Ever heard that phrase before? It's my way or the highway! My parents used to say that to me all the time, mostly because I was a little brat as a kid, but also because sometimes there's just no other way to say it. This is gonna happen no matter what. But one thing that I don't like about that phrase is sometimes people take that attitude and concept too far.
I just started working at a rec center, and there is an older gent there who is semi-retired, working in the fitness area just for something to do. It's a good fit for him given his educational and fitness related background and from the few interactions I've had with him, he's a pretty nice guy. Direct, frank, but overall pretty nice. Last week however, I had an encounter with him that almost made me punch him right in the face. Yeah. I'd punch an old man want to fight about it? Here's why.
I came in to take over for him and start my shift. During the transition a regular of the center, a woman, came in and started talking to this fellow. He told me that this woman, in her mid-late 60's, took a YMCA physical fitness test and bench pressed 35 lbs 101 times. That's amazing. Then he proceeded to just talk to her and say that he had an older couple, also in their late 60's come in and the woman could only bench 35 lbs 7 times and the man could only do 10 (at an undisclosed but I'm pretty sure different weight). He then went on to say how absolutely ridiculous this was and these people should be embarrassed out of their minds. Um. I chimed in. "There are a VAST majority of people that age that can't bench that much." He paused momentarily, looked at me and said with disgust, "Yeah well I'm not one of em and neither is she (indicating to the amazon woman who can bench a ridiculous amount). So I have no sympathy." I backed out of the conversation before we literally got into a physical altercation. Mostly because this human being is REPULSIVE to me. Why you ask? Here's why.
My grandmother who is now in her 70's has MS. She cannot now nor ever bench press that much weight. First because of her physical limitations due to the MS (Multiple Sclerosis for those of you who don't know, http://www.nationalmssociety.org/index.aspx ) but also because never in her life has she ever had the need to, want to, or ability to ever bench press weight. Period. So you're going to sit there with your overly absurd ridiculous standards and expect that everyone over the age of 60 should be able to bench press stupid amounts of weight???????!!!! What a despicable moron. I don't think that in the height of my physical fitness, college swimming, I could even bench that much weight that many reps. And to think that some people who do regular things for fitness like garden, walk, clean house, who come in and can't bench that much and are looked down upon? What a joke.
Which leads me to my point of all this. First of all I don't like the guy at the rec anymore and have lost any and all respect I ever had for the guy. But second and the real point is people who do not realize that there are other people in the world who are NOT like them and can't find room in their limited feeble minds to accept that are repugnant to me. I understand that people should embrace physical fitness and I think the fact that Hostess, a huge company is going out of business and the Twinkie is no more should state pretty heavily to the fact that people are changing their lives to be healthier. I get it. But to stand there and say with a straight face that there is no reason for anyone ever to not be able to just walk in off the street and live up to super outrageous, over the top, unreachable standards, is repulsive to me. So they can't bench press?? Who cares?! Doesn't mean they're bad people or that they aren't in shape. It just means they've never done it before and their bodies aren't conditioned for that. Not everyone has access to bench presses idiot. It's not really a common commodity just sittin around in everyone's living rooms nationwide. "This is the kitchen, here's the bathroom and oh here's are bench press, isn't it lovely?" Many people who are older have never bench pressed because when they were younger, fitness centers were much fewer and further between. And they were called gymnasiums then, reserved for athletes. Can you blame them that they grew up with different standards of fitness than we know today? No. That's like saying my granparents should be able to keep up with their great grandkids technology wise. Yeah, right. People who were literally born on a farm keep up with kids who can open a smart phone at 9 months old should be on the same page tech wise. Makes total sense ...
Attitudes like his literally disgust me. You can't except that just because you took the route you did in your life, that everyone else didn't. And if they didn't they're miserable non humans. What's wrong with you?! News flash, all people are different. They have different circumstances affecting their lives. We're not all alike and in case you didn't learn this during your forever amount of years in education, that's a GOOD thing. You should be EXCITED that this couple wanted to come in and get in shape, or work toward better health. Not look down on them and mock them with other like minded individuals. That's not an attitude I want to be around.
Now. What's the right thing to do when dealing with a cancerous person like this dumb head? I don't really know. I could correct him. Do some research on it and have stats to back myself up. Including the personal story of my grandmother who lives in the woods in Michigan and is lucky to go to water aerobics a few times a year. OR I could talk with our supervisor as to indicate I think this is not only inappropriate behavior, but a terrible attitude. Or I could just let it go. And kinda hope this guy busts a hammie working out while on the clock. (Hamstring injuries are VERY hard to recover from. It seems simple, but they are hard to get back to where you were quickly.) I mean, I hate to sound so mean spirited toward someone, and some of you might even be sitting there goin, hey isn't that kinda hypocritical? And in all honesty it's not. I'm calling someone out for being in the wrong. Hypocrisy is more like say one thing and do another. I say you need to accept there are people out there different than you, and I accept that. I'm telling him he needs to realize that. And also throwing out some heavy words partly for funsies but also for emphasis.
So when you deal with people out there in the real world, please TRY to except that they are different from you. It's partly what makes our country great. So what if they're not in as good of shape as you? Okay so they wore their dirty PJ's to Walmart. You didn't and that's all you need to worry yourself about. There are much more important things happening in this world that we need to be concerned with outside of who isn't like me.
