Thursday, November 03, 2005
When is it OK to ask people to move?
Today I had my second incident at 24 Hour Fitness with regard to space. Maybe the first time was an abberation, but now I see a trend.
Let's turn back the clock to January 2004. It is the AFC championship game, I am at 24 Hour Fitness, and it isn't very crowded. There is a whole row of empty treadmills. I go to the middle one and begin to walk. I was walking for excercise, and to work on my ankle which was still not 100% after I broke it and had surgery January 2003. I am watching football and walking on the treadmill. I am content. A guy comes over after a while and taps me on the shoulder. He wants my treadmill, he says he has signed up for it. I say, "They are ALL VACANT except this one, take a different one." He is pissed. He wants the one I am on, because it has the best view of the TV with the game on it, although all of them have a pretty good view of the same TV. I am on the one directly in fron of that TV. He says he has signed up for my treadmill. That makes me wonder if it is ethical to sign up for a treadmill when they are all vacant except one? I tell him, "get a manager, I am not moving." I say this because I am curious, will a manager make me move? Well this guy comes back with a manager and the manager asks me to move. He says, "I am sorry but could you please move and let this guy have this treadmill?" He looks extremely bummed to be telling me this. I reiterate that they are all vacant. He says, "I know, but could you please move and let this guy have this treadmill?" So I move.
I move over 2 treadmills, to give the angry guy a little space. Then a woman who had been on a stairmaster behind me gets on the treadmill between me and the guy who kicked me off, and says to me, "Did that guy kick you off to get that treadmill?" And I say, "Yeah." And she turns to him and says, "You ASSHOLE!" And then she turns back to me and says, "I am going to talk to management about this." I say, "You don't have to do that." But she marches out and over to the office area.
When we leave my wife says, "did you hear that yelling?" And I say no. She says that a manager and a woman were arguing and then he was yelling at a woman "Get out of here you crazy bitch." I had to explain that I might have been part of that problem. I didn't ask a stranger to come to my defense, and would have let it drop. Maybe there is a little enjoyment for me that someone else also thought a guy kicking me off a certain stairmaster was uncalled for.
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Now fast forward to yesterday, Nov 3 2005. 5:30 yoga class at Sunnyvale. I am there at about 5:20, I walk into the room with my mat, and since I know I can't do some of the positions, I figure I'll go in the back. When I walk into the room, the back row is about half full and the rest of the room is empty. Apparently others also want to be in the back of the room. A woman comes up to me after I set up my mat and wants me to scoot over. The room is at least 80% empty! I point to the acreage of empty sqaure footage. She wants the back row position next to me. Then I say, "my wife is coming, and I'd like to be next to her." That seems to get this woman out of my face, and she goes to my left still in the back row and gets someone else to move over.
The 2nd incedent did not involve any yelling or much anger. But the 2 events are similar in that both times, someone asked me to move at 24 Hour Fitness when there was plenty of space for this persone if I didn't move. They want MY space. Somehow it doesn't seem right.
Let's turn back the clock to January 2004. It is the AFC championship game, I am at 24 Hour Fitness, and it isn't very crowded. There is a whole row of empty treadmills. I go to the middle one and begin to walk. I was walking for excercise, and to work on my ankle which was still not 100% after I broke it and had surgery January 2003. I am watching football and walking on the treadmill. I am content. A guy comes over after a while and taps me on the shoulder. He wants my treadmill, he says he has signed up for it. I say, "They are ALL VACANT except this one, take a different one." He is pissed. He wants the one I am on, because it has the best view of the TV with the game on it, although all of them have a pretty good view of the same TV. I am on the one directly in fron of that TV. He says he has signed up for my treadmill. That makes me wonder if it is ethical to sign up for a treadmill when they are all vacant except one? I tell him, "get a manager, I am not moving." I say this because I am curious, will a manager make me move? Well this guy comes back with a manager and the manager asks me to move. He says, "I am sorry but could you please move and let this guy have this treadmill?" He looks extremely bummed to be telling me this. I reiterate that they are all vacant. He says, "I know, but could you please move and let this guy have this treadmill?" So I move.
I move over 2 treadmills, to give the angry guy a little space. Then a woman who had been on a stairmaster behind me gets on the treadmill between me and the guy who kicked me off, and says to me, "Did that guy kick you off to get that treadmill?" And I say, "Yeah." And she turns to him and says, "You ASSHOLE!" And then she turns back to me and says, "I am going to talk to management about this." I say, "You don't have to do that." But she marches out and over to the office area.
When we leave my wife says, "did you hear that yelling?" And I say no. She says that a manager and a woman were arguing and then he was yelling at a woman "Get out of here you crazy bitch." I had to explain that I might have been part of that problem. I didn't ask a stranger to come to my defense, and would have let it drop. Maybe there is a little enjoyment for me that someone else also thought a guy kicking me off a certain stairmaster was uncalled for.
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Now fast forward to yesterday, Nov 3 2005. 5:30 yoga class at Sunnyvale. I am there at about 5:20, I walk into the room with my mat, and since I know I can't do some of the positions, I figure I'll go in the back. When I walk into the room, the back row is about half full and the rest of the room is empty. Apparently others also want to be in the back of the room. A woman comes up to me after I set up my mat and wants me to scoot over. The room is at least 80% empty! I point to the acreage of empty sqaure footage. She wants the back row position next to me. Then I say, "my wife is coming, and I'd like to be next to her." That seems to get this woman out of my face, and she goes to my left still in the back row and gets someone else to move over.
The 2nd incedent did not involve any yelling or much anger. But the 2 events are similar in that both times, someone asked me to move at 24 Hour Fitness when there was plenty of space for this persone if I didn't move. They want MY space. Somehow it doesn't seem right.
# posted by Mike @ 8:54 PM 
