One day when I was in the locker room and had just finished taking a shower, one of the residents came into the room. I had seen him around before but did not know him by name. We nodded hello to each other. He had a fairly large bag, about half the size of a duffle bag for those who can remember what an army duffle bag looked like. He opened a locker, removed his clothing and stuffed it all into the locker. In his birthday suit he took his bag over to the counter and removed most of the contents onto the counter top.
I watched in disbelief, as it appeared that he had his entire medicine cabinet with him. He brushed his teeth, then took a mug with hard shaving soap and placed it under the hot water to make lather. He proceeded to lather his face for the shave. Then he really shocked me when he stepped back looking in the mirror and appeared to be admiring himself. Just then another man came in who must have been in the pool. He took off his bathing suit and proceeded to wash it out in the other sink. What am I in --a laundry room? I could not believe what I was witnessing. Thank goodness I was finished dressing. I closed the locker, took my bag in hand and got the heck out of the room. About every third day this guy would come in with his medicine chest. I nicknamed him “Girly Ass” for obvious reasons. Every time I saw him in the locker room he admired himself. After a few days of this routine, I observed that most men using this facility were not those doing the exercising. Some were using this facility instead of their bathroom at home. At first, I could not believe what was going on here. Did their spouses prohibit them from showering at home? Some came off the tennis courts and some came out of the exercise walking pool. After a very short time I knew where each man had been prior to coming into the locker room and its facilities. Of course there are always those that use this room for the toilet facilities.
One day after a good workout, I went into the locker room to take a shower and the regular shower was in use. I hesitated to use the barrier free shower. I was hoping that the person using the regular shower would finish soon. I could see lots of steam coming out above the curtains and thought that if I did not get into the shower soon, I might not have the luxury of nice hot water.
After a few minutes, I went into the barrier free shower. I was right. The hot water was now lukewarm so needless to say it was the shortest shower I had ever taken. I exited the shower, went to the locker and looked at the other shower, noting that very little if any steam was coming out. All the hot water was used up. How long had this person been in the shower? I then got a big chill up my spine. I wondered if someone had blacked out and was lying on the floor. Worse, what if someone was lying on the floor dead? Here I was in my birthday suit and the only one in the room. I thought, “What if I have to go into the corridor and yell for help?” I quickly dressed just in case the latter would be necessary.
I went over to the shower curtain and in a loud voice said, “Hello – is anyone in this shower?” All I could hear was the noise of the water hitting the ceramic tile walls. I waited for about ten or fifteen seconds and in a louder voice repeated, “Hello – is anyone in this shower?” Nothing, except for the sound of the water. Now I knew that I had to look – or I could just walk out of the room. No, I couldn’t do that – someone could need help. It seemed that the noise of the water was getting louder, so loud it was deafening. The adrenalin was going and my heart was pumping as I began to slowly pull the outer curtain aside.
Then I stopped in my tracks and thought to myself. What am I doing? What if there is a person in there that is hard of hearing? Should I be pulling the curtain back? He could accuse me of being a pervert. This was on the verge of being too much for me to handle, and just then I got brave again, but not before I went into the corridor to see if anyone was around. No one was in the corridor.
There are two curtains in each shower. The first separates the drying area from the room and the second separates the shower from the drying area. I pulled the curtain enough to see that there was no one in the drying area. Sticking my head slightly into the drying area, once again I shouted “Hello – is anyone in this shower?” No answer - this was it. I took the shower curtain and slowly moved it as I thought to myself “My God, what if there is someone taking a shower and I invade his privacy. How embarrassing that would be for me.” I moved the curtain anyway. Slowly but surely I moved it enough to see what was going on behind the curtain.
NOTHING – just water. What a relief. The water was cold as I moved my hand from the curtain to the controls to shut the water flow. What happened? Did someone leave the shower and forget to shut it down? Did someone do this on purpose to evacuate the hot water? Why and how I will never know as I continue living the good life—in an active adult community.