The Original Post
The gym I go to doesn’t have a lot of treadmills and I’ve recently started running. I went to the gym with my partner last night and all of the treadmills were in use. I used some weight machines to start then went back to the treadmills.
I noticed there was a girl just sat on the treadmill while her friend was using the treadmill next to her. She’d been there for at least 15 mins not using it so I went up and asked if she was planning to use it. She said she was with her friend but I just said she can wit next to her friends machine instead of taking up machines from people who want to use them,
She shrugged her shoulders and refused to move. A women comes over and asks what’s happening so I explain it. She said she’s the girls mother and that I shouldn’t be telling her daughter to move.
I just said her daughter shouldn’t be taking up machines she has no intention of using. She said her daughter is feeling to sit there if she wants and that she’s doing nothing wrong. I just said I can see where her daughter gets her entitlement from.
She said I was out of order for commenting on her parent but I just said she should be a better parent if she can’t handle any criticism.
A member of staff came over and when I explained why was going on, asked the daughter to move off the treadmill or leave the gym.
My gf said maybe I shouldn’t have argued with the mother but I don’t see how I’ve done anything wrong.
AITAHfor asking a girl to get off a treadmill in the gym then arguing with her mother?
What Reddit Said
Reddit overwhelmingly supported the gym-goer’s actions. Most users agreed that hogging gym equipment without using it is inconsiderate and against basic gym etiquette. However, many suggested that going to staff first would have been the better approach.
The top comments praised the staff’s response and criticized the mother’s enabling behavior. Users were particularly frustrated with the family treating the gym like a “social hangout” rather than respecting other members’ workout time.
The Verdict
The overwhelming consensus: OP is Not the Asshole (NTA). This gym treadmill hogging confrontation represents a clear case of entitled behavior being enabled by poor parenting. While some users suggested handling it differently, Reddit agreed that public confrontations like this are sometimes necessary when people refuse to follow basic courtesy rules in shared spaces.
Original post from r/AmItheAsshole (4,363 upvotes, 256 comments)