Cha-chan Being Israeli

First, let me begin with a list of my top ten gym pet peeves:

10) People who use their arms to hold themselves up on the stairstepper, rather than using it for its intended purpose in which you use your legs to support yourself.

9) Inappropriate gym wear.  This would include ladies with their pants falling down.  Ladies with their thong underwear sticking out of their pants (which may or may not be falling down).  Ladies who wear thin white stretchy pants.  Men who wear shorts that are entirely too tight (TMI).  

8) People who feel the need to stretch in a location that blocks traffic for everyone else.

7) People talking on their cellphones.

6) People who chat with others while sitting on (and not using) machines.

5) Posers who spend more time checking themselves out in the mirror than they do working out.

4) Guys who drop their weights with a massive crash or thud (I guess 'cuz they are too wimpy to set them down properly).

3) Trainers who would rather oogle at girls than actually help or watch for people potentially hurting themselves on equipment.

2) Trainers who actually watch people hurting themselves (bad squats, buckling knees on the leg press, nearly ripping their arms out of their sockets on the assisted pull-up, etc).

1) People who leave towels on machines to "reserve" them while they're off chatting, posing, strolling, talking on cell phone, or using the restroom.

And along the lines of #1, today I wanted to use the leg press.  There is only one leg press and I wanted to use it.  There was  a towel on it, but I had not actually seen anyone using the leg press for several minutes.  So I moved the towel and hopped on.  Shortly thereafter, some "Mr. Macho" returned.  I did not make eye contact and proceded to finish my set.  Then, I left and did other things.  He got back on and did a set.  Then, he disappeared again.  I was still occupied with other stuff, so he had about 4 minutes of putzing around elsewhere in the gym before he went back to do yet another set.  Then, after that set, he went off again, so I went back and moved his towel again and did a set.  No eye contact.  I went and did other stuff, he did a set and then disappeared.  So, I started going back to the machine and he was there, so I said I only had one more set, so he told me to go ahead.  Oh how generous of him.  

What is more lame than hogging a machine like that is the fact that this moron is resting about 4-5 minutes between sets!  What's the point of that?  No trainer has ever indicated that I might like to do a set and then go have a coffee, for example, before coming back to do another!

Anyway, it was all very Israeli of me to just barge in and move his towel.  So I was proud.