Man at the gym tells me he is "using" the equipment I'm on when he was no where to be found

I would quote but I don't want to use parenthetical citation for this novel.

if you were doing 400m repeats at the track and a group of walkers jumped on and began to walk 8 lanes wide while you were resting you'd probably complain about that too.

What? Please explain this comparison further because I don't see how these two situations relate to each other.

Did you ask if anyone was using the bench?

He could have been lying (what's a woman doing in the weight room anyways?) and therefore a jerk.

He could have been telling the truth but he's still a jerk for saying that like he owns the bench.

Here's your sign to get a home gym.

GymEtiquette? wrote:

What? Please explain this comparison further because I don't see how these two situations relate to each other.

The fact that you don't know how they relate indicates that you don't know weight room etiquette.

ask first wrote:

Did you ask if anyone was using the bench?

If someone was using the bench, they would have been physically located on the bench. The OP presumably would have noticed this before starting to drag the bench.

not sure why you assumed this man was doing a real workout while i wasn't. first of all, i already indicated he was using the smith machine to bench, so that ought to tell you something about how serious his workout is. second of all, walkers going 8 lanes across is rude, but what's more rude would be me standing in the middle of lane one while i was resting in between sets and then getting mad when someone else ran into me - that would be a more accurate comparison to what happened today.

#MeToo

Right. Do I really need to survey the entire surrounding area to see if anyone is on the bench? People typically sit on the bench in between sets when they are resting and I don't bother those guys.

the fact that this bothered you indicates to me that you are probably at fault in some way.

What leads you to think he would lie about using the bench?

I don't think he was lying that he either used it or was about to use it, but I also don't think saying that entitles you to using it. To me, it's pretty black and white. Either you're on it/near it, or you're not using it. There's been plenty of times when I am using a machine and go to take a water break and someone else is using it; I just move on with my work out rather than trying to kick people off machines that I wasn't physically on at the time they started using it.

So a person can't be bothered by something without being at fault?

Who got the bench?

Haha, I did.

GymEtiquette? wrote:

I don't think he was lying that he either used it or was about to use it, but I also don't think saying that entitles you to using it. To me, it's pretty black and white. Either you're on it/near it, or you're not using it. There's been plenty of times when I am using a machine and go to take a water break and someone else is using it; I just move on with my work out rather than trying to kick people off machines that I wasn't physically on at the time they started using it.

You were wrong.

Yeah, you're not "using it" unless you actively lifting on it or resting in between sets.

Why would anyone wander off while "using" a bench. Lifting rest breaks are short. What are you doing in the ~60 seconds between sets that requires you to go somewhere else?

GymEtiquette? wrote:

So a person can't be bothered by something without being at fault?

no. but the fact that you are bothered by something as lame as this tells me that your point of view is probably skewed and you misinterpret most social situations you are in, so your version of the story is partially untrustworthy. Not that you're lying, your view of the world is probably just warped, thats all.