- Do not encroach on other people’s space. One of the toughest obstacles to overcome in many locker rooms are people using a locker near yours at the same time. Do your best to keep your belongings between you and your locker, and try to stay directly in front of your locker when there are people nearby.
- Do not push others out of your way. I would think that this would go without saying, but try not to push people out of your way. Do not push them with your body, and do not push them with your gym bag.
- Feel free to move to a less congested space. If there are people on either side of you, feel free to grab your belongings and carry them to a less congested area in the locker room. If somebody else tries to do so, let them get at their belongings even if it is a little inconvenient for you.
- Do not spray anything on the people around you. Using hair spray, deoderant, or mace right next to somebody else and angling your aerosol in their direction can not only be annoying, but could also hurt the other person. They could get whatever you are spraying in their eyes or mouth, or may have an allergy. If you must use an aerosol, be sure to angle it away from other people and their belongings. If it at all possible, though, please use roll-on deoderant or gel mousse rather than an aerosol since it is hard to control where all of the particles are going to get sprayed.
- Do not leave powder all over the floor. Many people use baby powder or shoe deoderizer that they shake as a powder out of a can or bottle. If you are going to do this, please put your towel down on the floor first and stay away from the lockers. Nobody wants to come back from a shower to discover a pile of powder on the floor between them and their locker; nor do they want to find it inside their locker on their belongings.
- Clean up after yourself at the sinks. Try to clean up any mess that you make while taking care of your personal hygiene. If you shave at the gym, be sure to wash all of your whiskers down the drain. If you leave a lot of water on the counter, take a paper towel and wipe the majority of it into the sink. If you brush your teeth, do not leave a streak of toothpaste on top of the faucet. It will only take an extra second or two to avoid leaving a mess.
- Wear flip-flops. It will be safer for you to wear your flip flops because you will be less likely to get bacteria on your feet as you walk around the locker room. If you have any sort of open sores or warts, then you should definately wear flip flops to try to avoid leaving anything harmful behind; you may even want to consider not using the locker room until you are healed.
- Do not urinate in the shower. Visit the urinal or a stall before heading into the shower. Even if you think it is all getting washed down the drain, it is not very sanitary and nobody else wants to stand in whatever gets left behind.
- Do not dawdle. If you are dressed and ready to go, but still want to chat with somebody, move away from your locker and into the middle of the room. Do not feel as though you need to rush, but excessive delays right in front of your locker can inconveniance your neighbors and be frustrating for somebody who is waiting to get into a locker next to yours. Once you are done with the locker, move away from it and clear up some space.
Ummm. Don’t urinate in the shower? You have to actually tell someone that? LOL. That’s all good stuff. Usually when I go to the gym, there is at most 3-5 other people in the locker room, so space isn’t an issue. Every once in a while, I am changing near another person. Last Wednesday, I met a 79 year old man who was a volunteer at the hospital. That was cool.
These are all good things, but what I find troublesome is that it even needs to be mentioned. When I saw the post title I thought I would see some kind of great revelation. I have not used a gym locker room in quite some time and thought there would be some new fangled gadget that you might be instructing people about.
I am glad you posted this. But I am bothered by the fact that people are so uneducated in basic etiquette that something even has to be said. But, we are seeing that in many areas of life. When people begin to think they are the only ones that matter, we start to have problems.
I usually do not have any problems when I am at the gym. Almost everybody either uses common sense or else knows the “rules” and follows them.
The reason I decided to write this article instead of the one I originally had slated for today was because last night I had somebody a few lockers away come by when I was sitting in front of my locker getting changed. Not only did he push his bag into my side while I was sitting there, but as soon as I stood up and was in the process of stepping over the bench to leave he immiediately shoved his bag to where I had been sitting. This had the unfortunate side effect of almost knocking me over since I was not yet done vacating that space.
Chances are good that that man will never read this. However, it never hurts to be reminded of simple rules of etiquette that can make everybody happier.
This is a very nice list! We have enough space in our local gym in Münster (germany) so this is not so much an issue.
But for me flip flops are more for sauna. If I go in the gym I will walk with my shoes into the locker room like everyone else does.
Nice text!