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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Class Etiquette

16 replies

andthebandmarchedon · 07/05/2019 12:41

Hi all.
I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this.....
I've just been back to a new exercise class for the second time. I really enjoyed it last time but couldn't follow the steps very well as I wasn't near the front.
I went back a week later and paid, then went to stand in the front. Just before the class, the instructor came up to me and mentioned "Julie" who normally stands here and has been coming for the last 6 or so years but it seems wasn't there yet. I said I had trouble following the steps last time so had moved forward. She didn't ask me to move but said laughing that I can always follow Julie as she knows them all.
I just don't know what to make of this whole conversation! In my experience, people pay and go and stand wherever there is a free spot and get on with it. I have no interest in getting involved with politics over who stands where. I just want to learn the steps and exercise! Is it me being over sensitive or was this a veiled request to move for the regulars? In which case, is it not appropriate that the instructor might realise that new people actually might need to see her to learn?
The whole thing just left me feeling rather odd and unwelcome.

OP posts:

jcq17 · 07/05/2019 12:41

Tell her to piss off and go elsewhere she sounds like an arse.

babysharkah · 07/05/2019 12:42

Most people in the classes I go to have a 'favourite' spot but if someone else gets there first, tough! If Julie really wanted the spot she should have got there early.

AryaStarkWolf · 07/05/2019 12:43

Yeah I'd go somewhere else, I've never heard of anything like that before, sounds odd and cliquey

PJMasksAreOnTheirWay · 07/05/2019 12:44

And this is what puts me off doing gym classes.

BlueMerchant · 07/05/2019 12:44

Julie can p*off. Your money is just as good as Julie's and if she knows the steps so well she can get herself to the bloody back. To be fair, Julie may be a lovely woman. The instructor however is rude.
I wouldn't go back.

MadamMMA · 07/05/2019 12:45

How off putting! At most of the group exercise classes I go to people have a favoured place to stand but they don't own it and I cant believe the instructor said that to you! Julie is probably a massive PITA and instructor trying to protect you from her :)

Original poster

andthebandmarchedon · 07/05/2019 12:51

Thank you! It's a relief to know it's not just me finding this strange.
For various reasons, it's taken me a long time to get it together to actually start exercising again and I was relieved to have finally found something I thought I could stick with. And then this happens.....to be honest, I was quite upset and it made the whole class thoroughly unenjoyable as I was wondering who was pissed off with my being in 'their' spot and how on earth I was supposed to know where to stand!

OP posts:

ChristinaW16 · 07/05/2019 13:10

This sounds exactly like my zumba class! It is pathetic . You see women practically standing on top of another woman if she has dared to stand in "her space". I am quite reserved and I k ow what you mean- I feel uneasy the whole class if I sense I've trodden on some metaphorical toes

Kinsters · 07/05/2019 13:12

So weird! I do a class where you book your spot in advance and I love it, so stress free.

Squirrelblanket · 07/05/2019 13:15

Ridiculous! I'm glad you didn't move but I bet Julie will be there super early next week!

IsYourGoogleBroken · 07/05/2019 13:19

Im surprised no one has yet suggested "Julie" has a disorder and needs to stand somewhere aprticular.

YesimstillwatchingNetflix · 07/05/2019 13:22

What nonsense!! Stand wherever you like. The instructor is incredibly silly to approach you about that. What a way to deter new customers!!!

It sounds like the instructor is a bit strange. don't assume Julie feels the same way. I have a usual spot that I gravitate to out of habit and I would be mortified if someone else was made to feel awkward for taking that place.

I'm sorry that happened to you. Good on you for getting fit!! Don't let it put you off.

AnnaComnena · 07/05/2019 13:22

While you're calling Julie a PITA and telling her to piss off, bear in mind that some people who go to classes may have difficulty seeing or hearing which means they do need to sit or stand directly in front of the tutor. And while the tutor may know this, she can't, or shouldn't, tell anyone else without permission from the student in question.

SpeckofStardust · 07/05/2019 13:27

Surely you’re paying to follow the instructor not Julie or any other student in the class. Agree that if Julie wants/needs a particular spot, she needs to get there earlier.

YesimstillwatchingNetflix · 07/05/2019 13:47

@AnnaComnena That's a good point, the instructor might have been aware that Julie has an accessibility issue that means she needs to stand in the front. I didn't think of that.

OP, still the instructor could have politely shown you to a different spot in the front instead.

Original poster

andthebandmarchedon · 07/05/2019 14:15

True!
Thanks so much everyone. Am relieved to hear I really don't need to think about this as much as the experience made me feel I should. Annoying woman! The instructor that is.....not Julie, whoever she may be! It's slightly ruined the class for me though, and I really liked it. There isn't another similar one for miles.

OP posts:

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