Saturday, April 05, 2008

Dear naked man in the gym change room:

There are a few things I know:

  • It's great that you value a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise
  • It's awesome that you think that value should begin at a young age
  • It's nice that you bring your 2-year-old daughter for mid-day swim at the gym
  • There's no way on this earth that you can make me comfortable changing in front of naked you and your 2-year-old daughter
I mean, honestly, that's not cool. Maybe I have issues with our natural bodies and society's irrational taboos with nudity... when you are in the process of changing and your daughter is sitting on the bench right in front of my locker, I can't bring myself to wedge myself around you, reach for my clothing and start changing myself.

Am I the only one that finds the prospect of that a little "off"?

So, do you know what you forced me to do instead? I tried to busy myself in the change room by washing my hands a couple of times and then casually chilling in a far corner of the change room away from you. And when I realized that simply hanging out amidst the lockers was a tad creepy, I decided I'd suck it up and leave the change room to sit outside in my sweaty gym clothes and casually read through the spring fitness schedule like that's something everyone does instead of changing into their street clothes after a workout.

As I was walking out, I did consider possibly sucking it up and going to my locker since you must be close to being ready to go by now... but now you're daughter is naked too as you're changing her diaper or something. Yeah, no way I can change now.

So, I read through the spring schedule in the lobby of the fitness centre like anyone would as they wait for naked father and child to move away from their locker. Eventually, you left, but it seemed like I'd really exhausted the contents of the schedule before you finished up...

And you know what? After this whole ordeal, I'm the one who feels awkward and embarrassed. How is that? Maybe I should find another locker space or something.

Have a good weekend.

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