first gym was a mcdojo when I was a teenager and the guy that taught TKD had a huge ego and was a douche,,,,Judo guy seemed really cool but I had chosen TKD and felt like I couldn't swtich. Ended up quitting and not training again for decades,,,,wish I had chosen judo.
as an adult went to a boxing gym at lunch time, had an old jamaican trainer who would fall asleep, but I kinda liked him when he was awake,,,,other trainers would try to steal you for the money they'd get for your sessions..place was full of young professionals who thought they might become bad asses, and trainers would laugh at them behind their backs. I was older dude and had no pretensions so they didn't mind talking that kind of shit in front of me,
switched to a more ghetto but harder core muay thai place that was fun because I trained with an older retired pro boxer and some decent muay thai fighters but things were pretty lax when it came to cleanliness.
Remember realizing my trainer had stolen one of my shirts that I must have left in a locker overnight when he was wearing it a few days latter.
Remember bringing a younger fit co-worker to train for a trial class after I'd been going and he ended up puking which made me feel pretty good about my level at that time
Remember them pointing out the local drug dealers and watching transaction from the ring while we paused sparring and they explained the way the whole operation worked,
I once got put in to spar with a kid that was younger by two decades, bigger, more experienced, wildly aggressive and I later found out was using 10 ounce gloves to my 16 ouncers.....asked coach wth? he replied "well at least now you know you can take a punch.
Actually kind of strange that was my best gym and I look back on it fondly.