PaulBiryukov/iStock(SANDY, Utah) — A man who squeezed in an evening workout found himself in a tight spot when the staff accidentally locked him in for the night.
“I am literally locked inside 24 Hour Fitness right now,” Dan Hill wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday, alongside photos of himself inside the empty gym.
Hill said that the staff at 24 Hour Fitness in Sandy, Utah, “closed the doors and went home while I was swimming my laps in the pool,” which seemed confusing based on the name alone.
The man told ABC News Utah affiliate KTVX that he was nervous to unlock the doors himself for fear that it could set off any alarms or being implicated for a crime.
“I called dispatch and the guy pauses for like 10 seconds and says, ‘You’re where?'” Hill told KTVX. “And I said, ‘I’m in 24 Hour Fitness, and there’s an alarm system here and I don’t want to get busted for breaking and entering.'”
As Hill walked around the gym, he called his wife, who he said suggested he just “find a comfortable place to sleep.”
“I just thought it was kinda funny at the start. You know, it was kinda like Home Alone,” Hill told KTVX. “Like oh my gosh. I have this gym to myself.”
Hill’s post about the ironic incident has garnered 17K likes, 2.5K comments and over 7K shares at the time of publication.
Within 19 minutes of his first post, Hill shared a selfie with some law enforcement officials and the caption “free at last.”
A manager at the gym location where Hill had been locked inside showed KTVX a sign on the door that says it’s open Monday to Sunday from 4 a.m. to midnight.
24 Hour Fitness issued the following statement about the incident:
“On behalf of 24 Hour Fitness, we apologize to Mr. Hill and the unfortunate experience he had in the 24 Hour Fitness Sandy club, 10365 South 1300 East, when it closed Saturday evening. We made the decision recently to close select clubs in the overnight hours of 12:00 to 4:00 a.m. based upon low usage, among other factors,” the statement explained. “In doing so, we have been helping members locate to nearby clubs that are open during the overnight hours.”
“We clearly did not do a good job of our closing procedures for this club on Saturday night and will reinforce our club procedures so that this incident doesn’t occur in the future. We continue to be committed to providing our members and guests with the best possible fitness experience at a great value,” the statement continued.
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