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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Altercation at the pool

92 replies

mamangelo · 24/08/2018 21:01

First time poster. Really need some views on an experience at the gym today as going back and forth in my mind as to whether I was wrong or not.

I took my two small boys (aged two and three, almost four) swimming today. We had a lovely time, they were both well behaved and not to noisy. I was negotiating them out of the pool to the changing room when my youngest boy knocked a sign by one of the swimming lanes (one stating it was the slow lane) it toppled over and I couldn’t catch it before it fell into the water. I apologised to the lifeguard who was very smiley and all ‘no problems’ about it. A nice man in the pool lane lent down and picked up the sign. At this point a lady swimming towards us exclaimed her glasses were on the sign and were broken. The nice man dunked down and picked up her glasses and declared all was well with them. She took them from him and began looking in earnest for a fault. The man in the pool said something along the lines of ‘come on!’ and I started walking away with my children (bearing in mind their ages i wanted to herd them away from the swimming pool) I could also tell this lady was just that type. You know, spoiling for a fight. Anyway the long and the short is she declared the glasses to be ‘loose’ and although I pointed out she could tighten them very easily herself with a small screwdriver she declared she didn’t have one. I walked away. I just felt she wanted money out of me/ an argument and I was not A. In a position to discuss it given I had my two children in a swimming pool and needed to solely focus on them and B. I don’t want to engage with negative/ poisonous people like that.

So what do people think. Was i being unreasonable to walk away?

OP posts:
woodfires · 24/08/2018 21:26

My DH, who is blind as a bat gets very stressed if anything happens to his glasses and is always convinced that any small knock as damaged them. However he only leaves them in safe places, not perched on top of signs.

ScreamingValenta · 24/08/2018 21:26

She sounds like a person who goes through life looking for confrontations.

NotAnotherNoughtiesTune · 24/08/2018 21:28

She was in the wrong.

Granted I'm nearly blind but would not blame someone for damaging something I left out in public.

You can also go to an opticians and they'll usually do it for free for you.

PlatypusPie · 24/08/2018 21:30

She was daft leaving her glasses there - apart from her potential loss , if they had been knocked and broken, that would have posed a danger to all those bare feet - potentially some could have fallen in the water which means all kinds of trouble in making it safe. ( DD had years of summer lifeguard job and they were very strict about glass around the pool area - one of the managers had to go in in diving gear and an underwater strong mini vacuum, shutting the pool and checking all the filters after a similar mishap :( )

It may be leaping to a conclusion that she was instantly after money, though - as a bat myself ( with prescription goggles ) - any problems with my glasses when out would worry me and I too might be testing the arms and checking the security of the lenses. She was probably upset and worried and cross that it had happened ( albeit in the wrong for leaving them there in first place)so cut her a little slack.

applesisapple5 · 24/08/2018 21:32

I'm v short sighted and do leave my specs on the side of the the pool (otherwise I have to walk to and from the pool in my prescription goggles) but I make sure they're safe and not going to be in a high traffic area. I would have been v worried if someone knocked them in the pool bit if they were actually ok then YANBU there's nothing more to say.

FlaviaAlbia · 24/08/2018 21:34

I left my glasses by the side of the pool and someone dragged a canoe over them. It was my own fault for leaving them there so I had to suck it up. The guy apologised and that was that. I have prescription googles now though Smile

Poodletip · 24/08/2018 21:39

It's a stupid place to leave glasses. Someone could easily end up standing on them and get broken glass in their foot.

YANBU

AnnaMagnani · 24/08/2018 21:41

You don't leave your glasses on top of a sign, that's asking for trouble!

If you really really can't see to swim, you get prescription goggles.

Plus opticians will tighten them for free.

TheCakeCrusader · 24/08/2018 21:41

The woman was being unreasonable given that she left her glasses on a sign not designed for her personal use and which would put them at risk of being knocked over.

Cherrysherbet · 24/08/2018 21:41

Don't give it anymore thought. She was being ridiculous.

