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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Woman went into my cubicle and locked the door while I showered

153 replies

IrisAtwood · 20/04/2018 15:21

I can’t decide who was BU in this case. I was changing in a cubicle and had all of my belingings in there - as most do at my gym. I went off to the shower (quick shower!) and when I went back I found the door locked! I knocked on the door and a quite stroppy woman opened it reluctantly and said ‘let me get my trousers on.’ All she said to me was ‘I have a baby here.’ When she eventually came out fully dressed she went over to a bench where she had all of her belongings spread out and gave me daggers looks when I went in to change.
Who was BU?

OP posts:
BlondeB83 · 20/04/2018 18:16

You were! Cubicle hogging!

BuntyII · 20/04/2018 18:31

From the baby comment I presume you were hogging a cubicle with a baby changing table in which case YABVVU

Pengggwn · 20/04/2018 18:56

You were. How was she meant to know where you were or how long you intended to be?

Sequencedress · 20/04/2018 19:00

Is it just me or has the word ‘cubicle’ lost all meaning as I’ve read it so many times?
Just me? Ok! As you were! Grin

PerfectlyDone · 20/04/2018 19:34

Cubicle, cubicle, cubicle, cubicle, cubicle, cubidcle!! Grin

PerfectlyDone · 20/04/2018 19:35

I've only just realised that a 'cubicle' is a small cube Shock[mind blown]

BlooperReel · 20/04/2018 19:38

You were. And you are lucky because i have dumped cubicle hoggers belongings on the floor outside the cubicle before now.

TerfsUp · 20/04/2018 19:39

You were, OP.

2andcountingtodate · 20/04/2018 20:12

Ywbu. You should have showered first. You could have been in the gym or taking a 20 minute shower for all she knew.

ferrier · 20/04/2018 20:18

it is OK to reserve a table in a cafe.

No, it's usually a pretty even split on that issue.

I'd say cubicle hogging seems about 99% unreasonable whereas table hogging only about 30% (from the threads I've looked at - I know it's a popular topic).

Original poster
IrisAtwood · 20/04/2018 20:35

Both unreasonable here. You can't reserve cubicles but equally you can't pinch one with someones stuff in.

I can go with that. Trouble is th culture at the gym is space hogging. So unless you take action you can end up with no room to change. So I do feel driven to make sure I have space - but take your point and have learnt. Going to get changed and put my stuff away before showering.
What really be used me was thatshe had her stuff all over an entire bench. It wasn’t a baby change - a tiny cubicle. Two others free.

OP posts:
Mummyoflittledragon · 20/04/2018 20:36

Two others free when you returned. Perhaps not when she got there.

mummyhaschangedhername · 20/04/2018 20:36

You were! Honestly I can't stand all this hogging of cubicles. Every single cubicle is full of peoples stuff the entire time at my swimming pool, left in the entire time they are swimming! It enrages me. So from my perspective, ABU!

Original poster
IrisAtwood · 20/04/2018 20:56

I notice that there's no response from OP

Posted just before I left and I was at work until an hour ago. 😂😂💼🎓

OP posts:
Original poster
IrisAtwood · 20/04/2018 20:59

There’s no baby change at the gym so changing room benches usually occupied by chnaging mats, changing bags and often you can’t get to the lockers because some bring the buggies in too. 😬

OP posts:
Quietvoiceplease · 21/04/2018 04:11

YABU as I'm assuming there were no other cubicles available.
Your breezy 'quick shower!' actually means you want someone else to wait whilst you shower, (which will not feel quick to them either way) then wait for you to change, in order to access to the cubicle because you'd baggsied if with your clothes.
Have your shower then grab your clothes.
Anything else is an inefficient use of limited cubicle space.

