Pool Etiquette...Or LAck Of! (Page 2)

If you all will allow me to hijack this thread for a moment...a few weeks back I was relaxing in the Y hot tub after a workout. I don't like the jets and bubbles on, they throw up all the chlorine in the tub and it really irritates my eyes, nose and lungs. In general, if someone wants to get in the tub after me and turn on the jets, they will ask. I always say it's ok. So that day this guy enters the hot tub room, looks me straight in the eye and turns on the jets. I said "that wasn't very courteious." He replied "what do you want me to do, wait 20 minutes?" I said "no, but you could have asked. How about if I came in after you and turned the jets off. Would you like that?" He didn't say anything to me but spent the next 10 minutes or so muttering to himself under his breath.

The next day the locker room attendant comes up to me and asks if I had words with this guy. Apparently he spent 5 minutes complaining to the attendant about me. The attendant told me that he told his guy he in the wrong. Now every time I see him I give him a big smile and say hello. He has yet to speak to me again. Boo hoo.

David

That's what I'm talking about.       Full contact tri's.  There is always that one guy.

Normally I just stand at the edge and wait for the person to swim up.  I ask to share.  It's no problem at the Y  I attend.  If they seem to be just goofing around, I'll ask very frankly, are doing laps or goofing off, because some people are serious about lap swimming.  They always answer yes I'm doing laps.  Five minutes late they are out then I just switch lanes.

It wasn't your fault.  Someone should let you know they are getting in.  That can be done as simply as standing in the water at the end of the lane until the other swimmer hits the wall for a turn.  If the swimmer ignores someone at that point, then it's a different story.

Someone swimming laps doesn't always notice a person standing outside the water at the end of the lane.  Swimming freestyle, head down, breathing off to one side, and then a flip turn -- it's easy not to see someone standing outside the water.

What about "sting like a bee"?

My first swim a few years back (when I started tri training) I got swum over on my last lap.  I was tiring and in the wrong lane for my fitness level.  The other person was doing the back stroke so swam right over me.  No harsh words were spoken - I learned to pick a slower lane until my fitness level improved.  The swim directions were also new to me - but someone took the time to point them out.

The point I'm trying to make is - instead of "letting loose" on the other individual - help them out by explaining proper pool etiquette and direct them to whatever the lane rules are that your pool follows.  Otherwise you may just scare someone off swim training.

Fair point I suppose. But here's the way I look at it: when you're entering someone else's environment you should ask before you make any changes to that environment. That environment could be a hot tub, pool lane, shot-gun in your buddy's car, whatever. I think not asking to share a lane or turning on the jets is akin to changing the radio station in your friends car. It's not a big deal but the polite thing to do is ask first.

David

I agree with most people on here. However, I do have to have a rant about some people who may not know this themselves, but they swim in the middle of the lane and others that try to muscle there way in and end up spoiling your session.  I swim in the "medium" speed lane at the pool I go to and it kind of works out, although there are some people who don't get how you need to swim, i.e.: as show in the diagram post above (in a clockwise motion).  I smacked into a guy the otherday who thought that he could just jump in the lane and swim back and forth in a straight line.  I doubt it was his fault in a sense as he wasn't there to swim , but more to muck about, but do the lifesavers do anything about, no, they look as if they couldn't give a monkies!

It's also never easy choosing a lane in which you fit in speed wise either.  During the week mornings I swim in the medium speed lane as I'm too slow for the fast lane, but at nights or at weekends I can swim in the fast lane...  If I get passed more than twice then I move to one of the slower lane as I wouldn't like it if the roles were reversed.

All in all it works out pretty well the pool as most people are there to swim, well at 5:45am I don't think that there'd be people there to play about!

Not every pool is circle swim.  And if the joiner "didn't see" the current swimmer then he definitely is to blame.  It is THAT person's responsibility to see what is going on in the lane before joining.  NOT the other way around.