Dollymixture22 · 24/08/2018 21:41

I have very poor eye sight. Just wear my perscription goggles and leave my glasses safe in the locker. No one is expecting there to be glasses dotted around the pool. They can easily get knocked over and stood on.

Silly lady, forget about it. She got her glasses back and maybe will invest in a case. I also don’t see how they could have become loose from falling in the pool

mumsastudent · 24/08/2018 21:41

also B as Bat I wear my glasses when swimming (in shower bath & anywhere else never find the blinking things otherwise!) so no danger but if she was going to leave them loose at random place her own fault = she should have put them in a glasses case somewhere safe - real glasses are expensive I wonder if they were from the pound shop for reading :) - on top of sign that could fall over really?

Original poster
mamangelo · 24/08/2018 21:41

Hooray I feel like a load has lifted off my shoulders!!!!!! Thanks all for your comments Grin

OP posts:
popocatepetals · 24/08/2018 21:42

I don't actually think that anything breakable and made of glass should ever be left by the side of a public swimming pool to be honest.

She shouldn't have put them there.

Talkingfrog · 24/08/2018 21:42

Yanbu - the glasses shouldn't have been there.
I am short sighted. When in primary / comp my lenses were changed to stronger ones every 6 or 12 months.(think milk bottle bottoms) As a child swimming I would leave my glasses in the cubicle /locker. I may not have been able to see clearly but managed.

As an adult my eyesight isn't getting any better (I am the wrong side of 40 Grin). I mainly go in the pool with my daughter. I am not putting my head under the water, and need to be able to supervise her so wear my glasses. If they get damaged on the pool it is a risk I have to take. (the last pair cost £200 for just the lenses.

She should not have left them there. If she needed them at the side of the pool, she should have put them in a case, and left the case somewhere out of the way on a folded towel.

Silvercatowner · 24/08/2018 21:46

Surely if the glass in the glasses had broken and gone in the water (quite likely, falling of a sign) then the whole pool would've had to be emptied??

PrivateDoor · 24/08/2018 21:51

She was an idiot. The lifeguard and the helpful man clearly realised this too. Don't give it a second thought Flowers

Hillarious · 24/08/2018 21:53

Are lenses actually made of glass these days?

The lady was being unreasonable. Isn't this why opticians give you your glasses in a case - ie to protect them?

I'm very short-sighted and could potentially have trodden on thelady's glasses as I would have left my glasses somewhere safe, like in my locker, before getting that close to the water.

Silvercatowner · 24/08/2018 21:58

Are lenses actually made of glass these days

Actually most are plastic. Still sharp and will cut a foot if broken (bitter experience)

Poppyinagreenfield · 24/08/2018 22:07

She should have left her glasses in a safe place. She was in the wrong. She should have been removed from the premises.

I go swimming and cannot see small items left in random places without wearing my glasses. I would have asked for her to be removed due to her ridiculous behaviour.

LotsToThinkOf · 24/08/2018 22:08

They should have been in a case, she might need them to see to get to and from the pool but putting him in a case would have prevented any damage. It would also prevent the glass/plastic sticking in someone's feet!

AnnieAnoniMoose · 24/08/2018 22:11

It’s a wonder she didn’t get a bollocking from the life guard for leaving something breakable, not even in a case!, at the side of the pool. She might have caused the whole pool to have been evacuated and cleaned/emptied. Stupid, stupid, woman. She’s very bloody lucky they weren’t broken and if they had been, it would have been 100% HER fault.

Ignore ignore ignore.

toomanychilder · 24/08/2018 22:11

She took them from him and began looking in earnest for a fault.. Anyway the long and the short is she declared the glasses to be ‘loose’ and although I pointed out she could tighten them very easily herself with a small screwdriver she declared she didn’t have one. I walked away. I just felt she wanted money out of me..

Actually it sounds like your kids broke her glasses and you're being a real dick about it. She's not "that type" you are.

EduCated · 24/08/2018 22:16

YANBU, I’m another glasses wearer who thinks it’s a daft place to leave them. And that glasses don’t become ‘loose’ after being knocked into water!

Creambun2 · 24/08/2018 22:18

Are you middle class OP?