Monday, December 7, 2009

Gym Etiquette - Put the Phone Away, Sister


Maybe I'm petty and negative, but I don't think so. Tell me what you think about this scenario:

So, I'm at the gym this a.m. I do my 25 minutes (3 miles!!!) on the treadmill (stress fracture ain't got nothin' on me), then after some abs, head over to the elliptical for 30 minutes more of sweat and power. Not many people are at the gym today. It's snowy and 4 degrees. I tell you this to set the stage: there are 7 ellipticals lined up. No one is on any of them. I choose one.

Here's where I want to add my two cents. When I go to the gym, I go to work and work hard. I sweat, breathe hard, smell, sometimes fart due to exertion, and am in the zone. I don't go to "eff" around. I know there are those gym rats who meander around the gym, stopping for a drink of water, then chatting with a friend, then going and lifting a weight for three reps, then wiping off their brow, then doing some crunches, then going to pee (you get the picture). I am not one of those. I get my stuff done and get out. Shut up and run and all that.

Anyway, I'm well into my workout when a woman gets on the elliptical beside me. She has her choice of six other machines, but chooses the one beside me. No problem, I don't care about that. What I do care about is that she then pulls out her cell phone and proceeds to have a very loud and lengthy conversation. So loud that I have "Your Sex is On Fire" by the Kings of Leon blasting in my ear, and I can still hear her. Mind you, she's no spring chicken. Maybe 50?

My first inclination is to give people the benefit of the doubt, so it occurs to me that maybe there has been a family emergency or maybe her husband lost his wedding ring or maybe she is another Tiger Wood's mistress coming out of the wood work and needs to call TMZ. I do realize that if it was a true emergency she would probably not be at the gym, but whatever.

Again, I try to give difficult people the benefit of the doubt like when that old lady flipped me off the other day in her car, I just assumed she was wearing Depends and not happy about it and that the early bird special at the Country Buffet was sold out and that Wheel a Fortune was a repeat. But, back to my friend on the elliptical. The reality is that she is saying yelling to her friend, "And then she threw the chocolate chips all over the kitchen and I had to ask her to leave..." so clearly this was no emergency. Here is an observation:

If you can talk on the phone while working out you are not working out hard enough. I'm just sayin'.

Judgemental? Yes. True? Yes.

I gave her the stink eye a couple of times, but it made no difference. I sighed loudly, but she couldn't hear me over her own drama. I told on her to the front desk, but that dude couldn't have given a flying crap. He was all, "Yeah, well, sometimes people complain about this stuff, but it is what it is..."

What do you think? Rude or not rude?

Moving on to more uplifting subjects. You asked for it, so here it is. Me in my party dress. I may not look like the girl in the picture because I am old and without long legs.Ken and I had a great time, although I'm not sure if the wicked hang over was worth it. Champagne, wine and Baileys. Need I say more.

First of all,these are the shoes that killed my feet all night. But I love them. I hear they are very good for a stress fracture:


Shoes + dress + me:
My sweet and adoring husband minus his wedding band:
And after a few drinks:
The four poster bed in our hotel room. I ran into the post in the middle of the night.

Despite the hangover, I got these made yesterday:

Then I went to bed at 8:00p.m.

How 'bout you?

38 comments:

  1. Yes, I am with you when it comes to the gym. I rarely go these days, but when I went, I was all business. i mean, I loved to dress nicely, but I do that when I run outdoors, too - it makes me feel good. The socializing actually does not bother me, mostly bc I get to listen to some juicy details, and that makes the time goes by quicker.
    You look superhot in those pics, btw!

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  2. It's not you...that was really rude! People and their cell phones drive me crazy. The other day a lady in wal-mart was talking on her phone and had it on speaker...I so didn't need to hear the whole conversation.

    Love the shoes...your dress is awesome!

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  3. 1. I can't stand when people work out with their cell phones. W.T.F.

    2. HOT DRESS & KILLER SHOES!

    3. Now I want cookies!

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  4. Hello Hot Mama!


    Argh, that would drive me bonkers. If people want to slack off and workout at a "conversational" effort, that is fine.... but leave the cell phone out of the cardio area.

