Any of you folks feel a weird sense of propriety regarding things that aren't yours? In case you think I'm referring to coveting, as one would maybe covet someones house/car/Carla Gugino. I'm referring to a specific habitual behavior which in turn causes your own perception to be one where you have ownership over said "thing". Perhaps examples are in order (And yes, some are gym specific. Deal. And respond with your own examples if you have any):
1) It's MY parking space.
So let's talk work. My early 6 a.m. commute affords me the luxury of getting to the office before most folks and secures my spot a little closer to the entrance of the building. (Which, as I've said before, is still a gazillion feet from the door. Which is no big deal except for below zero days like we've had) It's a four spot radius that is made up of the spots surrounding the tall frassin' parking lot lamp post and I always manage to secure these spots, save holidays when folks who have time off don't come to work and I can park closer to the handicap spot, read: Closer to the front of the building.
Now, it's important to note that I park here for another important reason- Parking in the same spot ensures that I'll remember where I parked every day. Lest I forget. See, when we were getting audited the bigwigs from out East stormed the building. They were there from the early morning to late at night, and they were many. The influx of folks, coupled with construction crews working on the lot I park in forced me to park in one of the other 4 lots.
Yeah. I "lost" my car at least 5 times. Even when I made a conscious effort to remember. You know why? When I park, I'm one of three or four other cars. Fill the lot with other salt-covered muddy cars and it's nigh on impossible.
2) It's MY handicap stall!
SHUT IT! I LIKE THE ROOM! You never know when you'll need to breakdance after your a.m. constitutional!!!
3) It's MY locker!
'Nuff said. At the FrassRoads, #35 is mine. When I see that the locker key is missing, I give an internal "harumph". Same goes for shower stall #1. I mean there are only three stalls, you know? 2 "normies" and the one for folks to sit down and use the hand held shower head. The first one, closest to the towel hooks and least visible to prying eyes, obviously- Mine.
4) It's MY treadmill!
That's right. The acme of frustration is just after the first of the year when the resolution-ists show up and pack my little neighborhood gym. Granted, they taper off toward month-end but it's like trying to navigate through a cluttered play room. MY treadmill, is expertly located in front of the TV that runs NBC. I've got my commute timed out so that if I haul a## from work I can get changed, stretch out, and be off and running by the time "Jeopardy!" starts. (A good distraction, to be sure. And have any of you ever realized how much of an a##hole Trebek can be? Wow.) So imagine my chagrin when there is someone pushing the buttons with a confused look on their face like their hoping one of them dispenses a granola bar and I'm forced to commandeer a treadmill in front of...CNN. Or ESPN 1-2-3-4-5...(Come on. Really? 5 TV's on ESPN?) Yeah. One day, this dude kept pausing his 'mill to step off, get a drink/re-tie his shoe/change songs on his Ipod/say hi to a buddy. I silently wished for schadenfreude in the form of a slip-off ala' America's Funniest Home Videos.
5) It's MY freeway
It just is. Don't mind me. I own the road.
6) It's MY parking space (Home edition)
Just South of my walk way. Parking in front of my house in general, if you aren't a guest, will result in my mental frass at your vehicle coupled with fist-shaking/damn kids-ing.
So what's yours?
2 comments:
I have three lockers I'm partial to at the gym, in descending order. One is on the top left side of the 2nd row--easy access to the bench for bag-plopping and it's right in front of the mirror, so I can eye my extra bits as I undress and give myself that extra motivation to jog my ass off. #2 is on the other side of the bench in row 3. Same benefits, just without the mirror. #3 is in the corner by the sauna. No reason whatsoever.
As for the showers: I also prefer stall #1. They replaced the shower head on that one and it's lovely. Stall 2 is like a power hose, with uneven water temps coming at you at lightening speed. #3 is the handicapped stall, which is like a paltry trickle, but does have the added benefit of a removable shower head for extra intimate rinsing. :)
I like the treadmill in front of CNN. Jeopardy bores the pants off me. Give me Wolf Blitzer and Jack Cafferty or give me death. I like The Situation Room.
I should be so lucky as to have a reliable parking area every day. I refuse to pay $80/month to park in the ramp, so it's an adventure every morning as I cruise around Dinkytown looking for a parking spot. Sometimes I score a sweet spot a mere 3 blocks away. Usually it's more like 6.
Hey look! I wrote my own blog! :)
I myself am partial to the little used bathroom down the hallway from my office. I'm usually the only one there, which is how I prefer it to be. When someone else IS there, I am silently harumphing them, hoping they will leave.
Post a Comment