the accidental racist?

i know racial tensions were high during the summer between the police and every race NOT white in the country, but is it still dragging on?

can’t we all just get along?

i have a gold’s gym membership good at any location. any one. on the planet. there are several around austin, and most of them have machines that are somewhat unique to them, so i like working out different body parts at different locations. the two i really like doing chest at is due to them having a full set of these:

i like hammer strength machines for chest because, if you look closely, you’ll see the two sides move independently. on the downside, they lack the negative resistance (i.e. the subtle muscle control needed to, say, keep a normal bench press bar level and controlled) but the add something even manual bench doesn’t: your weak side can’t just go along with your strong side after it breaks the inertia. it makes it work TOO. and two of the gyms i like have them all in a row – regular chest, incline chest, decline chest, and wide grip chest.

i hit the one in south austin yesterday and was half-way through sets on the first machine (incline) when i guy walked over and dropped his towel, bag, and water bottle by the wide-grip next to me. but then proceeded to work out on the decline one. what the fuck? you’re planting two flags here? to top it off, when i was done he was already across the gym doing curls, so i ignored his pile of stuff and started working on the wide-grip.

he came back and didn’t move his stuff. in fact, quite the contrary – he would reach in to grab his water bottle while i was mid-set. when i was done i stripped it down where he had it, and noticed he was looking for one of the elusive 35lb plates for the decline, so i went and found one to help him out. when i put it on the machine for him he said, “thanks” and i responded with, “no problem – how many sets do you have left?”. keep in mind he had this machine occupado long enough for me to do four sets per machine on TWO different machines. his response to my “how many sets…” question?

i needed the thirty-five.

i responded with “and now you’ve got it – so how many more sets do you have?”. his response?

i do this for the chest.

this when i realized maybe…just maybe…english was not his first language. and so i just told him “i’m working in” and he said “okay” but then proceeded to do one set and kind of wander off, so rather than do my usual of waiting for him to work in sets in between i just kept going till he got back, which by then i was on my last set so i stripped it back down to where he had it, said, “all yours, amigo” – he smiled and said “thanks”, and i moved on to triceps.

one of those machines was close to where he was still trying to claim the two chest machines and when his daughter came over he kinda angrily gestured towards me and started going off in spanish with his daughter responding at the same speed, but she said one phrase in english that i caught through the whole tirade…

…probably racist…

when i responded with a rather loud and directed, “what the FUCK did you just say about me?!?!” they both grabbed their shit and started to walk off. “did you just call me fucking RACIST?!?”, i continued, but they kept walking and quickened their pace.

i am not racist.

but i’ll say what i’ve always said – i was a bit over 225 miles inside the u.s. border, and like it or not our official language, even in texas, is english. if you don’t understand it, and we have a communication problem, it’s not MY FUCKING FAULT. it’s not my responsibility to make accommodations for your linguistic inadequacies. that’s on you. likewise, if i was in monterrey, mexico (approximately the same distance from the border, but in the other direction) i wouldn’t expect you to speak english, and wouldn’t expect you to accommodate me.

racist my ass – i haven’t dated a white girl in over a decade!