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  5. I don't take my cell phone with me when I go on a run (sometimes I think i should because there is some creepy people out there). When I go to the gym, I usually leave it in my bag. However, when my husband was deployed to Iraq, I carried it around everywhere I went even on the treadmill. But that was an obvious reason. Other than that cell phones are a definite no go. :)

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  6. I take my cel phone with me on a run, but run with it off unless I need to make an emergency call (which I never have had to- also, when your phone goes on/off, then it pings the nearest tower, and that's data that can be used in the event you are a missing person!). I don't work out at the gym, but I never take a call during dance class at the rec centre. Phone goes off until class is done. It's rude!

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  7. 1) Talking on the phone while working out = RUDE. I don't care who you are, take it outside.

    2) LOVE the dress. Shoes are killer! I hate heels, can't walk for shit in them but damn they make a woman's legs look hot! Yours look better than mine would!

    3) I want to eat all those cookies.

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  8. I unfortunately work out at a base gym, and despite the ipod blaring and a get out of my way look on my face. Men still feel the need to talk to me, I always give them the, does it look like I want to talk to you speech, not too many people on cell phones though, thank goodness.

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  9. wow, what a spread! can I come?!?! I must admit, that lately, while being stuck on the treadmill b/c it's too effing cold to run outside, I've started texting while running. :( Really the joke is on me b/c I'm bound to fly off the thing replying to someone some day, but then everyone will have validation for my asshole-ness. Plus I only do it on "easy" runs. counts for something, right?

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  10. you look amazing in your dress and red heels! love it :)

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  11. I'm so glad I found your blog! It makes me feel SO much better... I give stink eyes a lot (only when they're deserved.....) I get annoyed at the lady who does her weight reps and hangs out on that machine for a good THREE Minutes until she's ready for more reps.. Move it lady!
    Hello?
    Not a very missionary attitude huh? :(

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  12. I am right there with you---unfortunatly it's only going to get worse after Jan 1 :( My gym has HUGE signs that say NO CELL PHONES--and then the people that work there enforce it but, that is because it was REALLY REALLY BAD---people would stand on the treadmill (not moving) for 30 minutes talking while you wait then finally get on it and walk for 10 minutes while thumbing through a magazine! Great blog :)

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  13. TOTALLY RUDE and ANNOYING! My gym now also has a sign for no cell phones. Hot pics mama!

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  14. I agree the cell phone is def. rude!

    Love the dress and shoes!

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  15. oooh you look amazing in the dress :)
    I COMPLETELY understand re your feelings on the lady with the phone ...I bet she is also someone who moans that she 'goes to the gym 5 days a week but isnt getting fitter/losing weight etc etc' She is only kidding herself!

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  16. I would have annoyed at the cell-phone lady too- if you think your gym is bad- imagine my gym- college girls "working out" on the elipitical and the elitptical only. reading a magazine, chatting with friends, getting off after about 10-15 minutes. oh and always wearing skimpy clothes. welcome to the college life hahaha.... and CUTEEE heals by the way!

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  17. I don't understand those people either.

    You have amazing abs!

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  18. When I workout for.get.it. I don't really want to chat, we can do that after. I don't take my phone so dont call. I am all business. I only have so many waking hours a day to squeeze it all in. I probably would have (if I would have had my phone handy) taken out my phone and pretended to call someone and complain about the loud talking lady at the gym. Maybe she' get the message. Grrrrr!

    Wow, you clean up well. I looove those shoes.

    Great looking cookies. You can just send them to be at....heeheehee

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  19. Love your post! I can't stand it when people gab while working out at the gym, whether in person or on the cell phone. Leave me in peace to work out! Is that really asking too much? I also can't stand people who wear tons of cologne or perfume. Seriously? You're about to sweat like a pig (or at least I am)! I almost gagged the other day when this guy got on the elliptical RIGHT NEXT TO ME (there were others available). He smelled like the men's cologne counter at Macy's. Um, pregnant lady here with a heightened sense of smell! If I had had more than 10 minutes left to go I would've just changed machines, but I was so close to being done that I just sucked it up (literally and figuratively). Gross! P.S. Cookies look delish!

