Thursday March 9th, 2023
Alex awoke promptly to his alarm at 5am and stretched a bit before getting up. After a good nights sleep he really did feel like his body contained a bit more energy than it did yesterday. ‘Cheers to Constitution level 5!’ he thought to himself. He proceeded to go through his morning ablutions before heading to the kitchen for his morning cereal.
‘Zara, remind me later to look through the system store later for something to help me become a better cook. I’m willing to spend my personal funds at this point,’ he says, looking at the cereal in front of him sadly.
[There are three problems with that, Alex. Would you like me to list them?] Zara responded.Alex thought for a moment whether he really wanted the answer or if it would hurt his self-esteem even worse. After what felt like an eternity but was really only a couple of seconds, Alex decided to bite the bullet and said, ‘lay it on me Zara.’
[Problem #1 – I’ve seen you in the kitchen, you are truly inept and a lost cause in the kitchen. I’ve run various simulations and there is a 2.47% chance you’ll ever make any progress in cooking.] replies the mechanical voice.Alex slumps his head down hearing this, ‘I think I always knew this would be the case…’
[Problem #2,] Zara continued [Personal funds cannot be used in the system store. Personal funds are automatically deposited into your bank account to be used outside of the system.]‘Damn!’ Alex thought that he’d been saving up a secret stash to buy cool system products with his personal funds. ‘I guess that plan has been dashed.’
[Problem #3 – The system store does indeed contain AI chefs and automatic cooking equipment but you’ve yet to unlock the culinary product line and do not currently have access to them at your current store level. Even if you did, with your current company funds of $573.40 you couldn’t afford them,] Zara responded and Alex could swear he heard a hint of superiority in her voice which was clearly impossible right?‘Well, there goes that idea,’ Alex thought to himself. He looked down at his cereal again, ‘I guess it’s just you and me for now buddy,’ as he continued to eat his breakfast.
In Alex’s mind, the idea of convincing Kaitlyn to marry him so that he could eat better meals suddenly appeared but he quickly shook his head to get rid of the thought. There was no way she’d marry a dropout like him unless he make his business successful. They initially got together because they were both walking the same road in business administration and he knew it was important to her to be with someone who shared her interests and ideals.
Deciding to get on with his day, Alex headed downstairs to the gym and saw Jensen hanging out downstairs, seemingly working on the social media accounts for FitTech.
“Good morning Alex,” Jensen called out after he saw him coming. “You wouldn’t believe how popular the video of you using the VR Martial Arts Simulator is online.” Alex looked over his shoulder at the computer screen and saw a bevy of comments, pictures, and videos showing Alex boxing with the VR goggles on.
“If we don’t handle this properly,” Jensen continued, “I think we could have a real problem on our hands.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked with some confusion “The store gaining popularity is a good thing right?”
“Naturally, popularity is a good thing,” acknowledged Jensen. “The problem is in supply and demand. Even with the three additional sets you purchased last night, we only have four VR Martial Arts Simulators in the gym. This clearly won’t be enough if these social media posts are anything to go by. Until we have enough supply of equipment to meet the demands of our customers, scarcity is going to be an issue.”
“I see what you mean now,” Alex replied. “Give me a minute to think of a solution. I remember reading about this in one of my books.”
Alex remembered reading about scarcity in his economics books at college. One main way to resolve scarcity issues is to raise the price, which didn’t really make sense in the gym. He didn’t want to raise the membership price due to one equipment offering. He could consider the VR simulator as an add-on though and treat it in the same way as a class offering like yoga. Alex had used it yesterday and it really was a systematic teaching method to learning various martial arts.
In order to keep access to the VR Simulator as fair as possible, he would set up a system of rationing to distribute access to the most amount of people. In this way, it would not only stop people from hogging the equipment and make things more fair. It would also increase the awareness of these incredible machines to many customers who would potentially share it with their friends and families.
“Here is what I’m thinking,” Alex started. “I’ll need both you and Zara to help me with this plan. Zara, you’ll help me with the various aspects of implementing the plan, and Jensen, you’ll help me by updating the FitTech social media accounts. You will let our customers know that we’re aware of the issue, what we are currently doing to resolve it, and that more VR Simulators will be available in the near future and that once our supply exceeds the demand for the equipment, we will ease up on the restrictions.”
