I first met Colett Taylor (known as C. J. Taylor) several years ago at the Bryan Station High School track. I was practicing disc and her son Obie was there practicing shot put. She asked if I coached and when I said yes she asked for my number so that I could help her son learn the event. When she finally called me years later, I remembered the encounter based on her son’s unique name and her large personality, including her false claim of finishing 4th in the Olympic Trials.
When she finally called me it took several conversations through phone and texts to set up a meeting but she seemed very anxious to meet as soon as possible as Obie would be leaving for college in the near future. That first session I spent about 70 minutes with Obie doing an evaluation of his strength and conditioning needs. Normally I charge $40 an hour but when I brought up payment at the end of the session C.J. said that she did not know that she was supposed to pay. To be fair I don’t remember discussing money with her at that point, so I told her we would consider the session a free consultation.
The following week C.J. brought Obie back for a follow-up session. This time she paid the $40 fee as discussed. While we were there, she asked for a 5 week strength and conditioning plan to get Obie through the remainder of the summer. I told her I normally charge $75 for such a plan but I would happily offer her a military discount as she had mentioned her husband was a disabled veteran. I also offered to teach Obie hammer throw footwork at no charge. At least 3 times she said she wanted a 5 week plan and I informed her it would cost $50.
That weekend I worked for 3 hours putting together a custom plan for Obie. I emailed it as instructed to C.J. and asked for payment to be mailed or brought to our next in person session. She never responded to text I sent that day or over the next couple of weeks. I attempted to call her but she didn’t answer and her voice mail was full. I texted Obie and he told me he didn’t know if she received the plan but said he would get back to me. He didn’t. I called him and he said C.J. was out paying the water bill but he would have her contact me. She didn’t. I tried calling her again and instead of answering me she texted that she had been out of town but would check her email and call me back. Was she paying her water bill out of town? Later I texted again with no response from her or Obie. A couple of days later I had a missed call from her. I tried to call her back 40 minutes later and she again didn’t answer but immediately texted that she would call me back. She didn’t.
C.J. was constantly on her phone for the 2 one-hour sessions I had with Obie. It’s hard to imagine she is truly missing my messages. She was also very adamant about getting Obie a plan to work with as soon as possible. It seems rather unlikely that she just forgot about the plan and no longer cared about Obie’s summer workout. It seems quite likely that she is playing a classic game of ignore and deflect to obtain something for nothing. In other words I’m sure she purposely ripped me off and Obie was aware and participating in it as well.