Quietvoiceplease · 21/04/2018 04:17

Oh, I'm sorry OP - I've just read that there were other cubicles free.
Sorry she was VVV unreasonable/weird.
Sounds like a one-woman campaign about space hogging by....space hogging.
(My defence: my swimming pool has only large one baby change cubicle and it is frequently used by whole families taking ages whose youngest looks generally about 7, so I have a tendency to frown on anything resembling cubicle hogging in principle!).

NewPapaGuinea · 21/04/2018 07:58

You played a risky game leaving your belongings/cubicle unattended. Both unreasonable, but she had most likely lost patience with people “hogging” cubicles with their clothes.

FunkSoulSister · 21/04/2018 08:03

Soz - you were !

You don’t just reserve cubicles by leaving clothes there

monkeymamma · 21/04/2018 08:09

Int-er-resting! I was on the recieving end of this last week:

Ds swims at a small local pool. There is a sign saying strictly no belongings to be left in cubicles. All parents were waiting for kids to come out. Ds came out shivering and I bundled him up and we popped into the nearest cubicle to quickly dry him and put clothes on. I never take more than a couple of minutes to do this as I have impatient toddler ds2 with me so we’d have been in and out. But just as I was helping him get his trunks off a huffy woman appeared and told us we had to leave the cubicle because she was ‘just about to change my daughter here’ (daughter was still emerging from her class, and all their stuff was in the cubicle we were in). I felt like the inference was that her daughter deserved the privacy of a cubicle but ds being a boy could change anywhere. He’s not at all bothered about being private but the ‘open’/communal area is right beside the showers (i know 🤔) so you get soaked standing there. I left the cubicle but was pretty grumpy about it. Now thanks to mumsnet I feel vindicated 😂

NiceHotBath · 21/04/2018 08:16

I think that anything left unattended in a cubicle is fair game for being put outside while someone else uses it. Assuming there are no other cubicles free, of course.

Only exception I think is reasonable is when a small child suddenly needs the loo half way through changing - at that point I think it's ok to leave stuff in a cubicle as they're half way through and should be pretty quick and if you faff around gathering stuff up then they might have an accident (which is worse for other users).

Aragog · 21/04/2018 09:34

Are people suggesting I take my gym kit off in the cubicle then put it in my locker and then move my stuff into another cubicle, if one is free, after?

I do! Or I take them off in the shower cubicle. In the communal area I take off my shoes and socks, bra a towel round me and remove my gym trousers - and put them in the locker. In the shower I remove underwear and t shirt and put them in a small plastic back on the hook outside my shower, with my towel. I then use a cubicle after the shower - with a towel wrapped round me to go between shower, locker and cubicle.

I often use a cubicle at the Virgin Gym as several of my pupils have swimming lessons there.

There are only 3 cubicles so it would be impolite to take one up whilst I was in the shower.

Sometimes there are none free and it is really tricky for me to change, and I end up having to wait around. I just don't feel comfortable changing potentially in front of the children I teach. Luckily no one at our gym seems to hog a shower when not using it.

FunkSoulSister · 21/04/2018 09:47

Are people suggesting I take my gym kit off in the cubicle then put it in my locker and then move my stuff into another cubicle, if one is free, after?

What would you do after a swim? At our gym we just nip to the shower cubicles , undress there. The towel hangs on the door, staying dry, maybe your gym kit could do the same?

Then scoot round to your locker in a towel , go to your locker and head to a cubicle to get changed

whatwouldrondo · 21/04/2018 09:52

Aragog and Funk read my last post, it just isn't the custom at my gym. In any case I think gym kit is different to swim kit, if I swim I go straight to the showers but if I have done a workout there is a full set of clothing and gym shoes to take off. l think a lot of this argument is down to different conventions in different gyms and pools.

whatwouldrondo · 21/04/2018 09:59

Plus I have the added problem of having to position my arms so nobody can see I am flat on one side when I am wearing a towel for fear I set off other women's insecurities / phobias (and yes I am bitter about this), impossible if I also have a full set of kit to carry as well. As long as the cubicles are not used much I will continue that way with a clean conscience......

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