Swimming pool hygiene- other people!

[jamontoastaddict]

I go swimming regularly 3-5 times a week and am always disgusted by the habits of others and wondered if 1) this happens everywhere and 2) if it would annoy anyone else

1. Not putting rubbish in the bin. Today it was a swimming mask packet chucked in the floor. Previously a huge space

blanket left on the changing unit. empty shampoo containers and so on left it the showers

1. people wearing outdoor footwear in the showers when trying to shower kids after swimming lessons. one woman always wears wellies or country boots thick with mud. this means i have to shower in muddy foot prints. in wished they ban out door footwear in the showers or provide shoe covers as no one seems to have any any common decency anymore!

1. the three open showers are opposite the the three toilet cubicles. 9/10 people do not wash their hands and go straight to the the pool back to the lockers. I

just find this so awful!

is it just me that this would annoy?

I hate the way people walk past the "you must shower before entering the pool" signs without showering.

You missed out 'People pissing in the pool'.

Oh I share your pain op
very few people showering before entering the pool
thankfully the pool I go to (attached to a hotel) is vigilant re outdoor shoes poolside. there are free shoe covers or people can go barefoot or wear clean flip flops. However some people are dirty when they feel they can get away with it. We used to have ‘family weekends’ the housekeeper told me that there were lots of dirty nappies and tampons etc just dumped under changing benches.
I saw a woman eat a sandwich in the changing room - between bites she put it directly on the bench where people sit with their bare bums, change nappies and put shoes on…

I don't shower before I go into the pool, because I shower at home then put my cozzie on and go straight to the pool.

I would still shower before I got in the pool, I would be embarrassed that someone would think I hadn't showered. You are going to be wet in about 30 seconds, why not shower?
Do people give you dirty looks?

You forgot to mention the great big splatters of shampoo & conditioner left on the walls of the shower. And dirty great clumps of hair everywhere (and I pay a lot of money for my membership).

Haven’t been swimming since a man cleared the contents of his nose out into the pool during a lane swim.

I thought this was going to be about rubbish, snot, wee in the actual pool, not the change rooms!

I'm not bothered about someone not wetting themselves before going in. As @DilemmaDelilah said, I wash at home, put the costume on and go straight in. Its a 5min walk for me! TBH- I could have wetted myself inside the change rooms, in the outdoors ones or any of them. Do people swimming actually scrutinize every person getting in to see if their hair is wet enough? 🙄
I'd be more concerned about people getting in covered in sunscreen or moisturisers which leaves an oily slick at the sides of the pool.

I can get littering is lazy and ignorant,

muddy shoes is entitled and arrogant

but not washing hands is surely fundamental hygiene go to toilet =wash hands?

Also I have come to terms with whatever gross stuff is in the pool!

I have a thorough shower and wash hair after. some people don't

@jamontoastaddict don't ever learn to scuba dive. Training is in the pool, and the things you see at the bottom are way worse than anything quoted above. 😖

P.S. do learn to scuba dive. It's great, and it only takes a few years to unsee what is at the bottom of a swimming pool.

I've seen real shit inside the pool before.

If the poo is solid it gets netted out and all is good if you get all the lumps.
Diarrhoea or vomit means the pool has to shut so the filters can deal with it.

@HappiestSleeping OMG, this is a real reminder of doing my scuba training in a pool many years ago. Used bloody plasters, clumps of hair, false and possibly real nails and all manner of bodily bits I didn't expect to see floating about under the surface of the pool 😱

but not washing hands is surely fundamental hygiene go to toilet =wash hands?

You know that as soon as they get back in the pool their arsehole is literally getting rinsed, right?

Plasters on the changing room floor always gets me. So so gross.
The pool is definitely full of snot, piss and other bodily fluids though. I enjoy swimming and try not to think about it.

YANBU.

Recently had a trip to Iceland and visited the local swimming pool.

Despite the pool being 70 years old and therefore slightly tired, it was completely spotless and such a serene experience.

You have to take your shoes off before you enter the changing rooms; you then must undress, take your costume into the showers and shower completely naked (and there's a handy diagram on the wall showing you all the parts you need to clean 😆), before putting on costume. Body wash dispensers in the showers.

You must then shower again naked after swimming and dry off before you go back into the changing rooms (so no yucky wet floors!). There's also a swimming costume dryer.

Simple measures, but it was cleaner than the modern, five-year-old leisure centre we go to in the UK.

But then you are putting your outdoor clothes on top of your costume and shoes and then travelling to the pool. Should still shower before entering

I was going to say the same thing, it was just perfect and beautifully warm as the water was direct from the hot springs too warm to swim if I’m honest. Also free for over 67s.

@Mumoftwins78 I have a loose dress I use specifically to cover my cozzie, and I only wear flip-flops to the pool. The changing rooms are minging anyway and I don't think the brief time I wear my (clean) dress is going to make my cozzie dirty. I am quite satisfied that I am clean before getting into the pool.

I was thinking of taking up swimming again, but you've all reminded me why I stopped going. The icks are unbearable.

I never go swimming now for this very reason. The gym is even worse, no one ever wipes down the equipment when they get off it, there is nothing more unpleasant than a bench covered in someone else's sweat

Yes normal at our local pool. It's grim. I dislike swimming anyway but all that makes it worse

I was in the steam room at the gym and a man blew his nose through his fingers on to the floor, coughed up phlegm and washed it down the drain with water from his water bottle. I had to walk out before I vommed 🤢

Our gym was recently taken over and they've removed the antibacterial wipe dispensers and left a pile of cloths with a spray bottle to use (one cloth per visit) 🤢

Not many people revisit the table to spray that cloth again, most just reuse the rapidly drying melange of sweat etc

I now take my own antibacterial wipes and wipe down each machine before I touch anything. The minimal cost to me is worth the peace of mind that I'm not about to sit in someone else's body sweat 🤢

I use to love swimming but ever since a relative use to say your swimming in other peoples piss and shit it really makes me feel sick at the idea now of swimming in a public pool.
I also caught a wart years ago thankfully it's gone now but was picked up from swimming and seeing the state of some people that go swimming really does make feel sick.