Interpret this please

[whattheheck]

My town has a community center with a small (very small) fitness room. There’s a sign saying to please limit your time on equipment to 30 minutes when others are waiting.

Today someone was using the mat and TV to do an exercise video when I arrived. No biggee - that’s not what I wanted to do. While I was using another piece of equipment two people came in and wanted to use the mat and TV. Apparently the duo concluded since the first person had been there longer than 30 minutes as of the time they arrived that the first person needed to vacate the mat and relinquish the TV. (I guess they could tell by how long the video was and how far into it the person was?)

The first person said that they only had to limit their time “when others are waiting” and that they would not take longer than thirty minutes from the time the duo arrived and was waiting. In other words, they would not take longer than an additional 30 minutes from learning the duo was waiting.

Who was right?

[bears]

This is why I workout at home.

[sonrisa]

What? the "when others are waiting" means if nobody else wants it, you can keep going. Not that the 30 minute clock starts when someone starts waiting. That would be insane.

[VillainV]

OMG I would die before I’d ask someone to stop using a piece of gym equipment. I’d seriously like turn around and pick another exercise. And if I was using a piece of equipment and someone asked me to finish up, I’d do it! That’s how much I hate confrontation.

I mean, I think it’s pretty ballsy for the duo to assume they knew how long she had been using the mat. Maybe she didn’t do the whole video? It would have been more polite to say something like “Excuse me, how much longer do you think you’ll be using the mat?” And then the first user could say something like “I actually just started, and have 27 minutes left” or “Oh, I’ll be done in like 3 minutes, is that okay?”

[tacokick]

Hmmm. At the library if you have been using a computer for 28 minutes and someone comes in and wants to use the computer then you have to get up in 2 minutes. The clock doesn’t start then the other people arrive. You’ve already had what the library thinks is ample time to use the computer. You don’t get 58 minutes. But if no one comes in you could be there for hours if you wanted.

That said, there is a sign up sheet so it is easy see when someone sat down. Is there anything like that at the gym?

I wouldn’t want to argue with people but if they had been using it for 30 minutes then it is time to move on because people are waiting.

ETA the idea isn’t to limit people’s waits to 30 minutes, it’s to limit the use to 30 minutes on busy days.

[Roc A Bee]

Yeah the person using the equipment was wrong.

[mpm]

So I am a conflict avoider and would have headed out as soon as the new person in the gym so much as glanced at me. But if we’re strictly talking sign interpretation, I wouldn’t have interpreted “equipment” on that sign to include the mat.

[pixy0stix]

Agreed that "equipment" doesn't include mat and tv. But also, who does that?

[erbear]

I would have assumed that you didn’t wait more than 30 minutes. So the exerciser could use the mat and tv for 30 more minutes (though I would speed it up if I were that person) and if I was the new people, I would have done anything else. Awkward.

[mrsslocombe]

Every previous gym I have been to with a time limit, the time limit starts when the person waiting arrives. We actually used to write our name and the arrival time on a white board, or at some locations each machine had a sign up list where you would do the same thing.

Also I would never think the TV was time limited, wtf.

If there's only one mat, then I guess I can see that it would be rude to monopolize it. But I'd probably just do something else.

[cricketwife]

Good grief. The whole system is predicated on common courtesy, which both parties seem to have been lacking in this situation.

[ECB]

I think both sides handled this poorly, but to answer the question - I guess I feel ultimately the person on the mat was in the right. No one else wanted it. When the people walked in, the timer started.

But, this isn’t a hill I’d die on either.

[SusanBAnthony]

If all you are using is a mat and TV why even worry about the gym, just go home and do it there.

That said I am legitimately town on which approach is correct.

[emilyinchile]

Everyone is the asshole.

I think the duo should have asked how much longer the original person had left, and then the answer should have been something not more than like 20 min.

[underwaterrhymes]

This whole exchange makes me tired. If people can’t be respectful over something as basic as an exercise mat, we are doomed as a society.

[goldengirlz]

An exercise video (the kind that you insert into a TV) sounds so quaint.

[basilosaurus]

Mar 22, 2023 16:57:33 GMT -5 VillainV said:

OMG I would die before I’d ask someone to stop using a piece of gym equipment. I’d seriously like turn around and pick another exercise. And if I was using a piece of equipment and someone asked me to finish up, I’d do it! That’s how much I hate confrontation.

