Jebus freak at the gym--a rant

[Witsec7]

Meditation doesn't make her a fundy. She could be a crankly old Buddhist.

[Constance Vigilance]

Yes, because I clearly remember the Bible verse:

"And the LORD said, pray unto me only when your body is submerged in chlorinated water, for at all other times your prayers are as dust. And if any man tries to use the public pool where you are unaccountably having your private prayer session, then I shall smite him mightily."

If this lady needs to be in a swimming pool to have a relationship with god she is not praying to the same Jesus everyone else is. :? Tell her to fuck off.

[bbfreethinker]

Yes, because I clearly remember the Bible verse:

"And the LORD said, pray unto me only when your body is submerged in chlorinated water, for at all other times your prayers are as dust. And if any man tries to use the public pool where you are unaccountably having your private prayer session, then I shall smite him mightily."

If this lady needs to be in a swimming pool to have a relationship with god she is not praying to the same Jesus everyone else is. :? Tell her to fuck off.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Wolfie]

At my local Y, there are hours that are for adults only. Early morning weekday hours, for example. Most swim facilities have a certain time set aside for lap swimming for adults only. When I used to swim laps, that's when I went. As far as noise, though, there could have been a brass band playing on the side and I wouldn't have noticed once I got going. It's the perfect exercise for meditation but usually people don't need silence from everyone around them to swim and meditate/pray.

This. I don't hear anything else when I go to swim. I wish there was a Y with an indoor pool near here, but there are just outdoor pools that are closed in the winter. About the only thing that annoys me is when people stop and talk in the middle of the adult swim lanes. Talking is fine, standing there blocking the lane for 15 minutes to talk to somebody outside of the lane isn't. (the pool I use has two lanes blocked off for adults in the middle of the pool, then kids and everybody not lap swimming can use the rest except during adult swim, then it's only adults in the pool. (20 minutes in the middle of the afternoon all swim session, or other set times during the week- there is an evening sesson and a morning session that includes a water aerobics class if you want it. The adult only times are a little more expensive, so since I don't mind kids in other parts of the pool I usually go to the all swim.)

[Wolfie]

Meditation doesn't make her a fundy. She could be a crankly old Buddhist.

She could be ANYTHING. Hindu, Buddhist, Humanist- though she doesn't seem to be very people friendly there...

To the OP, is there more that she's said that makes you think that she's a Christian?

[Conuly]

If she wants silent time in the pool, then she needs to go during the off-hours. Going on a busy day of the week, when kids swim free? BS. Let her meditate in her OWN pool if she MUST do it at that time of day.

You should not have been putting up with it from the start, and I promise you - as soon as you stop letting her make up her own rules to push you around, everybody else will start to follow suit. Everybody is waiting for somebody else to make the first move.

[Deleted07]

Wizz in the pool near her and say "meditate in this!" lol...

[Witsec5]

In the beginning she said she would meditate and swim instead of going to church. Assume she is Christian because she gives off a fundy vibe and it is always Sunday morning.

[MrsYoungie]

My pool has 3 lanes: fast, medium and "walkers & talkers". Works really well.

Personally I like my zen moments in the hot tub afterwards. So I try to time it so that I can get in when there aren't a huge number of women who like to chat going in there. (usually right before or after the Aquafit classes) But their chattering is my problem not theirs. I just avoid. I would never tell them to shut up or keep it down or whatever.

[valsa]

In the beginning she said she would meditate and swim instead of going to church. Assume she is Christian because she gives off a fundy vibe and it is always Sunday morning.

Sounds almost like she's using meditation as a form of prayer, in which case Matthew 6:5-6 should apply:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

[sriracha]

I might be the only dissenting voice here (although I am not really dissenting) but I always thought that fundies weren't really about "meditation" - prayer and meditation being different and meditation being too Eastern/new agey. If she's meditating, she might not really be a Jebus freak.

That said, a gym pool is not a public pool. A gym pool can only be used by paying members and is for exercise. Members of a gym oftentimes pay a lot of money to be there and it is not a playground. A public pool, on the other hand, can be expected to be rowdy and full of kids as anyone can go for a nominal entrance fee.

My former gym (chain) had lap pools for adults only (kids were not allowed in the gym and had to stay in the daycare area), with hottub for soaking sore muscles. They had water aerobics for the elderly, otherwise it was not a social hour for families to gather. I wouldn't expect to see people in my gym's pool walking and talking with kids any more than I'd expect to see them walking and talking with kids in the freeweights area where the muscleheads hang out.

However, your gym might be different. If you're at the Y I think it is pretty expected that the only quiet time is adult time. It depends on the gym and the culture there; it is not a given that kids hanging out and shouting is a universal norm at a gym.

[Conuly]

However, your gym might be different. If you're at the Y I think it is pretty expected that the only quiet time is adult time. It depends on the gym and the culture there; it is not a given that kids hanging out and shouting is a universal norm at a gym.