“Zara, here’s what I need from you,” Alex continued. “First, we’ll need to set up a reservation section for the VR Martial Arts Simulator. I think it would make the most sense to put it under class offerings along with yoga under the umbrella of the Membership Management Page. We will limit customers to one hour of time on the simulator a week for now and charge the same $40.00 per hour that we do for the yoga class”
Thinking of a potential issue with the plan, Alex asks, “I know that the VR Simulator makes a profile for each person who uses it, is there a way to sync this profile with the reservation system to show a timer for each customer with their time left for the week?”
[This is easy,] Zara responded. A moment later she said, [I have now implemented the reservation system for the VR Simulator in the Membership Management Page of the website and the mobile app. It has also been synced with the VR simulator profile so that it can only be used during the reserved hours and will kick out the user once their time is up. Is there anything else?]“Not for now, thanks Zara,” replied Alex. “Jensen did you get all of that? Let our customers know that about the reservation system as well as the cost and how to access it. Also let them know that we’ll be using our profits in the near-term to purchase more VR simulators to allow more access.”
“Got it, boss,” replied Jensen as he started typing away on the computer.
“I think that’s the best we can do for now,” Alex said, more to himself than anyone else. “If we’re able to digest this popularity properly, it will truly be a great thing for FitTech. More foot traffic means more memberships, yoga class sign-ups, and consumable purchases.”
Thinking about the potential windfall these simulators could bring to the gym, Alex did the math in his head. Just kidding, he used a calculator.
Four machines x $40.00 = $160 x 16 store hours a day = $2,560
If they could max out the usage of just these 4 machines, he’d be able to earn approximately 30% of what the gym currently grossed in a day in new revenue. Seeing this for the huge money-making opportunity that it was, Alex decided that if this became as popular as he thought it would and customers were willing to pay $40.00 to access it, he’d definitely prioritize adding more machines for a while until he needed to save up for something else.
The current edge that FitTech had over other gyms and fitness centers was currently Richard, the AI Fitness Instructor who could individualize fitness plans for many customers at the same time. If this VR Martial Arts Simulator could become the second unique edge that FitTech had over others, it could really catapult their popularity and brand awareness forward.
At this point it was already close to 6am and Jensen unlocked the doors once it was time. There were already a few customers lined up outside the door and Alex overheard them talking in excited voices about learning karate and kung-fu.
“Sir,” one of the more bold customers said to Jensen. “We would like to try the VR Martial Arts simulator!”
As Alex had only just created the reservation system, these customers hadn’t seen the news yet. Jensen calmly explained the process to the customers. “Certainly. We have just created a reservation system for the simulators. Each customer can reserve 1 hour a week at $40 dollars. The reservations can be made in the class section of the Membership Management Page on either the website or the mobile app. You can also complete the process using the kiosk at the reception desk.”
“I can become like Bruce Lee for $40 dollars a week?! I will sign up right now!” the man pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly went to sign up.
There just happened to be four customers standing there so they were all able to reserve the 6am time slots and eagerly headed to the functional zone to get started.
The next hour was filled with the 4 customers animatedly performing various footwork and martial arts movements with exaggerated sound effects like “Kapow!” “Whack!” “Hiyah!” “Chop!” and “Bam!” These sound effects were all shouted out by the customers by the way, which was certainly amusing, but Alex liked the enthusiasm.
As the store owner, Alex had reserved one of the 3pm time-slots for himself each day. There had to be some perks for being the owner, right?
The morning shift was more busy than usual. The netizens had noticeably raised awareness of FitTech due to the simulator. Alex and Jensen spent a good amount of time talking to new customers who came to the gym once they heard about the martial arts simulator. This resulted in a good number of new memberships and impulse purchases of products like the smart water bottle, the bluetooth headphones that would allow them to hear Richard’s voice on the FitTech app while they worked out, various sports clothing, and supplements.
Alex was also fascinated by a certain phenomenon. After products on the shelves were picked up by customers, they would magically become restocked when nobody was paying attention. He seemed to be the only one to notice this. ‘The system is truly too magical,’ he thought to himself.
