7. The Middle-Aged Guy In The Gym Who's Trying To Get Back In Shape
Usually the gym is a place of quiet self-improvement, with only stoic nods of the head towards other gym goers and the blank noise of rampant pop music in the background. At a push you can say a brief hello to the guy that helped you out the week before when you nearly dropped a weight on your face - maybe. Most people know these rules. Then one day a guy in an oversized, unfashionable white polo shirt bundles onto the treadmill and flails about for fifteen minutes, nearly falling over every third step. You come too close to grab a paper towel and the guy quickly starts telling you about his new effort to get fit, with all the telltale overconfident chatter of the clearly under confident. No one's saying we're not pleased for him, because I'm sure we are - we just don't need to hear about it. With this character phrases like: "I used to be in really good shape" and "I played semi-professional when I was younger" are commonplace, followed by an insistence that you do some exercises together. There isn't much you can do about this. You just have to nod, smile and watch as he adds thirty minutes onto your usually swift and succinct exercise routine. Then it gets worse, as he follows you into the shower.
