At Oakland FitnessSF, a man who's name I will leave out of this, harassed a couple over, of all things, how the woman was about to use a machine at the Grand Avenue facility, and the idea that he was supposed to use it before her just because he says he was a gym member for a longer period of time.
I'm not kidding.
I can't believe I saw it. But as I was doing chest presses with weights, a I overheard an angry man behind me talking loudly to a man and woman (who I also know, and I'm leaving their names out of it) behind me.
The angry man (Angry Man, from here on) was upset that the woman was about to use a clasp device to place on the top bar of a machine that's designed such that one can also pull weights from either side toward the person's body, or just do arm-focused lifts.
The Angry Man was not even near the machine at first - he was clear over on the other side of the gym's second floor. But as soon as she started to use the machine, and her husband was doing bench presses, the Angry Man approached. And yes, the dude was so angry the vains in his neck were showing.
He claimed that he was supposed to use the machine next because he was an "older gym member." And had been there since 1996.
The husband was not going to back down, saying "We have a right to be here, and you're going to let my wife use the equipment and wait your turn." But before the Angry Man could get more into his face, I said "HEY! It's Saturday! Let's all have a cocktail!"
Well, as much as I'd like to report that we all did, that's not what happened.
What happened was that The Angry Man came over to me as said "What do you think you can do to help me.?" And so I told him that I do reputation management and I could either help him, or if he continued to bother the couple, I'd make him the day's news.
The Angry Man thought that was a threat, which I said was not. But then I asked if he was into politics because he looked like famed political consultant Richie Ross. He said he's not into politics and never heard of Ross, so I got after him about that, and told him who Ross was.
I told him I was really trying to calm him down, and he admitted that something else was bothering him. But even with that, to take it out on others like that is borderline criminal.
But the objective was to defuse a stupid situation. I mean really stupid.
So things were fine for a bit, as the Angry Man used the same kind of machine, just next to the one that was his original focus.
Then, he went back to the husband and said something about "feeling insulted" but both his wife and myself said for him to just ignore the guy.
For the record, this wasn't a racial situation, but it was a gay v straight encounter, unfortunately. The Angry Man is gay, and the man and woman are not.
Now that might piss off someone, but truth is the truth. I don't understand this dynamic, but happens. And it's generally over really stupid stuff.
I could not get how totally absurd the matter was, and so I had to blog about it. I just had to.
The Angry Man jusr talked to the woman in a way I have never seen, to that point, in person - and for no good reason. He just ran over from a distance. I'm not kidding.
Folks, be nice to each other. Please.
I'm not kidding.
I can't believe I saw it. But as I was doing chest presses with weights, a I overheard an angry man behind me talking loudly to a man and woman (who I also know, and I'm leaving their names out of it) behind me.
The angry man (Angry Man, from here on) was upset that the woman was about to use a clasp device to place on the top bar of a machine that's designed such that one can also pull weights from either side toward the person's body, or just do arm-focused lifts.
The Angry Man was not even near the machine at first - he was clear over on the other side of the gym's second floor. But as soon as she started to use the machine, and her husband was doing bench presses, the Angry Man approached. And yes, the dude was so angry the vains in his neck were showing.
He claimed that he was supposed to use the machine next because he was an "older gym member." And had been there since 1996.
The husband was not going to back down, saying "We have a right to be here, and you're going to let my wife use the equipment and wait your turn." But before the Angry Man could get more into his face, I said "HEY! It's Saturday! Let's all have a cocktail!"
Well, as much as I'd like to report that we all did, that's not what happened.
What happened was that The Angry Man came over to me as said "What do you think you can do to help me.?" And so I told him that I do reputation management and I could either help him, or if he continued to bother the couple, I'd make him the day's news.
The Angry Man thought that was a threat, which I said was not. But then I asked if he was into politics because he looked like famed political consultant Richie Ross. He said he's not into politics and never heard of Ross, so I got after him about that, and told him who Ross was.
I told him I was really trying to calm him down, and he admitted that something else was bothering him. But even with that, to take it out on others like that is borderline criminal.
But the objective was to defuse a stupid situation. I mean really stupid.
So things were fine for a bit, as the Angry Man used the same kind of machine, just next to the one that was his original focus.
Then, he went back to the husband and said something about "feeling insulted" but both his wife and myself said for him to just ignore the guy.
For the record, this wasn't a racial situation, but it was a gay v straight encounter, unfortunately. The Angry Man is gay, and the man and woman are not.
Now that might piss off someone, but truth is the truth. I don't understand this dynamic, but happens. And it's generally over really stupid stuff.
I could not get how totally absurd the matter was, and so I had to blog about it. I just had to.
The Angry Man jusr talked to the woman in a way I have never seen, to that point, in person - and for no good reason. He just ran over from a distance. I'm not kidding.
Folks, be nice to each other. Please.
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