I mean, I think it’s pretty ballsy for the duo to assume they knew how long she had been using the mat. Maybe she didn’t do the whole video? It would have been more polite to say something like “Excuse me, how much longer do you think you’ll be using the mat?” And then the first user could say something like “I actually just started, and have 27 minutes left” or “Oh, I’ll be done in like 3 minutes, is that okay?”

I'm not even confrontation averse, and this is what I'd do. 

I do think it's weird to think the countdown starts when someone else shows up. But, this entire scenario is avoidable if people are just considerate. Do something else if you're 2nd party. If you're 1st, offer to let them join. Communicate what your time frame is. So many options.

[basilosaurus]

Mar 22, 2023 19:55:50 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

An exercise video (the kind that you insert into a TV) sounds so quaint.

Fond memories of working out to Jane Fonda with gramma in her bedroom. She'd even dress the part with the exception of the sock leggings things b/c no a/c in s fl. Dad's wife did reebok step.

[whattheheck]

Mar 22, 2023 19:55:50 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

An exercise video (the kind that you insert into a TV) sounds so quaint.

Lol. It was a YouTube video.

[akayf]

How can the newcomers prove the other person had been there for over 30 minutes? If the video was at minutes 40, how can they prove they had actually been working out for a full 40 minutes? Maybe the person was already warmed up plus hated the first 10 minutes of the video and started in the middle of the video.

It would have been an asshole move if the person had stayed and made them wait for a full 30 minutes. But it sounded like they said, I’ll be done in xx minutes which was less than 30.

[starburst604]

I’ve spent a lot of my life in the gym so I’m trying to think of this from both sides. I really try to be courteous to other users. If I knew I wanted to do a 60 minute video in a spot that could be limited to 30, I just wouldn’t. I’d either do it at home or find a shorter workout to do there. I would also never blast my workout on a public TV - I play it on my phone and wear earbuds and then I could conceivably move and continue elsewhere if someone wanted to be by the TV. If I were the second group I’d be annoyed that this person just thought they could do a >30 minute workout there. But it’s unlikely I’d say anything either.

I don’t think you can go to a small facility like that with the expectation you’ll be able to use what you want right when you get there every time, or that you can just stay in one spot as long as you want. Everyone needs to take their mat and go home. Everyone is annoying.

[Patsy Baloney]

I would have contributed to the chaos and said, “Actually, I started waiting for the TV and mat 3 minutes before you arrived,” to the new people.

[wanderingback]

When I’ve previously gone to gyms that could get crowded it did say if others are waiting limit your use to 30 minutes on this equipment. A gym would lose a lot of business if you could only ever be on equipment for 30 minutes no matter what. The rule is so that no one has to wait more than 30 minutes for a piece of equipment therefore the 30 minute timer starts when someone arrives and asks to use the equipment.

[bex1973]

The person using the equipment was right - 30 minutes when people are waiting is the "loophole" so the timer starts when someone indicates they are waiting. Although I could see the side of keeping it to 30 minutes because user doesn't know necessarily know if someone is using another piece of equipment while they wait - folks would have to identify as waiting.

[cuadrado]

At our gym, the machine cuts off after 30 minutes during busy times.

[livinitup]

Clearly, this is a case for Judge Judy.

[Aloe Vera]

From my gym experience, if the gym is busy, you only use the equipment for 30 min max. Doesn't matter if someone is waiting or not. People aren't going to stand next to the treadmill with their armed crossed. They are going to do something else. In this case, the people wanting to use the gym mat should have asked how long the other person had left and the person using the gym mat should have been limiting her time now that the place was busy. If she had been on the mat for 40 mins, that's time to wrap it up. If the clock starts once you make it known you want to use the equipment, you could spend hours at the gym waiting for said equipment.

[Deleted]

The person who wrote the content of the sign is the actual villain in this story. It is ambiguous and could be interpreted both ways.

Therefore, the sign person is wrong.

[whattheheck]

Mar 22, 2023 18:57:04 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

If all you are using is a mat and TV why even worry about the gym, just go home and do it there.

That said I am legitimately town on which approach is correct.

Maybe they didn't have enough space in their home.
Maybe they didn't have an internet connection.
Maybe their TV was on the fritz.
Maybe they didn't want to be interrupted by "Mom, mom, mom!"
Maybe they work at home and wanted a change of pace.

There's a large mat provided and it's positioned right in front of one of the TVs - seems like a logical use to me.  The stationary bikes are positioned in front of the other one.

But I agree everyone handled it poorly.