Today I (25M, 5’10”, 170 lbs) got into a weird exchange with another gym-goer, let’s call him Jake (maybe 35M, 5’8”, 180 lbs?) while using the abductor machine during my leg day. (Height and weight is relevant to his comments later)

I arrived around 3:45pm, stretched out, and started on the machine around 4pm. I did three sets, and while I was taking a rest and replying to a text, Jake walks up at about 4:08 (I remember because I had a Zoom meeting at 5) and says with obvious sarcasm:

“How many sets you got left, dude?!”

I gave a slight look and said, “One more.”

Instead of just waiting or asking to work in, he starts going off, saying there’s a woman “clearly annoyed” waiting 20 feet behind me, and that I’m “small” and “don’t need to be taking this long.” Then he walks over to her, someone he admits he doesn’t even know, and starts shit-talking me to her.

I finish my last set, get up, politely ask the woman if she wants me to wipe down the machine, and do so. Then I walk over to Jake and say, “What was up with that?” I ask why he came at me sideways instead of just asking politely.

Jake’s responses:

“What are you talking about, dude?” “You were wasting her time.” “Why are you even talking to me, trying to be friends or something?”

I stay calm and point out that the way he approached it was needlessly rude. He comes back with:

“I wasn’t angry, bro. I was just being facetious. I have agency.” “Why are you still talking about it, bro?” “You got issues?” “You keep talking, I don’t know why you’re wasting your time.” “You keep stuttering, bro, you wanna go collect your thoughts first?”

(I wasn’t stuttering, just pausing while I tried to keep up with the nonsense he was throwing at me.)

Then he hits me with:

“You should have more situational awareness, bro.”

Which really set me off, not by yelling or anything, but I told him:

“You’re accusing me of lacking situational awareness when there’s literally another identical machine sitting unused 50 feet in front of us? One you clearly didn’t notice? That’s kind of ironic, man.”

His response?

“That’s not my problem, bro.”

I told him I’ve been coming to this gym for 4 years without ever having an issue like this. I asked if he wanted this kind of weird, hostile dynamic to continue going forward.

His last-ditch move was to act like none of it even mattered:

“What problem?” “Can you define problem for me?”

At that point, his girlfriend came over, clearly ready to leave. She seemed annoyed, maybe with him, maybe with me, maybe with the whole situation. I wrapped it up and left the gym shortly after, cutting my workout short.

Maybe 8 minutes on a machine is too long for 4 sets, but I don’t feel I was hogging it? I was taking reasonable rest between sets and texting ,like a lot of people do. I wasn’t being rude or loud, and I wasn’t ignoring anyone. And again, there was another open machine the whole time.

AITA for confronting him instead of just letting it slide? I get that gym etiquette matters, but sarcasm and public call-outs over nothing don’t seem like the way to handle it. This is my home gym and has always been a chill, respectful environment, until now.