Monday, March 14, 2016

Renewed faith that many things are resolved by talking

The other day at my ghetto gym, I had an encounter with one member that renewed my faith in humanity.  It reaffirmed my belief that many conflicts can be resolved by talking.

I was at the gym and was ready to use one machine.  There was nobody there but a bottled water at the foot of the machine.  So I began to move the machine to my desired setting.  Then a man came over saying he IS using the machine.  I told him that he was not otherwise he would be actually using it.  He said he was at the other machine and he left is water bottle to indicate that he is using the machine.  I told him that he can't really reserve a machine.  If he is not using it at that moment, anybody else can use it.  And I left it at that and told him he could have it.  The other machine that I also wanted to use became available and I was not in the mood to argue any further with him.  He looked like the type that I would not want to mess with anyways.  The ghetto brute violent looking type.  So I left.  After using the other machine, I decided to talk to management.  I know that reserving machine is not suppose to happen but tolerated by management.  I asked the front desk what needs to be done cause this brute looking man was reserving a machine he was not using.  Management confirmed my belief that I did have the right to use that machine if he was not there.  Management further added that we were suppose to share and take turns using the machine.  Management said they would talk to the said member.  Before I left, I saw the brute looking man again and decided to peacefully talk to him once more.  I told him that I spoke to management and that we should share the machine next time.  And to my surprise, he was very agreeable.  He added that he was gonna suggest sharing the machine but I left before he could.  I was half expecting him to be unreasonable and act all intimidating but he was calm and smiling.  His reply totally caught me by surprise.  People do response to peaceful resolution in many cases.

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