Rookie Mistake?

It's funny what catches your eye in New York City. I saw a young couple get on the subway yesterday morning. While the train was in the station, the girl reached up and grabbed the bar to hold on and the guy just stood there, holding nothing. "Rookie mistake, I thought to myself. Must be tourists." The doors closed, the train lurched forward and the guy lost his balance. I saw it coming a mile away.

Later at the gym, I went into the cardio room to run on the treadmill. Generally all the treadmills in our gym are exactly the same, so there's no reason to chose one over any other (unless you want to avoid being right smack in front of the wind from one of the fans). Now I find it quite distracting when the person running on the treadmill next to me is running either much faster or much more slowly than I am. Last week, I had Forrest Gump sprinting next to me for a half hour. I thought his knees were going to hit his chin. It's nice once in a while when it's not too busy in the gym and you have an empty machine next to you.

Anyway, yesterday there were only 2 or 3 of the 10 treadmills in use when I came into the room. I chose a good centrally located machine and went to work. To my left there was an empty machine and then a guy running two machines to my left. Well, wouldn't you know a young woman came in and although she could have chosen any of a half dozen empty machines, she chooses the one between me and the guy to my left. One thought went through my mind: a guy would never have done this, because it is a clear violation of urinal etiquette. As you know, there is a strict protocol in the men's room. Always choose the urinal furthest away from the dude who's in there when you enter the room and never choose a urinal directly next to a guy if you have any other options. I know treadmills are not urinals (thank God) but still, a guy would have thought twice before choosing that machine. Rookie mistake.