I took a job at a big corporate gym. The purple one, with the silly alarm. I was a club manager, in an 11 location franchise group belonging to one owner. The club manager who trained me was the only female manager in the entire group. She was tasked with training others because her club was in exemplary condition, whereas many other franchises were in peril, especially the one I would be in command of. On my very first day she let slip how much the company paid her. It was five figures less than me, and every other manager (all male) in the group. On top of that she was doing the work of a regional manager, a salary that would be double what the company was paying her. The very next time I saw the VP who hired me I very strongly recommended he give her a raise beyond the salary I had agreed to. In the following weeks the company offered her nothing. The same day she put in her two week notice the VP verbally reprimanded me. He told me I crippled the franchise, and it would be illegal for him to fire me for discussing wages. What he did not know is that the club manager who trained me already knew what everyone in the company made. They tasked her with so much extra work that she had access to everyone's salary. The same day I was dressed down the VP interviewed a man in my lobby, without introducing him. In the subsequent weeks the corporate heads built a bullshit case to fire me through “legitimate” means. When they did ambush me with my termination, the man they interviewed showed up as my replacement. They were rude, petty, and dishonest when they let me go, and even if they were paying me a million dollars I would do the same thing all over again.