . . . wait, no, that's not it, either . . . they call to see how you're doing out of concern for your well-being - yeah, that's it! - if you don't show up for a while.)

"Oh, yes," I lied, hoping she'd just go away. "I believe I have spoken with you recently."

She was, however, persistent. "You know, when you FAIL like that, you just need to get back up and get going again," she told me. And, she didn't just say it, she had to grab my shoulder at the same time, so I couldn't turn back to the counter. Here I am checking out, trying to pay for my purchases and she freakin' grabs me. Hello? Is it me, or is that just plain rude?

Anyway, making an uncomfortable situation even worse, she continued in a not-so-subtle voice, "You know we teach that in our WEIGHT LOSS CLASSES, IF YOU'RE INTERESTED."

"Uh huh," I said, trying to remember my PIN number for the debit card. I got it wrong because I was using a different card, and had to do the whole process over again.

"You just need to have some DISCIPLINE! BLAH, BLAH, BLAH . . . "

She continued talking, though I can't remember all that she said now, and I was made to stand and wait for my receipt because she was having the check-out girl - MY check-out girl - see how much her damn flowers were. I was so embarrassed, I just wanted to crawl under a rock! She couldn't just say Hi, how ya doing? and leave me the hell alone? No, she had to humiliate me in public. And, she couldn't just say good-bye when she left, oh, no!

"We're open until FOUR today, you know!"

Wow, yeah, I'm really inspired to go workout now! Gah!

If she honestly thinks I'm going back to her damn establishment after being treated so rudely, she is wrong. Dead wrong! I'll go back to the safe, anonymity of a regular gym, thankyouverymuch. Bitch.

Truthfully, I have never liked this woman. She's very hard, abrupt and in-your-face; personality traits that totally turn me off. Plus, she offended me when I first started working out at Curves by telling me my reason for wanting to lose weight was "not good enough". According to whom? You? Gah! Whatever, it's over now, both the conversation and my membership at Curves. I'll be writing a letter canceling my membership on Monday.

In other news, my taxes are now done, and I’m going to have a celebratory glass of wine. I'm getting money back on the federal and paying a little on the state, but that's okay. It's done, and it was relatively painless. This electronic filing thing is awesome! Cheers!