A few nights ago, at 7:44, I was at my gym training a few mostly middle aged women, new to working out.
Right in the middle of the class, in walks a maybe 30 year old woman pushing s stroller. This is incongruous in the gym, but I was busy and didn't pay attention at first. Out of the corner of my eye I thought she was wearing tights, and maybe was late for the class.
But when I pulled focus, I realized she had only an open blouse and a very smal thong as her workout outfit...
She was not bad looking, actually, but I noticed her stroller had no baby in it, but a pile of books and groceries. She had dilated pupils and immediately began firing questions, such as 'Can I have the lavatory key?', and 'What are you making these women do?.
I was worried about what she might have hidden in the stroller, so I didn't just toss her out right away. There was something frightening about her speech patterns; she lacked any inflection, as if she were reading from a telepropter.
I told her, 'We're in the middle of a class here, you have to leave now.' She fired back, 'Who are you to tell e what to do?.
I flexed my arms and walked up to her, nearly but not quite touching her, and said, "I'm the owner of this gym and I'm going to take that stroller and break it into pieces, and you too if you don't leave immediately.'
I was close enough at that point that she couldn't have reached into the gear on the stroller without my pulling her elbow out of its socket, and she understood that.
She huffed and Humphrey and backed away, with me following her step by step,, staying within striking distance, until she was out the door, which I slammed as hard as I could.
The mental hospitals aren't sufficient to hold all these outpatients, unfortunately. The next morning I checked the video we have in the gym (to ensure we aren't accused of sexual harassment, mostly) and that's how I know she came in at 7:44. I figured she was the type who'd report me to the police for threatening her, and would likely accuse me of hitting her, so I delivered the tape to the local police and filed a complaint for trespassing, just in self defense, though I didn't know her name.
Naturally the women in the class all whined about how I was too rough with her, but only after she had left. Naturally, none of them stepped forward to deal with her. They were nearly all in decent shape and could have handled her and her stroller one-on-one, let alone all five of them together,but they all cowered behind the sled until she had gone.
You know, when things get dangerous, it's men's work still in the US.
And things are dangerous. Aside from racist dingbats shooting police, and the blowback from the Iraq-Syria-Afghanistan colonial war that is the root of all the ISIS attacks ,there are so many miscellaneous outpatients like her, and most of them are dangerous to some degree.
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