And that does not even cover the fact that the masseuse called her fat.  Spas would never tolerate that kind of bad customer service.  Maybe heavier than what the table allows would have been a better word.  But her going to the press makes me sound a tad childish.

I say they need better tables and they'd get a 1 star Yelp review.   Yes, the girl is obese, but for the business, this is just bad press.

 

Once again, the massage business disputes her version.

You are right, of course.  Case of  she said she said.  We'll probably never know which is the true version.

Even so...even if she called her 'large", as the owner alleges,  the massage lady was still not very tactful.  Her business, after all, is customer-oriented.  If she could not accommodate the lady for whatever reasons, all the owner had to say was "I'm sorry, but we can't accommodate you at this time."  And then maybe go beyone what was required and say something like,..."but let's see if we can help find another massage service that can..'  and then maybe call around a bit to other places to see if they could help her.   That would have been better customer service, IMHO, and avoided getting into all of this mess by at least placating the lady somewhat.  But she APPARENTLY didn't and now she's getting all this bad press. Just my 2 cents worth.

Anyway, as mentioned, we'll probably never really know the whole truth.

I just shared this with my co-worker.

We have determined the "massage" place was in fact a "happy endings" place.  Therefore a 165 lb man did not break the table, but a 165 lb man, plus a 135 lb woman broke the table.

Didn't post much at RW but finally made the move over.

If you look at the picture included with the article you can see that she's passing a timer along the course at 3:02:31.  She says she ran 13.1 miles and if you look at her bib, she ran Rock'n'Roll Arizona.  Out of curiosity, and because you can read her bib number, I went to the RNR site and checked the results.

Assuming this is accurate (Name, Age, Town match the article) she ran the half marathon in 04:25:46 for a pace of 20:17 MM or 2.96 MPH.  Regardless of size this appears to be walking pace for most people.  The argument can now move to what qualifies as "running" 13.1 miles.

 

Oops, I was thinking of flarunner when I said Florida girl, LOL!

Ooh, my ears are ringing!

Didn't post much at RW but finally made the move over.

 

If you look at the picture included with the article you can see that she's passing a timer along the course at 3:02:31.  She says she ran 13.1 miles and if you look at her bib, she ran Rock'n'Roll Arizona.  Out of curiosity, and because you can read her bib number, I went to the RNR site and checked the results.

 

Assuming this is accurate (Name, Age, Town match the article) she ran the half marathon in 04:25:46 for a pace of 20:17 MM or 2.96 MPH.  Regardless of size this appears to be walking pace for most people.  The argument can now move to what qualifies as "running" 13.1 miles.

I wonder why she stopped for that photo, unless she told everyone that was her finish time?

I applaud this Laura Smith lady for getting into running and losing 50 pounds, HOWEVER, I think she's full of shit regarding her accusations about the Natural Healing Center and its owner Penny Wells.  OK, maybe "full of shit" is a little harsh, but my bullshit detector is beeping.

 

Laura Smith's credibility is highly, highly questionable.

 

First of all, in a different article, here, she casually states, "I planned it especially for the day after my MARATHON. I knew I’d be hurting."  At first, I thought, maybe the article misquoted her, but if you watch the video, that's what she says.  MARATHON.  Not HALF marathon.  Now, by itself, you miiiiiiight brush that off as someone sort of speaking in a kind of short hand or something, but we all know that someone who has joined the running community, joined a training group, etc. etc., would always differentiate between MARATHON and HALF MARATHON.  I'm not saying she's trying to tell a straight up lie with that one statement, and actually claim that she ran 26.2, but I think she is deliberately stating things in a way to distort the general, non running public's perception.

 

Couple the above, with that picture she sent to the media with the time clock saying "3:02:21"...again, very misleading if it's true that her time is, in fact, 04:25:46 (by the way, good detective work, Running in PGH).

 

I think it's also less than honest of her to keep stressing that she RAN the half marathon with a time like that.  "I RAN..."   "I RAN...."

 

Uh, NO, you DIDN'T.  Sorry.  2.96 MPH is NOT running, I don't care what size you are.  I have no problem or judgements against people who walk or mostly walk a race.  That's not what I'm saying here.  My point is that this Laura Smith lady is being very disingenuous, and therefore, we should be very skeptical about everything else she's saying and about her claims of weight discrimination.  I know weight discrimination does exist, and I'm not trying to make light of that issue, but I don't think that's what happened here at all, and this lady is just being a needy attention whore would-be martyr.

 

Also, one of the comments below the ABC article states that a local CO radio station interviewed the Natural Healing Center where this all allegedly happened, and the owner of the massage place, Penny Wells, merely asked Smith to RESCHEDULE for a different day when a different therapist, more capable of administering the requested deep tissue massage (presumably, I guess, for someone her size), would be available, AND, she offered to give her TWO massages.  Here is the website for the Natural Healing Center.  Besides the owner, there are only 3 other massage therapists there.  Yes, it's She Said/She said.  However, I find Laura Smith's claim much more dubious:

 

"She [the owner of Natural Healing Center] was very matter of fact about it. She said, 'I'm really sorry, but you're just too fat for our table. You'll probably break [it] and have to pay for it.'"

 

I have a really hard time believing that ANY proprietor, much less the owner of a hippy dippy, holistic, reiki, crystals & peace, lotus flower joint, would ever tell a customer they were TOO FAT.  Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to call Smith "LARGE" either, but that's not the same as calling someone "FAT", and that is what Smith is alleging...that Wells said the words "TOO FAT".  It seems to me that Laura Smith was spinning "LARGE" as "TOO FAT", just as she was spinning HALF MARATHON as "MARATHON" and WALKED a race as "RAN" a race.

 

As for all that business about the massage table supposedly only being able to support 165 pounds, that is what Wells told the media, AFTER the fact...AFTER Laura Smith went to the media and CLAIMED that Wells had told her she was too fat for the table.  Actually, Wells didn't even say that the table could only support 165 pounds, she merely told the MEDIA (NOT Laura Smith) that one of the tables had ONCE broken under the weight of a 165-pound man.  Who knows what type of leading conversation the reporter had with her when Wells said that.  It seems to me, that is (1) irrelevant, and (2) taken out of context, in order to frame/spin this story.  And the result is a picture being painted that a snooty, fat-hating massage therapist with fat-discriminating equipment told the poor marathoner she was "TOO FAT".

 

And now Laura Smith has her training group, her friends, and her Facebook friends joining her in a campaign of hysteria against this Natural Healing Center place, writing bad reviews online and calling for a boycott.

 

PATHETIC.

Damn, yo. You win internet.