It was THAT gross. March 24, 2010

This happened close to 12 hours ago, and I still haven’t completely shaken it or been able to comprehend it.

So I got to our apartment gym kinda late last night- it was about 8:15, so this is a different crowd than I usually see in there. The lady I see walking around the park all the time was studying on a leg press (literally sitting there, studying- for a minimum of 45 minutes). There was a girl on a treadmill, guy on elliptical, pretty standard.  I was too busy watching Parenthood to really give anyone a second glance. (Thank you, thank you, NBC, for giving me Peter Krause again- that man is just too great. I don’t even care what show he’s one- I’m pretty much guaranteed to be a viewer. That’s a post for another day, though.) So I finish up, I wipe down my machine (WIPE DOWN YOUR MACHINES, PEOPLE) and I bend over to pick up my jacket, keys and free weights that I’d brought with me that were on the floor in front of my machine. I’m gathering my paraphernalia, glance to my left- and in front of the machine next to me is a pair of dirty underwear. I know I stared at it for about 3 seconds before I could comprehend what was going on. And on the machine was a girl, just merrily elliptical-ing along. This underwear was NOT there when I came in- otherwise I would have chosen another machine far away from the dirty underwear with dark streaks inside of it that appeared to be sweaty. WHAT WAS IT DOING THERE?

Now friends, it takes a lot to gross me out. I don’t recoil at poop or vomit. Terrible smells don’t get to me. In general, I have a very high tolerance for gross (having my baby brother puke in my mouth 19 years ago really sealed the deal on the high tolerance.) But I was disgusted. There was no dog there who could drag something like that out from the dirty clothes, and she didn’t have anything but a book with her, so there aren’t any other clothes it could have just become wrapped in. SO WHY THE DIRTY UNDIES? Truly disgusting, gross, and unhygienic on every level. I was too much of a chicken/too tired to say anything to this girl, although in retrospect I should have picked them up with a bleach wipe and just thrown them in the trash. But seriously- who DOES that?

Sincerely,

Horrified in Houston

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