Tbh the guy at the gym might have a point but not for the reason you think. Asking for 15% straight up puts your boss in a spot where he either says yes or watches you leave, and most managers will just let you walk out of pride. What works better is asking for stuff that does not hit the budget the same way, like extra vacation days, working from home a couple days, or a title bump that helps you get paid more at the next job. So he is not totally wrong, he is just bad at explaining it.

Had a boss who got weirdly upset when I said the office coffee was bad once, same energy as your buddy. You can love what someone gave you and still admit they had some rough patches.

Man, I used to roll my eyes at folks who said hobby groups could get weird like that. Then a buddy of mine got sucked into a "free meditation circle" that turned out to be run by some guru who wanted $500 for a "cleansing crystal" and made everyone cut ties with family. So yeah, that energy wax stuff sounds like step one, not the whole scam.