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AIBU?

To have reprimanded the man who sat on my towel

86 replies

grossedoutswimmer · 18/04/2017 11:01

Name changed for this because embarrassing/I may be being unreasonably petty. Let me know. I'm 38 weeks pregnant and maybe a hormonal blob.

So after dropping DC1 off at nursery, I manage to go swimming (you know, to get the baby moving down in my pelvis) on the first day of my maternity leave, in the nice gym pool that I pay an arm and a leg for but have hardly used lately. Pool lovely and quiet. Doing languid breastroke. Then a bearded, 20-something, visibly sweating man comes out of the sauna and plonks himself down on top of my towel, laid out on one of several loungers (others are empty). I also have a few other things, like my comb and water, so squawk gently "I think you might be sitting on my things". He is frenetically typing away on his phone and just says "oh is this yours?" Doesn't offer to move.

I carry on swimming. He carries on going in and out of sauna, having a quick shower, going back in, coming out, plonking himself down on my towel every time, typing stuff on his phone. Eventually when I get out I have to go over, massively pregnant, and prise towel from under him. At this point I feebly complain "it's all wet." He says "I haven't even been in the water." Doesn't apologise. Towel is wrinkled and damp. I say "in that case you must have been sweating on it." He says I have a filthy mind. WTF?? Everyone is looking now, so I tell him to have some fucking respect and waddle upstairs to have gross shower where I can hardly bear to dry myself. As I go up the stairs he is making unbearably patronising "shoo shoo crazy lady" gestures.

What should I have done? It is gross, right? There were two clean towels (presume one was his) on one of the other loungers but I didn't want to take one of those in case they belonged to the other two swimmers.

OP posts:

Report

Sassypants82 · 18/04/2017 11:06

That was super rude of him. YWNBU. are the towels supplied by the gym?

WonderMike · 18/04/2017 11:07

Was it your towel from home? In which case he's a complete knob head and in the wrong.

If it was a towel provided by the gym, he was just being an lazy, insensitive, immoral git.

SquinkiesRule · 18/04/2017 11:08

Gross, you should have got out and had a go at him the first time.
By time number two you could yell at him about his sweaty arse and being disrespectful.
Pity you didn't know which his towel was, you could have nicked it to dry off.
Be more prepared to stand up for yourself tomorrow. Blame the hormones.

MrsJaniceBattersby · 18/04/2017 11:17

Bloody hell , you were positively reserved as far as I can see
I'd have gone mad and I'm not pregnant

grossedoutswimmer · 18/04/2017 11:27

OK, thank you all. It was a gym towel. If I hadn't been pregnant I might have gone out into the foyer through the door in my costume to get another one, but I feel too exposed with my big belly (squeezed uncomfortably into my normal costume because too tight to buy a maternity one).

I was shaking with indignation by the time I left, but couldn't think of what to say!

OP posts:

RainbowPastel · 18/04/2017 11:28

He is gross but you shouldn't have put your towel on a lounger you weren't currently using.

lottieandmia · 18/04/2017 11:30

YANBU - he's rude and disgusting.

DEMum101 · 18/04/2017 11:32

YANBU. He should have offered to get you a clean one. Or apologised and given you his if he hadn't used it. Rude.

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 18/04/2017 11:33

I wouldn't have wanted to use it after he'd been sitting on it.
I would have just said "shall I wait here while you go and get another one for me?"

PollyBanana · 18/04/2017 11:34

Why on earth did you prise ot out from under him?
H'ed obviously claimed it as his so maybe ask him to give you his clean unused on.

KungFuEric · 18/04/2017 11:35

he was rude, but I can understand where he's coming from. You are not in ownership of the towel or the lounger any more than he was, so what did it matter if you just grabbed a dry one.

honeycheeerios · 18/04/2017 11:36

He was a twat.

Doesn't matter if it was gym supplied or not, you pointed it out and he continued to do it.

You will get some people getting all hysterical over putting stuff on a lounger but if there are loads of empty ones what does it matter.

Alyosha · 18/04/2017 11:36

Sounds like a sexist knob. I would have hit the roof.

You were definitely too reasonable!

Chloe84 · 18/04/2017 11:38

He is gross but you shouldn't have put your towel on a lounger you weren't currently using.

Why not Rainbow? OP pays for the privilege to do so.

OP, did you actually tell him to have some fucking respect? Well done!

Goldfishjane · 18/04/2017 11:38

You're too nice
I'd have shouted "dude, I don't want your arse on my towel".

KungFuEric · 18/04/2017 11:40

I think it's misleading calling it 'your' towel, when it's just a generic gym towel.

Questioningeverything · 18/04/2017 11:41

I'd have told him to take his sweaty arse off my fucking towel or go and get me a new one to replace the one he's got his bodily fluids over.
I was not a happy pregnant woman 😂

GloriousGoosebumps · 18/04/2017 11:49

Why shouldn't the op have left her towel on a lounger? If I had seen a lounger with a towel, a bottle of water and a comb laying on it, I'll have realised that it was being used and simply sat somewhere else. It's not exactly rocket science. This reminds me of that certain type of man who, when sitting, spreads his legs so wide ('cos he has massive balls , don't you know) that he encroaches into your space. For some reason, they just don't see women.

Chloe84 · 18/04/2017 11:49

I think it's misleading calling it 'your' towel, when it's just a generic gym towel.

Kunt when you borrow a supermarket trolley, would you happy if someone else just took it for their own shopping?

Chloe84 · 18/04/2017 11:49

Kung

KungFuEric · 18/04/2017 11:53

If I had items and it was clearly being used, no.

If I found it unused in the middle of an aisle, yes.

If it was a clearly clean unused looking towel, I can understand where he thought 'I pay an arm and a leg to use this gym, oh great a sun lounger with one of the gyms clean fluffy towels on it.' I can understand the op's annoyance, but I'd have just given a shrug as I collected my water and brush and grabbed one of the other towels on the lounger, I find it a bit odd that she wanted this mans used towel still.

GlitterGlue · 18/04/2017 11:56

He should have taken his sweaty arse to reception and got you a fresh towel. That's grim.

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EweAreHere · 18/04/2017 11:58

He was a complete and utter asshole.

He should have moved your towel if he wanted to sit down.

Your towel shouldn't have been there, though. I HATE people who drape their stuff over the very limited lounge chairs at gyms while they swim. Ours had 7 lounge chairs and countless swimmers. It was completely unreasonable for people to 'reserve' one in this manner. Use it or get your stuff off of it.

PuddleTrouble · 18/04/2017 11:59

You should have made sure your hair was wet then accidentally dripped all over his phone. Who takes a phone poolside?

2014newme · 18/04/2017 12:01

It wasn't your towel but he was rude.

You are wearing a normal non maternity swimming costume at 38 weeks? 😱 no wonder you're squeezed into it!

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