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  20. You look great in the dress and shoes!!!

    I think she was rude and what is with the "but it is what it is..." Note\ if he gets off his butt and do something about it.

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  21. My gym has a no cell policy but I don't know if they actually enforce it. Having said that, I really haven't seen anyone on a cell there of late. Good thing - it is rude in my opinion...

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  22. red 'hooker heels' and a hotel room - there's got to be more to that story (i'm guessing).

    hot legs.

    cell phones in public suck.

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  23. This happened to me, exactly. Except for the part where I ripped off my earphones and went, "Seriously?!? Get off the phone!" (in between puffs/gasps of air) and all I got was a snarled upper lip and a look of death. How could I be so un-cool as to interupt her super important chat/sweat fest?
    What really pissed me off is that she burned 200 more calories then me in the same amount of time. Witch.

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  24. OMG you always crack me up.
    There is a lady that comes to the Y here in my towna nd talks on her phone in the middle of spin class.... I KNOW.... annoying. I also hate the ladies that feel they need to shower, do their hair, dress cute, and then go "workout" what the heck.... seriously, I am with you. I am there to get my sweat on and I stink, look terrible, and I don't care.

    BTW- you are one hot momma in that dress.

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  25. Uh, hello hot stuff! Champagne hangovers are the worst! But the cookies look amazingly good! :)
    And I can't believe you didn't say anything - I am so over being nice to people, espcially those that are so obviously rude!
    Have a great week!

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  26. No matter how sad or depressed I can be, if I swing by here for a quick read, you're sure to get a laugh outta me and cheer me up. Thanks for that! And I run but sadly don't quite have those abs. *sniff*

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  27. Hawt pics! Don't tell us you ran into the bedpost. You're supposed to say you sashayed all around that post like Jamie Lee Curtis did in that movie with Arnold Schwarzwhatever.

    I hear you about the gym nonsense. I was doing intervals on the mill one day & got stuck listening to the ladies next to me hollering their business to each other while crawling along at 3mph. I hated not having my iPod at that moment.

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  28. I.am.so.with.you. I go to the gym every morning at 5:00am and for the most part, the people there at that time are fairly serious about their workouts and not there to socialize. However, there are two chatters there (man and woman) that appear to know each other through their kids' high school or something that do the minimal workout and catch up over nothing at loud decibels. Once, they got on ellipticals on either side of me and proceeded to talk about all the kids in the high school class while not breaking a sweat. I wanted to kill them both. (Perhaps that is a bit extreme, but maybe not too far from the truth after about 20 minutes.) But if I can hear your inane conversation over my headphones, you need to shut up. Go out for coffee and gossip...that's what you really want anyway.

    On a positive note, you guys look great in the party pics.

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  29. You look great in your dress!

    And that woman WAS rude. I think it is okay to talk to the person on the machine next to you, if it's your friend, but I agree - if you are talking, you probably aren't getting a good workout. Damn. People in the gym really annoy me sometime.

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  30. Definitey RUDE!!!

    You look amazing in that dress and those killer red shoes! Woohooo!!

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  31. Hot hot HOT red shoes! And dress! Look at you, rockin' that dress better than a teenager!

    Anyway, back to the seriousness that is annoying cellphone ladies...very very very inappropriate, I say. I'm all about sweating and working hard and I don't give a flying frick what I look like, as long as I'm dripping...and I certainly wouldn't yak on the phone about chocolate chip flinging. Weird. Maybe you should make her uncomfortable by giving her a crazy stare. Ya know, just turn your head and look at her for a long period of time.

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  32. YES! RUDE!

    Oh, those shoes are so hot! Worth the pain! It's Sat, I walked in heels on Tuesday, and I'm still hurting... but it was worth it ;)

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  33. RUDE!

    i cant stand it when people are supposed to be working out & they are on their phone or pretending. shit or get off the pot!

    && um was it really necessary for this chick to get on the machine right next to you? double rude!!!

    cute shoes & cute pics--- i love the silly drunk photo- hilarious!

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  34. I vote very rude...I say you work up a good fart and she'll find her own way away from you...or skip the deod to help lol

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