So as you head out this Black Friday, try to enjoy people watching a little and tell yourself it certainly is okay to be different! Our world is kinda like a Picaso, crazy, colorful, and not really put together. Enjoy!
I just started working at a rec center, and there is an older gent there who is semi-retired, working in the fitness area just for something to do. It's a good fit for him given his educational and fitness related background and from the few interactions I've had with him, he's a pretty nice guy. Direct, frank, but overall pretty nice. Last week however, I had an encounter with him that almost made me punch him right in the face. Yeah. I'd punch an old man want to fight about it? Here's why.
I came in to take over for him and start my shift. During the transition a regular of the center, a woman, came in and started talking to this fellow. He told me that this woman, in her mid-late 60's, took a YMCA physical fitness test and bench pressed 35 lbs 101 times. That's amazing. Then he proceeded to just talk to her and say that he had an older couple, also in their late 60's come in and the woman could only bench 35 lbs 7 times and the man could only do 10 (at an undisclosed but I'm pretty sure different weight). He then went on to say how absolutely ridiculous this was and these people should be embarrassed out of their minds. Um. I chimed in. "There are a VAST majority of people that age that can't bench that much." He paused momentarily, looked at me and said with disgust, "Yeah well I'm not one of em and neither is she (indicating to the amazon woman who can bench a ridiculous amount). So I have no sympathy." I backed out of the conversation before we literally got into a physical altercation. Mostly because this human being is REPULSIVE to me. Why you ask? Here's why.
My grandmother who is now in her 70's has MS. She cannot now nor ever bench press that much weight. First because of her physical limitations due to the MS (Multiple Sclerosis for those of you who don't know, http://www.nationalmssociety.org/index.aspx ) but also because never in her life has she ever had the need to, want to, or ability to ever bench press weight. Period. So you're going to sit there with your overly absurd ridiculous standards and expect that everyone over the age of 60 should be able to bench press stupid amounts of weight???????!!!! What a despicable moron. I don't think that in the height of my physical fitness, college swimming, I could even bench that much weight that many reps. And to think that some people who do regular things for fitness like garden, walk, clean house, who come in and can't bench that much and are looked down upon? What a joke.
Which leads me to my point of all this. First of all I don't like the guy at the rec anymore and have lost any and all respect I ever had for the guy. But second and the real point is people who do not realize that there are other people in the world who are NOT like them and can't find room in their limited feeble minds to accept that are repugnant to me. I understand that people should embrace physical fitness and I think the fact that Hostess, a huge company is going out of business and the Twinkie is no more should state pretty heavily to the fact that people are changing their lives to be healthier. I get it. But to stand there and say with a straight face that there is no reason for anyone ever to not be able to just walk in off the street and live up to super outrageous, over the top, unreachable standards, is repulsive to me. So they can't bench press?? Who cares?! Doesn't mean they're bad people or that they aren't in shape. It just means they've never done it before and their bodies aren't conditioned for that. Not everyone has access to bench presses idiot. It's not really a common commodity just sittin around in everyone's living rooms nationwide. "This is the kitchen, here's the bathroom and oh here's are bench press, isn't it lovely?" Many people who are older have never bench pressed because when they were younger, fitness centers were much fewer and further between. And they were called gymnasiums then, reserved for athletes. Can you blame them that they grew up with different standards of fitness than we know today? No. That's like saying my granparents should be able to keep up with their great grandkids technology wise. Yeah, right. People who were literally born on a farm keep up with kids who can open a smart phone at 9 months old should be on the same page tech wise. Makes total sense ...
Attitudes like his literally disgust me. You can't except that just because you took the route you did in your life, that everyone else didn't. And if they didn't they're miserable non humans. What's wrong with you?! News flash, all people are different. They have different circumstances affecting their lives. We're not all alike and in case you didn't learn this during your forever amount of years in education, that's a GOOD thing. You should be EXCITED that this couple wanted to come in and get in shape, or work toward better health. Not look down on them and mock them with other like minded individuals. That's not an attitude I want to be around.
Now. What's the right thing to do when dealing with a cancerous person like this dumb head? I don't really know. I could correct him. Do some research on it and have stats to back myself up. Including the personal story of my grandmother who lives in the woods in Michigan and is lucky to go to water aerobics a few times a year. OR I could talk with our supervisor as to indicate I think this is not only inappropriate behavior, but a terrible attitude. Or I could just let it go. And kinda hope this guy busts a hammie working out while on the clock. (Hamstring injuries are VERY hard to recover from. It seems simple, but they are hard to get back to where you were quickly.) I mean, I hate to sound so mean spirited toward someone, and some of you might even be sitting there goin, hey isn't that kinda hypocritical? And in all honesty it's not. I'm calling someone out for being in the wrong. Hypocrisy is more like say one thing and do another. I say you need to accept there are people out there different than you, and I accept that. I'm telling him he needs to realize that. And also throwing out some heavy words partly for funsies but also for emphasis.
So when you deal with people out there in the real world, please TRY to except that they are different from you. It's partly what makes our country great. So what if they're not in as good of shape as you? Okay so they wore their dirty PJ's to Walmart. You didn't and that's all you need to worry yourself about. There are much more important things happening in this world that we need to be concerned with outside of who isn't like me.
So as you head out this Black Friday, try to enjoy people watching a little and tell yourself it certainly is okay to be different! Our world is kinda like a Picaso, crazy, colorful, and not really put together. Enjoy!
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