AITA for telling someone at the gym not to use 30+ wet wipes in a single session?
A gym-goer confronted another member for excessively using disinfectant wet wipes—over 30 during a single session. Concerned about waste and environmental impact, the user pointed out that frequent overuse could increase costs for everyone.
Although the other person defended his actions, calling the wipes “cheap” and “biodegradable,” he agreed to keep the feedback in mind. The confrontation left the user feeling uneasy about giving unsolicited advice, especially since they’ll likely run into each other again. read the original story below…
‘ AITA for telling someone at the gym not to use 30+ wet wipes in a single session? ‘
The gym I go to has these disinfectant wet wipe bins where you can grab wet wipes to wipe down your equipment. I was at the gym today and saw a man come in and grab 10-15 wet wipes to wipe down a bench. He then throws that in a bin and pulls a string of 10ish wet wipes to wipe his phone screen.
I was debating telling him that he’s using way too much but decided to hold back. There’s no staff at this gym so there’s no one I can go to. After his workout, he pulled out another long string of wet wipes (maybe 20-30).
This was when I stopped my workout and walked over to him and told him “hey, don’t you think you’re using way too many wet wipes?” And he goes “what? Not really” I told him if everyone in this gym used almost 30-50 wet wipes in one session, they’ll have to replace it often and that’s the cost that will be passed onto us.
I also said it’s bad for the environment, using these many wet wipes in one single session. He goes “but wet wipes are cheap! They cost pennies and these are bio degradable”. I told him if everyone had that mindset, imagine how many wet wipes are wasted and just because it’s biodegradable doesn’t mean it’s okay to just waste them?!!!
Anyway, he said other people use just as much but he’ll keep it in mind. I did apologise for giving unsolicited feedback and thanked him for hearing me out. I felt weird after because who am I to say anything?? I’m not a staff member… but I also would have felt uneasy not saying anything.
I workout at the same time every night and so does he so it’s gonna be so awkward from now on but that’s what I brought on to myself. AITA??
Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:
omeomi24 − it won’t be awkward if you drop it. Don’t try to be the ‘wet wipe cop’…really? That man was far more polite than most people would be in the same situation. Would you go to the gym management and complain that ‘he’s using too many wet wipes’? Do you think they would thank you for that?
qwe123rty654 − NTA you’re right that the cost will be passed to you. It’s also rude of him to be that wasteful for no reason.
Pretty-Necessary-941 − INFO What kind of gym has no staff at all?
NewHere1212 − NTA. He’s being extremely wasteful. Good on you for saying something.
Ambitious_Truth_567 − My gym has microfiber cloths and disinfectant sprays dotted around the gym. Take a cloth at the beginning, use it to clean as you go, and chuck it in the wash basket on the way out for them to clean. Much better than wipes.
MasenkoSamurai46 − The people saying YTA are utterly ridiculous. If he was using like, 5 or 10, sure you’d be “policing wet wipes”. But 30-50??? Do people not realize how comically overkill that is? Horrible for the environment and yeah, wet wipes are expensive. NTA
mortusowo − ESH. Using that many wet wipes is silly but honestly making a big deal out of this isn’t worth anyone’s time. I’d honestly rather someone use too much than not wipe things down.
You_me_and_everyone − NTA- You’re right if everyone did this there would be huge trash cans full of wet wipes! We need to stop being afraid to talk to one another. As long as you talked about it in kind, compassionate and respectful way.
I think a major issue we have in our country is people don’t talk to eachother “strangers” and because we are out of practice when an issue comes up it’s often comes out charged.
I-hear-the-coast − NTA. I hate when people are so wasteful. Obviously big corporations are the cause of most of our climate change, but I don’t think that gives individuals the right to be wasteful.
Campingcutie − I don’t understand why people are so self centered and frivolous with wasting when we can see the effects over consumption is having on the earth, very clearly. People think the world ends when they do, yet they continue having children with no regard to the future they’re leaving for them. Tragic.
Was it justified to step in, or should the gym-goer have stayed quiet? What do you think? Share your thoughts below!