DH and I have been hitting the gym since about March and we've both found that the treadmills are probably the best for us. I am not coordinated enough for the elliptical, no matter how hard I try and I'm too vertically challenged for the recumbant bikes.
Last night I was on the treadmill and the one next to me had an out of order tag on it. It was obvious it was out of order as it was stuck on whatever incline it had been on and the display wouldn't respond to any buttons you touched.
An older gentleman stepped up on the machine, setting his stuff aside and started punching buttons, ignoring the out of order tag (it's fairly big, and he had to push it out of the way). I noticed that my shoe was untied and wanting to avoid a faceplant onto the treadmill, paused my machine to retie my shoe.
It was about this time that the Older Gentleman (OG) noticed that the machine wasn't working and saw that I had stopped. He stood watching me as I sat down to tie my shoe. As I stood up, he started approaching my machine.
OG: Oh good, you're done.
Me: Excuse me?
OG: You stopped, you're done, give me your machine.
Me: I'm not done, I just needed to tie my shoe.
OG: You stopped, therefore you are done and you need to give me your machine. Now.
Me: (stepping back up onto the treadmill and turning my back) I'm sorry, that won't be possible as I am still exercising. There are plenty of other machines (during this exchange, four machines were vacant).
OG: You can't do that! I'm going to report you!
Me: (putting my earbuds back in) Feel free to do so. (starts up machine)
He did report me, but what the gal at the front desk told me later, the manager saw who he was pointing to and simply pointed out that there were several other machines he could use. OG stomped his foot, demanding my name so that he could put in a complaint against me. The manager refused and again said that he could use any of the open machines. OG stomped his foot again and said that he was going to put in a complaint for the whole gym because everyone was rude and hogged all the machines and stormed out.
I can say that my flabber was indeed gasted.