Crotchety Crocks

I got yelled at in the YMCA change room.

Seriously yelled at.

By a little grey-haired lady wearing Crocks.

It felt like a weird Saturday Night Live skit.

I had finished my swim, gone to my locker to grab my shampoo, soap and towel and headed to the showers.  After decontaminating myself by scrubbing as much of the chlorine smell off as possible, I towelled off and headed back to my locker.  As I approached, there was a lady hanging up her coat in the locker beside mine.  I put on my best friendly smile and said "Hi, sorry, I'm in the locker right beside you".

She stared at the floor, at the half-dry puddle I had left when I grabbed my shampoo and said "do you have any idea who left THIS mess?"

"I did. When I got out of the pool."

"You are NOT supposed to do THAT!" (she was actually yelling).  "How am I supposed to stand here when the floor's all wet??"  "Now I have to wipe it up."

She stormed off, grabbed one sad little hand towel and proceeded to mop up my 'mess'.

Now I am a very nice person and I probably apologize more than I need to. I apologize even when I didn't do something. It's the Canadian in me. I apologized when I had the locker beside her.  But I will NOT apologize when I'm yelled at. No way.  Discuss reasonably and I'm all yours - raise your voice and the discussion is over.

There are over twenty lockers in the little section we were in. There were only two taken - mine and hers.  If she chooses to pick the one with the puddle in front of it - that is her choice, not mine.

So I smiled prettily, wrapped my towel around my head to prevent any further drips and took my time getting dressed. I figured it's harder to yell at a half naked stranger - especially one who is hooking on her insulin pump.

She changed in a huff and, irony of ironies, headed off to the pool. If I didn't have to work I would have happily sat there waiting for her to come back to her locker after her swim - daring her to get from the pool to her locker without leaving a drop of water on the floor.

I miss my community pool where we all throw our bags on the only table there and chatter away as we get dressed. The floor is soaking wet, people forget shampoo bottles in the shower and leave their shoes in the middle of the room. And no one seems to care.