I go to the gym early in the morning, at a Burlington location. If you don’t know, Burlington’s demographic (I’m thinking this especially applies to those who attend that gym) it’s definitely filled with those who are in a higher income bracket then most places.
Anyway, the change rooms are undergoing renovations for the showers – they are old and out of date so I’m actually pretty excited that this is going on. In the meantime, they have given us portable showers to work with. There are only 4 (compared to 10 we had before) and to get the water going you have to pull down a rope and hold it.
All in all, it’s not bad. I remember being in Greece and having to boil the water to take a warm bath. Hubby says it reminds him of ones he’s used in the military. Realistically, the water comes out with good pressure and it’s warm. And they are clean. Really, it’s not that different from a regular shower.
Or maybe I have no class. It seems that I am the anomaly at my gym. All the ladies do in the change room is complain about these showers – there’s not enough of them, you have to hold the rope down, you need to have flip flops, yadda yaddda.
For the first couple of days I could kind of sympathize – it’s change and most people can’t handle change. But by the fourth day, I wanted to scream at them. Every second I am in there that’s all they do!
I even had one lady stop drying her hair, step around the corner and say to me in a crisp, harsh voice, “Oh my god. Have you used these showers?” (As an aside, she was dressed in scrubs, so I’m sure she’s seen worse situations than these showers).
Me: Yup. They’re not so bad.
Lady : *Gasp* What? Well, how do you do it?
Me: *shrugs shoulders* Um, I pull down the rope when I need water. Then I lather. Then I pull the rope down when I need to rinse off.
Lady: *tsk* Well, I think they are horrible. I just can’t shower here.
Me: Meh. I’ve seen worse (I don’t think she was please at my lack of empathy).
This was then followed by a myriad of women walking in (spinning class was over) all complaining about the showers. I just stood, in my towel, wet hair dripping, and listened.
Lady 1: *dripping with sarcasm* Oh, is there a line up for the FOUR showers?
Lady 2: Ugh I know, aren’t they terrible. Only four showers, what were they thinking.
Lady 3: You know, Julie said this was going to be going on for 6 weeks!
Lady 4: Well, the new showers better be made with gold.
Lady 5: Can you believe that they still kept that green colour for the walls? What were they thinking?
Lady 1 to Lady 2: Oh, are you seriously showering at home?
Lady 2: Yes! I can’t take this. It’s really ruining my morning.
etc, etc. (yes, these are real conversations)
When I left I thought about making this sign and posting it on the bulletin board in the room:

passive-aggressive note I wish I posted
I’m so tempted to post that sign in the gym, but at the same time, I’m not a fan of making passive aggressive notes (while I am a fan of reading them). Instead I thought maybe I would say something to them the next time the complained to me.
But I haven’t gotten that chance. The change rooms have been empty since. I suppose all these rich women need to get to their homes and shower.
Either way, it works out for me – I get the change room all to myself!