Confucius

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

I had a lovely morning today; roads from Sharjah to Dubai were super clogged, so decided to enjoy my free respite and go to the gym...

About 10 minutes into the start when I was on the threadmill, a person approaches (An extremely dark woman from the Carribean, but I don't want to be labelled as sexist or racist) and goes on the machine next to me...

And she strikes a conversation...

The conversation only ends when I had finished and proceeded towards the men's lockers, about 90 minutes later...

Will it be an etiquette issue if I am grumpy and unfriendly and untalkative next time a person wants to strike a conversation with me in the gym???

Alexa

wear earphones and listen to your music thingy....problem solved!

Confucius

Didn't work...

slapphead_otool

And if you get the right tracks it helps keep you going

MataHari

she must have liked a bullshitteur...

Confucius

I had the t-shirt on, so probably that was it...But, she never mentioned or alluded to the fact...Hmmm...

Alexa

with those things in your ears it is, IMHO, perfectly acceptable not to hear what others say.....

shakh your bootie

I believe the correct etiquette in such a situation is to reach over and turn the offending person's speed setting to max. This transmits the correct social signal without the need to be rude.

Confucius

I said it didn't work...The woman was persistent and insisting...

Confucius

That won't be rude...That will be evil...

Alexa

yes, I do realize that...therefore I said it is, IMHO, perfectly fine to ignore her.
But I prefer shakh's idea. Although that would require some guts....

Confucius

Hmmm... First i will check the woman's timings so that we don't cross paths the next time...That's step 1...

shakh your bootie

I see that your molecular manifestation is more prudish than your pixellated version....

Victor Meldrew

Just say something like:

"I dont mean to be rude, but I need to be able to focus on my workout and find it difficult whilst talking. It puts me out of rhythm, sorry"

If she continues to chat to you she is either rude herself (in which case I would literally show her the 'talk to the hand'), ........

......or maybe she's a hooker after a pickup!

I wouldn't venture to advise you on your next move in this situation

Alexa

so much effort...you could , instead, sing along loudly to what ever it is you are listening to...it could be a very rude rap song...for example...
Or, come to think of it...Rod Steward.....and then just go with the flow....