Wednesday, May 09, 2007

I Cannot Believe She Yelled At Me

I wrote recently about the "old ladies gone wild" situation at the YMCA...well, I now have a middle-aged woman gone CRAZY!! (and by the way, I find it strange that many of my blog post ideas are coming from the Y).

So I'd just gotten done swimming and a woman walks up and asks kind of conversationally if I had gotten there after her, because she's a little surprised that her lock is on a locker next to another occupied locker. I kind of chuckle and say, "yeah, sorry, I didn't even notice", and continue getting ready. Keep in mind, this whole interaction happens whilst we are both unclad.

Lady: "You know, I've spent too much money on physical therapy for this!"

Me: Staring at her, I nervously laugh a little and lamely say, "yeah". I have no idea what she's talking about.

Lady: "It's NOT funny, and I really don't want to talk about it."

She starts to angrily take her stuff out of the locker, slamming it down on the locker room bench, all the while mumbling about how many hours in the pool and thousands of dollars she's spent fixing her back. I'm still getting ready, mostly trying to get some clothes on because she's totally freaking me out and I'm uncertain if I'm going to have to defend myself or not...and if so, I'd prefer to be clothed.

Lady: "Because of you thoughtlessly using the locker next to mine, I've now hurt my back again."

Me: "No, because you were unwilling to ask for help you hurt your back again. And now, you need to stop talking to me. I did nothing to you, and I want nothing more to do with you".

Lady: "Yeah, easy for you to say when you have your little spot staked out, and I'm over here with a hurt back. One would think that any reasonable person would not use a locker next to another one that's in use. It's rude and inconsiderate".

Me: "I've used this locker every day for months. Now walk away". I put my hand up dismissively.

The lady takes a couple minutes getting dressed and puts on her fanny pack (told you she was crazy). I'm purposely getting ready leisurely so she doesn't think she's intimidated me at all.

Lady: "Excuse me, could I please look, or could you please look to see if there's anything else in the locker".

I open the locker, peep inside, slam it and look squarely at her, "There's nothing in it".

Note: The contents of this post have been edited in length and clarity. There were many mumblings and some comments that were omitted...mostly because I don't remember what they were, and I think what I wrote pretty fairly reflects the event. Oddly, I had intended to write about how I'm more antisocial with people that I don't know, but now this post will serve to explain WHY I am reserved.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Damn. What a weird passive-agressive set-up - I wouldn't have understood why it's "inconsiderate" to take a locker next to a currently occupied locker. She was totally crazy. And next time someone asks you to "describe a time you had to resolve a conflict", (even though it isn't technically a resolution), you can use this to demonstrate that you can refuse to engage in passive-agressive behavior, even when faced with it in the nude.
m.

7:59 PM  

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