No, but I think it pretty much is a given that one person cannot claim a lane all to herself and that children are expected to be there during the hours when, as the OP said, "kids go free".

[keeperrox]

Uh, if she's at the gym, by herself on a Sunday and admittedly doesn't go to church, I highly doubt she's fundy, fundy-lite, or even a very devout Christian. Sounds like she's just a bitch.

[NurseNell]

Do you think this woman is out of line for expecting quiet?

Yes. I'm a swimmer too and I use my swimming time to envision my immune system killing off cancer cells, with the dark shadows on the pool floor being cancel and the light shadows being my immune system. It doesn't matter if it's noisy or not, it doesn't interfere.

Congratulations on the 5 years!

[Witsec5]

Hi love your icon Nurse Nell. Yes, I hope that visualization works. Swimming is great meditation. The gym is quite exclusive and expensive. My friend is quite wealthy and paid my fees for a while. Now I have a prescription so it's tax-deductible at least and the gym gives us the couple rate because we both have prescriptions and they are nice. Sometimes we get people who think that they are paying for quiet since it's not the Y. But we sampled the Y before we joined this and we didn't like our Y.

[NurseNell]

Hi love your icon Nurse Nell. Yes, I hope that visualization works. Swimming is great meditation. The gym is quite exclusive and expensive. My friend is quite wealthy and paid my fees for a while. Now I have a prescription so it's tax-deductible at least and the gym gives us the couple rate because we both have prescriptions and they are nice. Sometimes we get people who think that they are paying for quiet since it's not the Y. But we sampled the Y before we joined this and we didn't like our Y.

I didn't like the Y either. Although 2 lanes were set aside for adults doing laps the rest of the pool was for kids. and they were constantly either throwing balls into the lap lanes or finding reasons to go under the lane markers or hanging on the markers.

Tell me more about getting a prescription. It's based on having cancer? I need to look into that.

[Witsec5]

If your company offers a flexible spending account, then you might want your oncologist to write a prescription for the gym. The premise in my case is that the doctor said I have to be able to be strong to fight cancer. My friend and I are like twins in that we have the same diagnosis and now we have the same oncologist:)

I think doctors will also write prescriptions for gym membership for obesity as well. The insurance company doesn't pay of course but the prescription allows me to pay for the gym membership out of pre-tax dollars. So on top of my discounted membership negotiated by my friend, the membership ends up being just a little more than the price I would have paid if I had gone to the Y.

[ChickeyMonkey]

The woman's a bitch, bully, and needs to get the hell over herself. I'm worried that the anger and resentment you feel towards her isn't good for your staying cancer-free. If you're like me, the anger festers. That can't be good.

The drama queen in me hopes that you confront her by just swimming in her lane when the other lanes are tripled up, continue to converse in your normal voices, and when she gets her nose all bent out of shape, you either tell her she's being unreasonable and that you have just as much right to be there as she does, or you ignore her and swim on your merry ways.

I want justice! :)

I hope you and your friend remain cancer-free for the rest of your lives, and that said lives are extremely long and happy and healthy.

NurseNell, I hope you beat the shit out of your cancer and have cancer-free life as stated above. :)

[Witsec5]

The only decent thing about cancer is that sometimes C and I pull out the cancer card just to shut people up. We've hardly ever done it because we are nice and we don't always want people to know of our situation (the FJ forum is anonymous) but if someone is being a bully about their needs...well we have needs too. Basically, all bets are off. As for anger, I'm not letting it fester. It was because the child was there, it just triggered it. We are very lucky to see our kids grow up and I really love her boy and am proud of him and if he wants to yell out to tell us what he has accomplished (a new swimming stroke) that should be okay. C has had three different types of cancers (breast, colon, and lymphoma) and is five years cancer free. It could have gone very wrong but it didn't.

Nell, I hope your battle with cancer is won! It's not easy but know that you have a friend here in me. Too bad you are not in the neighborhood; you could swim with is in the middle lane.

[HOTW]

Give her a nice big container of orange ear plugs.......

[EmmieJ]

Agree with those who advise to stop kow-towing to this woman. She sounds very full of herself, and enjoys pushing people around to suit her special whims.

It takes two to tango. Without making a fuss (unless you want to), I'd start swimming in her lane. I'd talk in a normal voice with my friend. If she complains again, I'd tell her firmly that this is not her pool, and you are not in violation of any pool regulations. Then tell her to take it up with management if she thinks she has a case. Smile, and go back to enjoying yourselves. Laugh, swim, talk, and ignore her.

My local Y has an indoor pool. There have specific times for "adult swim." There are no requirements that people maintain radio silence just in case some fool wants to meditate in the pool.

This is a good life lesson. There are always people out there who will happily treat you like a doormat, if you let them. Most of the time, they will slink off muttering under their breath if you simply refuse to follow their petty rules. It definitely helps if you've got a friend by your side, sticking up for your point of view :)