His mother, Mary came down around 10am to get a workout in and was amazed to see the business booming. “Alex this is amazing!” Mary exclaimed. “There are so many people here today! How’d you do it?”
“Hi mom,” Alex smiled as he replied. “We’ve just released a new machine called the VR Martial Arts Simulator. You can see people using it over there.” He pointed out the people practicing various martial arts over in the functional zone. “It uses virtual reality technology and teaches people different martial arts styles like boxing, aikido, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. If you’d like to try it, I can reserve a time-slot for you.”
“No need, no need,” she waved him off. “A simple workout routine with Richard’s help is good enough for me. Is that Jensen, the new employee you were telling me about?”
She pointed at Jensen over at the reception desk who was busily answering customer questions at the moment.
“That’s right mom. I’m training Jensen and another person named Olivia to take over the morning shifts so I don’t have to work so hard. I also have two other new hires for the night shift, Carter and Rose who I’m sure you’ll meet later. Your son has been very busy lately,” he said with a hint of pride and he stood a little taller.
“So many new employees!” Mary gasped. Her motherly side kicked in and she questioned Alex, “Are you sure you can afford so many new employees?”
Appreciating her concern, Alex smiled gently and responded, “Don’t worry mom. Just look around the store, business is booming. If this keeps up, not only will we be able to afford these new employee’s, we might even be able to expand the business.”
Suddenly remembering something, Alex continued, “Also, I know you’ve always wanted to learn yoga. Jensen and the others are also yoga instructors and we’re going to start offering a few classes every day starting next week. Pick, which class time you want to attend and I’ll sign you up for free. You can grab a yoga mat you like from up front and keep it, there are lots of different colors.”
“That’s wonderful honey!” Mary was well and truly excited now. She’d always seen other ladies doing yoga on the beach while she was toiling away in the restaurant with her husband. Now that she didn’t need to work she really liked the idea of being one of those women who could go out to the beach and do yoga. “You do what you need to do Alex. I’m going to go talk to Jensen about yoga!” and his mother quickly ditched him to go talk about yoga with Jensen.
Alex had grown up here watching his parents working in Whitfords Restaurant. He saw the way his mother had looked longingly at women doing yoga out on the beach, so he wasn’t surprised at all by her excitement once he brought it up. He was glad that he was able to provide her with something she could be happy about and keep her busy, especially after the loss of his father.
As lunchtime approached, the hype didn’t seem to be dying down at all. The gym became increasingly busy and at a quick glance from Alex, seemed to be about 60-70% at capacity for the first time since he added all of the new equipment a few days ago.
He hadn’t really been paying attention to this in the past as it wasn’t an issue, but now that he realized it, he decided to walk over to Jensen and ask him to keep an eye on equipment capacity. If it got to the point where they didn’t have enough equipment to serve the gym members, he’d need to purchase more.
He asked Jensen to keep an eye on the various zones and let him know when he needed to purchase more of a specific piece of equipment in the future. Alex decided to keep at least $5,000 in the company funds from now on in case of emergent situations like these. He didn’t want to wind up in a position where he needed to buy more equipment but didn’t have any money in the accounts.
As an AI, Jensen was truly tireless and had no problems keeping up with the increased amount of customers in the store. Alex pondered purchasing another AI Shapeshifter in the future for a moment before deciding that it was $5,000 that could be better spent elsewhere, like on more VR Martial Arts Simulators.
The simulators had been in operation all morning and since they had addressed it’s usage restrictions early, customers willingly accepted the reservation system and were in a hurry to sign up. Some people were happy when they found available time-slots they could use. Others were sad that during the times they could come to the gym, the time-slots were filled up.
Alex told Zara to limit reservations to the current week and to open up the next weeks reservations on Mondays at 5:30am. He also had Zara put a note that alerted customers to when the next weeks reservations would open up. In this way he’d done the best he could to give everyone a fair chance to sign up.
With that taken care of, Alex decided to head upstairs and relax for a few hours before Sydney and Rose arrived for the night shift. He also had his session on the VR simulator at 3pm so he would schedule that into his afternoon workout.
Alex quickly made himself his go-to PB&J for lunch and then headed out onto the balcony with his laptop to relax for a while. He could watch the beach as well as see the foot traffic outside the gym from here so it was a good spot to hang out.
