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My Random Swimming Pool Encounter With An Entitled And Intimidating Man
It happened just over a year ago on the cusp on the Coronavirus pandemic. The significance of the timing will soon become apparent. I was completely absorbed in my routine with no inkling this would be any different to any other regular swim. Then I saw him.
Or maybe I heard him first. Anyway, what I witnessed was a man in the swimming pool spitting into the corner of it. The bit where people get in and out. It wasn’t just the kind of spit that happens when a bug flies in your mouth but the full throated kind that plunges the depths, gathering everything on its way up.
I was frozen for a moment as I processed what I had just seen and made sure I actually had. In seconds I was at the side of the pool letting him know that I had seen it. I didn’t know what I was going to say or what I hoped to achieve. I just wanted to let him know that it hadn’t gone unnoticed.
I think I told him that I had just seen him spit and it wasn’t okay to do that in a public swimming pool (is it actually okay anywhere?). I can’t remember much of his response other than that he denied it and told me I didn’t knowing what I was talking about.
I was still getting ready to get in the pool (over the other side) when I saw him get out of the pool and walk over to me. He was physically imposing and used the full force of it to intrude on my personal space as he shouted at me. Of course he had absolutely nothing to say in his defence so the only thing left was to verbally attack me. I felt threatened enough that I called the lifeguards for assistance. It wasn’t anything he said (which was just nonsensical) but the sheer impact of his physical presence.
I remember what he shouted as he walked off: “People like you are what’s wrong with the world today”. Yes. That’s what he said. I’ll try and unpack it in a moment — stay with me. The next thing I did was walk over to the lifeguards who had apparently been engaged by pre-schoolers and their duelling pool noodles. Once I had their attention they radioed the duty manager who came down.
I felt for the women who can’t just walk away and…
