the peeper
august 02, 2002
after swimming, i usually take a shower at the gym to cleanse myself of god knows what i picked up on my skin in the pool. and i make sure i brush my teeth really really well and rinse out with strong antiseptic too. can't forget the mouth you know.
i haven't showered at the gym in a long time, ever since my slip-n-slide fall (damn, don't you love archives?) last year. i had gym shower phobia for awhile. and let's not forget the RUDE women who hog up the shower stalls with their toiletries and towels as if reserving their own private little space. lady, go home if you're gonna play li'dat!
so after a whole year of avoiding the gym showers, i've returned.
and needless to say, not much has changed.
i usually am rather quick about the entire showering process at the gym because to be quite honest, why spend another minute there when you don't need to. so recently, i was washing my hair when i heard from the stall across from mine, a deep guttural rumbling noise.
it was a sound all too familiar. the sound of the impending onslaught of phlegm.
so in my nakedness, i peered through the crack of my shower curtain and glanced across the way to the other side. from behind the narrow opening of the opposite shower curtain and the tiled walls, i saw the form of an asian lady. i couldn't make out the details too clearly so i shifted to the opposite end of the curtain and it was then i saw the asian lady in all her paleness squatting over the draining hole in the shower.
?
in one hand she had a toothbrush and was in the process of brushing her teeth in shit squat mode.....over the drain while her other hand wielded a plastic mug. and as she brushed her teeth, she would occassionally cough up stuff to spit into the drain hole. hence the ominous guttural noises. perhaps this is her habit at home and even over the sink would be a bit more acceptable but in a public shower where most of us go barefoot, hell no! no wonder i notice so many more women wearing slippers into the shower area now. :p who would want fungal phlegm foot? but does phlegming into the drain hole make any difference if you're doing in the shower?
after seeing her in action, i think i sped up my shower time by 10 and got the hell out of there pronto (don't you love using outdated slang? i do.)
later as i was getting ready in the vanity area, the naked lady showed up dressed in clothes, i nearly didn't recognize her if it wasn't for the little plastic mug. i considered for a moment to say something to her but why waste my saliva on people who are so set in their ways? would it really change her disgusting habit if i said something? i mean, if there was a fine or if there was punishment, i'm sure there may be behavior modification but would my words move her to abstain from hacking phlegm in the shower drain while squatting in shit mode?
i don't think so. as repulsive as this habit is, can you really stop someone from doing it aside from banning them from the locker room?
now, if she was hacking phlegm and taking a dump in the shower at the same time, you'd bet i'd do something. but then again, maybe i already missed that part of her shower routine by the time i began peeping. :p
