Dear Jane,
I recently joined a very expensive, sparklingly clean new gym.
In the weight room and the exercise studios, there are staff members constantly walking around wiping down the equipment.
They do it as a service that the members pay for, so I don’t ever clean the equipment myself.
But the other day, after I got up from a bench without wiping it, an older woman stared me down like I was a pig.
I told her if she wanted clean equipment to do it herself or wait for a staffer. That started a big fight and she blabbed to everyone at the gym about it.
Dear Jane: I’m being judged at my gym for a ‘disgusting’ habit, but I refuse to stop
I’ve since heard that she got the flu and is really struggling because of her more advanced age – but should I feel bad?
If you’re so vulnerable don’t work out in a gym, I say.
Am I wrong? Why do we all have to walk on eggshells for the weak among us?
From,
Gym Rat

International best-selling author Jane Green offers sage advice on readers’ most burning issues in her agony aunt column
Dear Gym Rat,
Being a decent human involves caring how your behavior impacts those around you.
Whilst technically there may be people who are paid to clean up, if the etiquette is to clean your bench after using it – as is the case in pretty much every gym I’ve ever been to – clean the damn bench.
If I’m honest: you’re not just wrong, you’re being both heartless and entitled.
You think an older woman had the flu coming to her because she shot you a filthy look when you didn’t clean up after yourself? What an arrogant point of view.
The problem with people who are narcissistic and entitled is they rarely look at their own behavior. They choose instead to sneer at those around them or blame others.
Victims get stuck feeling sorry for themselves forever because they never take accountability for their own bad behavior.
I have no idea what your life is like, but if I were to take a guess I would say you might well be lonely and insecure, which is why you are so self-centered and inconsiderate of others.
If you want happiness, and friends and colleagues who enjoy being around you, I would think hard about your behavior.
Not everything is about you. In life, we must all find a way to co-exist peacefully. This means we have to make sure we (metaphorically and literally) keep our side of the street – or in your case, the bench – clean.
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