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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I was complained by two ladies in swimming pool

252 replies

user1472754004 · 13/06/2019 16:46

I am a regular swimmer. Got complained by two ladies who swim slowly and chatting side by side. The pool was busy and I had to occasionally swim between them. They asked the staff to talk to me saying they were there before me and I should move over in stead swim in between them. It was only a 20 meter public swim but they two occupied about two lane and swim very slowly. Be frank, I hate people swim and chat. When I swim freestyle I try to look but there might be one or two seconds that I was close to them but they have their heads up, insist swim side by side. I ask the staff, should he talk to them not blocking the whole two lanes? Annoyed! I probably need to get up at six to do the lane swim instead.

OP posts:

MargaretHoulihan · 13/06/2019 18:05

Whether they arrived first is irrelevant.

TheInvestigator · 13/06/2019 18:05

She's freestyling with her head in the water, and if she's coming up behind them then they wouldn't know she was there until she thundered in between them. It wasn't lane swimming, but she's still going on about them blocking lanes... that hasn't been marked out... so they weren't blocking anything at all. And the lifeguards who witnessed it sided with the 2 women. That, coupled with the attitude coming out of OP on this thread makes me thing she was behaving aggressively with the way swam between them.

limitedperiodonly · 13/06/2019 18:05

Swimming pools are full of weird people. It's like crazy-flavoured Cup-A-Soup.

TheInvestigator · 13/06/2019 18:06

@MargaretHoulihan
OP said it was open swimming, not lane swimming. She's just assigning imaginary lanes which would be there, and saying those women blocked two.

Original poster

user1472754004 · 13/06/2019 18:07

Swim with heads up actually hurts the spine . Cannot understand people doing that. They should know that....seriously

OP posts:

prawnpatrol · 13/06/2019 18:08

This is why I only swim when there is lane swimming and you have slow, medium and fast lanes.
Otherwise it is just stressful

MargaretHoulihan · 13/06/2019 18:09

@TheInvestigator I see. In that case yes OP needed to swim around them, unless there was a huge space in between them that she could fit through.

MargaretHoulihan · 13/06/2019 18:09

Basically, leisure swimming and lane swimming are not compatible, is the moral of this thread.

PCohle · 13/06/2019 18:10

What they choose to do with their spines is none of your business. Your posture whilst swimming doesn't make you morally superior to them nor entitled to swim however you like.

ZenNudist · 13/06/2019 18:10

I wouldn't worry about them or let it bother you. Certainly dont move pools as you will just come up against more pool etiquette problems there. They sound batshit. They dont have a right to any lane just because they get there first. You swim back and forth and give way to faster swimmers. Swimming side by side (heads out of the water) and chatting is pointless i always think these people like to kid themselves they are exercising.

The comments that pools are for people to mess about in not swim make me laugh. I think pools should be for everyone. My swim baths rarely puts in a proper swim lane. Its lessons and everyone else. I swim round the messers. Dawdling chatters have no place in a busy pool. Id never see that where i live on a Saturday. Maybe on a Monday. But i find the people who want to swim and chat spend most of their time by the sidelines.

As a tip get a waterproof tracker and just swim for a set time, dont worry about counting lengths. That way you can swim in the quieter bit of the pool.

Original poster

user1472754004 · 13/06/2019 18:12

Yeah, two lane space, they were quite big, abou 1/4 of the pool. Very considerate...

OP posts:

PlatypusPie · 13/06/2019 18:13

Our pool, in normal public times, has three lanes ( fast, medium and slow) plus a large general area. I used to be a fast swimmer, now a medium and on days when the really fast, Y shaped swimmers are in the fast lane, everyone else moves over and I tend to go in the slow lane. It’s called the slow lane, so I have zero problem with someone swimming upright like a seahorse at an incredibly slow speed. I can easily overtake. I do mind if there’s chatting together and faffing about or doing a slow back stroke with no steering - there’s a nice big general area for that, which I will go into sometimes to do lengths as it is often bizarrely empty !

These ladies weren’t in a laned area, by your description, OP and were entitled to swim at their own pace, stop, chat, do water exercises whatever . It sounds as if you were swimming aggressively - even swimming fast freestyle you should have vision and you were trying to make a point by cutting in between them. I’m not surprised they complained and the lifeguards were right to support them . If your pool offers early bird lane only ( as many do) get up early and then you can enjoy a guaranteed lap swim without the dawdlers.

Wishiwasrunning2 · 13/06/2019 18:15

There's always one of these when we take the kids to family swim.

We christen them 'Bob' as there is hardly any forward motion and they just bob about getting in the way.

BenWillbondsPants · 13/06/2019 18:16

Well, as it wasn't lane swimming, you were being rude. They may not swim to your standard, but they are just as entitled to be there are you are.

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 13/06/2019 18:19

We christen them 'Bob' as there is hardly any forward motion and they just bob about getting in the way

carrotflinger · 13/06/2019 18:19

I've recently changed pools because of this. Used to swim where lanes were never divided off. There were always a couple of really inconsiderate people taking up most of the pool - swimming up and down slowly while chatting with quite a large space between them and right in the middle of the pool. Obviously if it's not lane swimming then they can do what they like, but you'd think that people might show some consideration for others and think, "Oh, other people want to swim lengths too so if we swim a bit closer together others can enjoy their swim"... but no....
So I've changed pools to one where half of the pool is always divided off for lane swimming and the lifeguards are good at moving over people who aren't actually swimming.

So, yes I understand your frustration but try to find a more suitable time to go or a pool that meets your needs.

poopypants · 13/06/2019 18:20

If they are spread out over more of the pool than they need to be then they are totally BU.

Whosorrynow · 13/06/2019 18:20

OP writes like trump tweets

IvanaPee · 13/06/2019 18:21

Ffs OP, why can’t you just use full sentences and explain what you mean?!

How did they take up two lanes if they weren’t in lanes?

And I still don’t understand why you had to swim between them. You couldn’t go around at all?

If you weren’t in a lane then you have to accept the fact that people go in the pool for a chat sometimes. Maybe weird, but true.

You had no more right to the space than they did. Complaining about you swimming through them actually seems justified, IMO. It’s so unnecessarily rude.

Whosorrynow · 13/06/2019 18:24

did they complain about her, or did they complain her, what does that mean, if someone complains you what are they doing?
it's all a bit word soup isnt it

boobirdblue · 13/06/2019 18:24

OP I call bullshit on them taking up two lanes, how could they do that with a huge gap between them and then they wouldn't have been able to chat.

Gilead · 13/06/2019 18:24

It is not lane swim. So I guess they have more right to chat and swim than me...
Depends, was one of them autistic and perhaps needed someone with her, or deaf, or blind, or had an unseen disability?
Oh, and they were quite big, well maybe like me they had an unseen disability and had been on steroids for a couple of years.
You're right, a private pool is the best place for you.

quizqueen · 13/06/2019 18:24

They can swim how they like but equally so can you. They have no say in the water space anyone occupies!

boobirdblue · 13/06/2019 18:25

OP writes like trump tweets

True!!

notacooldad · 13/06/2019 18:29

Bluerussian
I don't understand what you mean by "hate people swim and chat" or "Got complained"
I think everyone else has managed to get jist of the thread. Don't be a smart arse, it's not big and it's not clever

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