I think it is fair because like it has been said, it is a commitment of the SWC and if you paid for some other type of class you would also pay. 6 weeks holiday is a good number as most full time workers will have an annual leave allowance of something approaching 6 weeks. My mum has to be down as a shift worker as she splits her time between the uk and france as they have a house there so obviously for the time she lives over there she can't attend class but our SWC simply said that she could 'cheat' the sytem. I think that is fair as she isn't shurking the class, just doing something she has done for years. So what I guess I'm saying is that in certain situations then I think a 'loose' commitment like my mum's is fair providing both parties are aware of it from the beginning. But the payment is there to a) let the SWC know where she stands but more importantly b) to keep the member thinking about the class and keep attending. We all join SW with the intention of losing weight and a great way of doing that is to go to the class each week. If you feel like you just can't be bothered or can't face the scales it is still important for your weight loss journey for the next week to keep attending even if the news isn't great - so having that financial commitment may spur you on to attend.
So I think it is fine provided that the exceptions can be taken into account, like shift working. My job is changing over xmas as a temporary promotion and I may not be able to make my class so I've already told my SWC. I hope to attend a different one in the week. If you do this then you don't have the forfeit money because you've still obviously got what you've paid for so it's another thing to consider, if the time isn't great for one week then maybe you could attend a different class as a one off?
I do agree it's a pain that we even have to pay at all because it does feel like the kind of thing we should all be able to do on our own and I think that's why we resent paying the money!
Emerald
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